Tragic Hero In Arthur Miller's Death Of A Salesman

Many people go through life without a purpose or doing a job they hate. In Arthur Miller’s, Death of a Salesman, Willy Loman thinks this isn’t the case for him. He is working the best job in the world, being a salesman, like his hero Dave Singleman. Dave Singleman still sells from his bed and Willy admirably thinks this is because he loves it. The real reason is because Dave never made enough to retire. However, Willy doesn’t know he is gravely mistaken and has failed to realize who he really is. This has caused him to instill these mistaken qualities in his sons, Biff and Happy. Willy’s lack of a father figure plays into his flaws such as obsession with money and hubris. He has had some virtues as well like putting his family first and working
One of Willy’s largest flaws is hubris. His pride gets in the way when he tries to teach his sons the ways of life. He teaches them that they are better than everyone else because they are Lomans. He inflates their egos so they have problems working for people: “Biff: And I never got anywhere because you blew me so full of hot air I could never stand taking orders from anybody! That’s whose fault it is!...It’s goddamn time you heard that! I had to be boss big shot in two weeks”(1494). Biff and Happy dealt with this inability to take orders in different ways to get back at their bosses. Happy started having sex with all of his boss’s wives or girlfriends. That is how he dealt with his inability to take orders. Miller shows this when he says, “Happy: That girl Charlotte I was with tonight is engaged to be married in five weeks…Sure the guy’s in line for the vice-presidency of the store… And he’s the third executive I’ve done that to…And to top it all, I go to their weddings”(1437). Biff dealt with his blown up ego by stealing items from his employers. He started this back when he was in high school playing football. He stole a football from the coach and the way Willy reacted to it set him up for a life of thievery: “Biff: Did you see the new football I got? Willy (laughing with him at the theft): I want you to return that…(to Biff.) Coach’ll probably congratulate you on your initiative”(1439-1440).
Miller shows this throughout the play by showing his flaws. His main flaws are his hubris and obsession with money. These cause him to falter throughout the play. Miller also gives Willy a value system to which people can relate. Most fathers care about their families and want to do right by them. As many tragic heroes he never really knew who he was. He thought he was a roadman, a true traveling salesman. However, he never realized his true passion was working with his hands: “Biff: There were a lot of nice days…making the stoop; finishing the cellar; putting on the new porch; when he built the extra bathroom; and put on the garage. You know something, Charley, there’s more of him in that front stoop than in all the sales he ever made”(1497). Willy really should have been a carpenter and then he could have been happier. His suicide however, was actually heroic because he knew that him being alive was holding his sons back, particularly Biff, and Linda was suffering through this experience of him deteriorating. His death caused Biff to finally break the cycle and go do what he loved. Also Linda’s having to choose between him and Biff was taking a toll on her. He also wants his family to be comfortable financially and the $20,000 life insurance policy would do that. Miller shows this in the play when he writes, “Willy: Remember, it’s a guaranteed twenty-thousand-dollar proposition…the woman has suffered, your hear me”(1491).