Death of a Salesman, written by Arthur Miller, is a book about a salesman named Willy Loman who lives in the past and holds on to ideals and dreams that simply don’t exist anymore, constantly worrying about his material items and the “condition” of his family, Willy becomes distraught leading to his early death. Hamlet, written by William Shakespeare, is about a prince named Hamlet, similar to Willy, Hamlet is also constantly worrying about life and the state of his family. In literature there’s a common idea of the “tragic hero.” Arthur Miller, author of Death of a Salesman, has a new updated version of what a tragic hero is; a character who is ready to lay down his life if need be to secure his sense of personal dignity, a character of nobility, has a tragic flaw. With this definition of a tragic hero in mind, both Hamlet and Willy Loman are tragic heroes.
In both plays the main characters, Willy and Hamlet, are both willing to lay down their lives for a sense of their personal dignity. “Remember that pipe… it isn’t there! He took it away himself,” Linda, Willy’s wife, is telling her two sons, Biff and Happy, that their father had a pipe in the basement next the heater and that his intentions were to kill himself. At the time Willy was struggling to make any sales and wasn’t bringing home a adequate enough paycheck to pay bills on the house, Willy evaluates success by the amount of quality possessions one owns, therefore Willy who can’t afford a lot of new electronics feels as if he is less of a man and because of this he does eventually lay his life down, “He had no right to do that! There was necessity for it.”
The Essay on Hamlet: Hero Or Hoax
Hamlet: Hero or Hoax In his play, "Hamlet", William Shakespeare shows us the life of a young man lost in turmoil. All of his turmoil and angst is very much related to his own state of indecision and passivity. His problems, and most of those in the play, are partially summed up in the line when Hamlet is questioned by Gertrude about his melancholy appearance, he replies, "Seems, madam? Nay it is. ...
Hamlet, bothered by the fact that his uncle killed his father and married his mother also had to act to save his own dignity, “To be, or not to be, that is the question; / Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer / The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, / Or to take arms against a sea of troubles / And by opposing end them.” Hamlet is contemplating the situation at hand, whether or not he should pretend to be okay with what has happened or to stand up for what he believes and take the necessary acts to preserve his dignity. In the end Hamlet has avenged his father’s death and knowing his fate he takes a drink of what he knows to be poisoned wine and ends his own life.
Hamlet and Willy share another characteristic of a tragic hero, they both have tragic flaws; a failure that is not particular to grand or elevate characters. Willy’s tragic flaw is that he lives in the past and cannot adapt to the changing world. Throughout the whole play Willy preaches the ideals of the past one being all you need is a good personality to become successful, and if you’re not well liked you’ll never become anything. Characters in the play realize Willy’s flaw, “He had all the wrong dreams. All, all wrong.” Biff was speaking saying that because Willy could never let the past go and change with society he believed in non-existent ideals. This inability to adapt leads to Willy’s downfall when he realizes what he’s believed in was all wrong.
Hamlets tragic flaw lies within his inability to make decisions, whenever a situation comes his way he thinks about it way too much and this lets the circumstances become too complicated. In Hamlet, there is a scene where Hamlet has the perfect chance to kill his uncle (Claudius), yet because he sees Claudius kneeling in a church Hamlet doesn’t kill him, due to Hamlets “reasoning” he believes that Claudius is praying, so if Hamlet were to kill him Claudius wouldn’t go to hell. This prolongs the deed Hamlet has to do which allows more people to get involved and the situation gets more complicated, “I will act as quick as meditation.”
The Essay on Willy Loman Tragic Hero
Willy Loman Tragic Hero, OR Misguided Fool In The Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller, it is argued weather that Willy Loman is a tragic hero. There are cases for both classifications of Willy. By definition, a tragic hero is a person born into nobility, is responsible for their own fate, endowed with a tragic flaw, and doomed to make a serious error in judgment. The tragic hero eventually falls ...
Another character trait of a tragic hero is nobility. Hamlet is a noble character, even though he reacts slowly he eventually does what is needed, “The serpent that did sting thy father’s life / Now wears his crown… If thou hast nature in thee, bear it not / Let not the royal bed of Denmark be / A couch for luxury and damned incest.” This is Hamlet speaking and he’s saying that he disapproves with what has been going on in the “royal family,” he’s mad that there’s incest, betrayal, and murder therefore he says “Let not the royal bed of Denmark be / A couch for luxury and damned incest,” meaning he won’t just stand by in disgust but instead he will act upon it and be noble. Willy, too, is noble, he doesn’t take any guff or disrespect from others, Willy tells Linda that when he overhears some co-workers speaking about Willy in a demeaning way he knocks them out, he also won’t “associate” with those who he thinks are less then him, Biff says “Shake hands, Dad.” Willy replies, “Not my hand.” Willy thinks his son is a failure and won’t even shake his hand because of what he believes.
Both Hamlet and Willy are two characters who refuse to listen to others, and due to their characteristics they’re not easy to relate to, but whether or not one likes either Hamlet or Willy both of them are two characters who fall under the description of Miller’s tragic hero; both are noble characters who have pride in themselves, willing to lay down their lives for a sense of their personal dignity, and both have tragic flaws.
