In the times of Aristotle the tragic hero needed to be of high social stature. In the modern day, readers often prefer to read stories with which they can relate to. Therefore the tragic hero can be any ordinary person, just like Willy Loman. The reader must also be able to admire and pity the hero, however this is not true in Death of a Salesman. In Mliller's commentaries, Tragedy and the Common Man, he states that "the underlyning struggle is that of the individual attempting to gain his "rightful" position in his society". This is true, but there needs to be more than an attempt- some sort of happiness must be achieved so that the reader can admire him, as well as pity him when the downfall occurs. As a result of the struggle, after those moments of success, only then can the deception occur so that there is reason for the reader so have pity for the character, in addition to admiration. Willy had the potential to be a tragic hero, just as anybody does, yet right up !

to the end he remained a victim trapped in his own world of illusions.

To be a tragic hero, there must also be that moment of discovery and recognition, so that the audience in the end evok

and that he's giving his son a chance to be successful like him, {"I always knew one way or another we were gonna make it, Biff and I!"}. Even in his hour of death his thoughts are always in the dreamland of the business world. "When the mail comes he'll be ahead of Bernard again" {Act 2}. He is unable to truly recognize his own nature, and as a result he mind never leaves the world of illusions.

Many aspects of tragedy have changed over the years, but its main purpose should not. A tragedy must arouse and soothe the audiences emotions of pity and fear-with the result of a catharsis. Rather than a tragic feeling, a feeling of relief is achieved by the end of Death of a Salesman. It is tiring and irritating hearing of Willy's illusionary world; one is only hopeful that he does come to the realization that he has been living in a world far from the truth. However, he does not, his death seems to have, in a way, put him and his two sons out of their misery. Biff has realizes the illusion in which his family has lived in for so long, and finally Willy is no longer there to make him think otherwise. The ending, however, is somewhat unfortunate for Happy, because he has taken Willy's position, with the same beliefs in the illusionary world. The reader is therefore, relieve by Willy's death, yet at the same time is pitiful for Happy.

The same is clear in Act 2, right before

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 940
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)