Do we have the ability to control our destiny? The truth is this, one can set their goals and try to attain them and one can dreams their dreams and try to live them but the difference must be known. The character Willy Loman, in the play Death of A Salesman, seems to be a person who is not aware of the difference in reality and dreams. Willys choices throughout his life undeniably lead to his own demise. Willy Loman is a tragic hero. His fear is that he wants to be viewed as a good, decent human being. He wants to believe that hes a well-liked, decent person who doesnt make mistakes.
The truth s that he makes mistakes, many that haunt him, and that he is human. Willy does not consider this normal and severely regrets such failures such as raising his children poorly, as he sees it, not doing well in business, though he wishes he were, and cheating on his wife Linda, showing her to be a commodity of which he takes advantage. Linda has a true, pure love for her husband. Linda stands behind him through it all, through his dreams and broken promises, she still believes in him. “The quality in such plays that does shake us… erives from the underlying fear of being displaced, the disaster inherent in being torn way from our chosen image of what and who we are in the world” (Miller, “Tragedy”). Willys “underlying fear of being displaced” is the real tragedy. He wants to do things right, but the fact is he has many incidences that haunt him. Consistently throughout the play, Willy drifts in and out of a dream. He is constantly haunted by memories of his dead brother Ben who struck it rich the jungle. He also has flashbacks of incidents that haunt him in other areas. For example, the sequence in which Biff catches Willy with a woman other than Linda.
This haunts Willy because he sees it as part of why Biff does not love him. Tragedy then is the consequence of a mans total compulsion to evaluate himself justly” (Miller, “Tragedy”). This is Willys flaw. The circumstances in his life and the identity he has created for himself are being affronting by his inner reality to “evaluate himself justly. ” This flaw is “… his inherent unwillingness to remain passive in the face of what he conceives to be a challenge to his dignity, his image or his rightful status” (Miller, “Tragedy”). Indeed this is the case with Willy. He decides to take action rather than complacently become outdated.
Willy continually argues with hose around him in order to try to keep his personal dignity. These include his argument with Howard that he can still sell, his arguments with Charley over the card game and the job, and his argument with Biff about not being “a dime a dozen. ” “I am not a dime a dozen! I am Willy Loman and you are Biff Loman” (Miller, Death 132)! Willy, in addition to meeting Millers definition of a tragic hero, in a way connects with the traditional requirements. Willy, after he receives an assurance that Biff loves him, offers the only thing he knows to somehow make recompense; he takes his own life.
He oes this so Biff will attain the insurance money. Here we can see that Willy’s sincere desire is directed at something greater than himself, his image, or his success. He is motivated by his love for his son. Therefore, since his primary focus is beyond himself, it consequently elevates him. “He taps into and is accordingly clothed with the grandeur tragedy” (Dwyer). Willy, like traditional tragic heroes, has a tragic flaw. “The possibility of victory must be there in tragedy” (Miller, “Tragedy”). Setting aside Willys “tragic flaw,” there is a certain amount of hope that Willy will change.
If there is something to bring the element of hope into the play, there also comes the conceivable possibility of change. “Change is the compelling force, without which, there would be no hope” (Dwyer). And with change, comes the conceivable possibility of victory. The entire play, Willy lives by the credo “be well liked. ” “Someday I’ll have my own business, and I’ll never have to leave home any more bigger that Uncle Charley! Because Charley is not liked. He’s liked, but he’s not well liked” (Miller, Death 30)! He finds this untrue as he increasingly makes less and less money on business trips.
Howard, and now I can’t even pay my insurance! You can’t eat the orange and throw away the peel! A man is not a piece of fruit” (Miller, Death 82)! He, however, refuses to change his view of the world and continues his struggle upstream. What makes this tragic, though, is that he does not change. It is his “tragic flaw” that brings this failure about him. His unwillingness to submit passively to the established order and values takes him down. He has a set idea in his mind about how he wants to be and the way he wants his children to be. He is a salesman and refuses to be anything else.
Willy, even at an early age, had a chance to change and become like his brother Ben, but chose not to. He saw the life of a salesman and refused to do anything else. He had decided what he wanted to be. In the end, because of his unwillingness to change and submit passively to the established world, Willy dies at the hands of his tragic flaws. The common man, indeed, can relate to Willy Loman. His stubborn refusal of character change along with his fear of being denied his identity by the world and his attempts to believe that existence can be justly evaluated brings upon him the death of a ragic hero.
This death locks him into place both as a hero by Miller’s standards and by traditional standards. So the question is raised again, does one have the ability to control their destiny? Dream you dreams or live them; the choice is yours. I dont say hes a great man. Willy Loman never made a lot of money. His name was never in the paper. Hes not the finest character that ever lived. But hes a human being, and a terrible thing has happened to him. So attention must be paid. Hes not to be allowed to fall into this grave like an old dog. Attention must be paid to such a person.
