Death of a Salesman: Tragedy or Social Drama?
Tragedy

One of the most frequent questions that surround Death of a Salesman is
whether or not it can be termed a tragedy.

Aristotle, writing in his Poetics, said tragedy represents men as better
than they are.

The purpose of tragedy is to create pity and fear in the audience and
this is ultimately achieved by showing us a fate that we fear and a
character that deserves our pity for undergoing it.

Arguably, Death of a Salesman conforms to this pattern. Act I inspires
sympathy for Willy as his fragile and sad state of mind is made clear.
Act II engenders further pity as he is made to suffer.

Aristotle thought that the status of a tragic hero could only be afforded
to those of high birth, since for a lowly person to come to grief would
not be so moving. The tragic hero would be the one who made the fatal
mistake and was punished out of all proportion. The hamartia or tragic
flaw in their personality caused him to suffer.

To be a tragic hero in the Aristotelian sense, Willy has to be a man of
virtue who has a tragic flaw that leads to a terrible fate.

Playwrights such as Henry Ibsen extended the definition of tragedy to
the ordinary person who becomes involved in a fate they do not
deserve and are not responsible for.

Arthur Miller was influenced by Ibsen. He stated in The New York
Times, ‘I believe that the common man is as apt a subject for tragedy as
kings are.’

For Willy to be a tragic hero in this sense he must be deemed as
admirable and worthwhile. Therefore, his demise can be seen as
wasteful and ultimately tragic.

‘The corner grocer could be just as tragic as the president of the United
States if he engages the issues of, for instance, the survival of the race.
The relationships of man to God – the questions, in short, whose
answers define humanity and the right way to live.’

Part of the play’s appeal was the elevation of the ordinary American to
heroic status. It enabled many of the original New York audience to
feel that their own lives had been dignified.

Willy could be seen as a man who is in charge of his own fate. He may
be punished by forces beyond his control, but the error was committed
by the character himself. To make such a character distinguished, the
error must come form a noble intention which is somehow thwarted.
Heroic Status

George Steiner wrote in Death of Tragedy (1961) that a contemporary
audience can no longer accept that a tragic hero is punished by some
cosmic force unleashed by a mistake. We no longer believe in these
metaphysical forces. A tragedy must be brought about by the central
characters themselves and by certain social factors.

Tragic heroes now must have autonomy: they are responsible for their
actions. Yet, the more responsibility that we give Willy the more
foolish he appears. All the external forces that influence him could
potentially be avoided.

Willy’s fanatical desire to transcend his own ordinariness is certainly a
noble pursuit. We can see Willy as a hero for the normal man. His
failures to achieve his ambitions are certainly tragic, although perhaps
not in a traditional, Aristotelian sense.
Social Drama

If Willy is not a tragic figure then one alternative is that this is a play
which sets out to show how society is structured to bring good people
to ruin, a social drama.

The concepts of a social drama and a tragedy are, more or less,
exclusive. If society is to blame then Willy is not tragic.

Perhaps this play’s purpose is to show the corrupting influence of
American Society.

If this is the case, and it is society’s fault, then the play could be seen as
tragic but in a narrower sense; tragic in the sense that any defeat of
ordinary people by an inhuman system is.

Eleanor Clark wrote that ‘it is, of course, the brutal capitalist system
that has done Willy.’ She also said that ‘it is our particular form of
money economy that has bred the false ideals of both father and sons.
Is Death of a Salesman a tragedy or does it owe more to the concept of a social
drama?