A tragic hero is a character who in spite of a basic goodness and authority, has a tragic flaw, and because of this fault is destined to fail. A true tragic hero or heroine recognizes his or her flaw/s, but typically not until it is too late to stop to downward spiral. A few examples of tragic heroes and heroines are from the many works of Shakespeare such as Julius Caesar, Oedipus, Antigone, and Hamlet. In Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller, Willy Loman, the tragic hero, has so many flaws that end up in suicide before he has a chance to resolve them.

To begin with, one of Willy’s biggest tragic flaws is his failure of being a good father. And does not hold a rightful position in his family. Willy is not a good father for many reasons. He always made his job his first priority. Willy’s travels were extensive, and he never got the opportunity to get to know his sons. From this he did not love Biff and Happy like a father should. His love for Biff is based on his achievement as an athlete and when Biff loses the scholarship, Will was so mad that he no longer loved Biff as he once did. Since Biff lost his scholarship he moved out West to find a job. When Willy found out that Biff was a cattle herder he was very disgusted. Willy wanted Biff to be the success that he never was and feels that Biff will not achieve success in the occupation that he is now holding. In all aspects, Willy has failed to be a good father. Instead as a father, he is a pathetic and selfish failure which is furthermore defined in every other aspect of his life.

Next, Willy was also a bad husband to Linda. Linda was very loyal, loving and selfless when it came to Willy. She even dealt with Willy’s extravagant dreams and self-delusions. Besides the dreams Linda had to deal with Willy and his constant yelling at her for no reason or when she would try to input her advice in various situations. While Biff and Happy were in high school and Willy was on the rode, Willy had an affair with The Woman. Willy had no real reason to have slept with her, it was only because he was feeling lonely on the rode without Linda. Willy has many flashbacks about her and the night that Biff came to Boston for comfort and instead catches his father having an affair. Willy really seemed to take Linda for granted, when he should be very thankful that he has her in his life.

Another tragic flaw of Willy’s is his pride. Willy’s pride is so great that he is unable to admit his faults, which lead into various lies. Willy has no pride in what he does, although he hides these emotions. In truth, he is so embarrassed that he cannot make a single sale or earn a single dollar that he begins borrowing fifty dollars a week from Charley, his neighbor and long time friend. He then lies to himself and his family saying the fifty dollars is his salary. Willy will not admit that he has made mistakes because he will not sacrifice his pride for something that could ruin his life.

Willy does have good characteristics as well, which most other tragic heroes and heroines have. One of those characteristics is determination. Though Willy does not have much pride in what he does, he is very determined to be very successful. Willy wants for him, Biff and Happy to be very successful in the business world. An additional dream of Willy’s is to be like Dave Singleman, an eighty-four year old salesman, who did all his business to his buyers from his hotel rooms in various cities. At Dave Singleman’s funeral hundreds of salesmen and buyer came. That is how Willy also wanted to die, remembered by all of his buyers and fellow salesmen. Even though in the end that not what Willy got he was so determined to do anything he could to get that type of recognition. Another matter Willy was determined to do was to get the love, comradeship, and trust back from Biff. This was lost when Biff went to find Willy in Boston and found Willy having an affair. Again Willy never achieves that goal but through out the play Willy tries by remembering, his flashbacks, the things that went on between himself and Biff.

In conclusion, a tragic hero can be anyone from a common person to a king, that has many flaws and won’t admit them until its too late. Willy Loman is a tragic hero, he has mad many mistakes that he won’t admit to, because he does not want to sacrifice his pride. Even though their stories are different Willy Loman, Julius Caesar, Oedipus, Antigone and Hamlet will all have the common characteristics of a tragic hero.