In Arthur Miller's essay titled, "Tragedy and the Common Man", he talks about the problems with the typical tragic hero that society has seen in the works of Aristotle, and by association, William Shakespeare and others of the sort.
Miller passionately describes how tragedy is not known better anywhere than in the life of the common man. By challenging the norm so bravely, he completely redefines what a tragic hero is, stating that a tragic hero as one who attempts to "gain his 'rightful' position in his society" and in doing so, struggles for his dignity.
These ideas are ever-present in Miller's play, "Death of a Salesman", in which the everyman Willy Loman, works everyday trying to support his family and live in the world in which he has tricked himself into believing he is a big fish in a massive pond. Willy displays perfectly what Miller sees as a modern tragedy, fighting for his own dignity, in this powerful scene.
At 2:40 of this video Biff Loman, Willy's son, tells his father that he is, "a dime a dozen", to which Willy responds, "I am not a dime a dozen! I AM WILLY LOMAN, AND YOU ARE BIFF LOMAN!"
This outburst is powerful when the audience realizes that this man has fought his entire life to be somebody for himself and his family, for his son to call him "cheap", its as if he is telling his father he has failed in life. Willy cannot allow this to be true as to give up his dignity. Please, go back and watch this scene if you have not, and experience it however you may, see if you can recognize any aspect of yourself in this dialogue, and relate it to experiences in your life.
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Another powerful account of the everyman hero is in Lorraine Hansberry's, "A Raisin in the Sun". In this novel, a black family lives in a small apartment in a White America's south side Chicago. Mama shares this living space with her two children, Beneatha and Walter, and Walter's wife and son, Ruth and Travis. Mama's husband has passed away before the play takes place and the family is expecting an insurance check for ten-thousand dollars.
This introduction gets the reader directly involved in the story and the issues of the characters. Our tragic hero here is Walter Lee, as he works as a chauffer driver for a rich, white man, to support his family. Unsatisfied with this, he dreams of using the insurance money to invest in a liquor store with some friends in a "get rich quick" type of plan. After some developments and his mother's purchase of a house in a white neighborhood, he does eventually get given a significant fraction of the original money.
He gives the money to his business partner, only to learn that the same business partner has skipped town and taken the money.
Walter must now decide whether to take a white man's money to leave their neighborhood, or stand his ground, and retain a shred of his family's dignity.
In a chilling and powerful speech, this decision is drawn out. This video has a breathtaking display of this moment.
This speech is another prefect example of a man having to act to protect his dignity. This is especially powerful when statuses at odds in this situation are taken into consideration. Many of us will never have to be put in a situation that Walter has found himself in. The strength it takes for a black man to stand up for the respect of his family in a white dominated society, is remarkable, and aids to the power of this scene.
Willy Loman and Walter Lee are tragic heroes, but unlike those of the past. In some ways, the power of messages these men send, surpass any problem that a Nordic Prince could ever have.
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