Tragic Flaw

• The Tragic Flaw: Hamartia

  The concept of ‘hamartia’ in Death of a Salesman can be seen in key decisions made by Willy in the play.
• Aristotle

  • For Aristotle, the death and destruction in a tragedy is caused by the hero making a profound mistake.
  • This mistake arises from some flaw or weakness in the hero’s character.
• Shakespeare

  • Shakespearean heroes are often defined by their tragic flaws:
  • Macbeth’s ruthless ambition.
  • Othello’s jealousy and susceptibility to fits of rage.
  • Hamlets’s indecision and inability to commit to a single course of action.
• Hamartia

  • The concept of ‘hamartia’ in Death of a Salesman can be seen in key decisions made by Willy in the play e.g. turning down Charley’s job offer.
• Willy's flaw

  • But for most commentators, Willy suffers from a tragic flaw: his blind faith in his flawed vision of the American Dream which is connected to his inability to understand himself and the contradictory impulses (e.g be competitive but be popular) which drive him.
• Language

  • Biff sums up Willy’s ‘hamartia’ in the Requiem: “He had the wrong dreams. All, all wrong… He never knew who he was.”
  • Miller’s use of monosyllables in these lines help to give Biff’s words an air of finality - this is who Willy was.