The Value of the Common Man in Miller’s ‘Death of a Salesman’

The idea that only a figure of higher status can hold dramatic tension in a tragedy negates the impact of tragedies on audiences. The catharsis that comes with the end of tragedy, when an equilibrium is found once more within the text, arguably does not come from a sense of relief in a character of high status retaining their power, but in the fact that the emotional toil that comes from the ‘point of realisation’ has finally ended.

In Arthur Miller’s play ‘Death of a Salesman’ the subjects of the tragic plot are a working-class family from Brooklyn, New York City – at the time of the play being published, Miller defended his choice to have the Lomans at the centre of tragedy in his essay ‘Tragedy and the Common Man’. Here, he outlines his philosophy that the events of tragic narratives (especially Greek tragedies) “were enacted by royal kings beings, but which apply to everyone in similar emotional situations”. Miller injects the idea that the everyday person is worthy of tragic storytelling into the spoken word of his characters, Willy Loman is a “prince” and his sons are “built like Adonises” – bringing forward the idea that although the Lomans are working-class, they are still ‘god-like’ in some aspects. 

‘Death of a Salesman’ can be strongly inferred to have socialist sympathies, the Lomans’ growing disillusionment with capitalism is a key factor in this reading of the text; Happy has what he’s “always wanted… And still, goddammit, I’m lonely.” These political ideologies have a strong alignment with bringing forth social equality, to remove systems of power which deliberately keep families (such as Lomans) poorer for the gain of richer and more powerful people; Willy complains that the “competition is maddening” and that the apartments that have been constructed around their house “stink”. Miller outlines the idea that the motivation for Willy’s actions is founded in his disillusionment with the capitalist system, at least in some ways given that he still moves to give his sons the chance to succeed in the same system that killed him. Miller instils a sense of equality in his text as the common man is given the same gravity as a the likes of Shakespeare’s tragic heroes: Othello, for example, kills himself and Desdemona (his wife) because he fears he has been betrayed by her, the alleged betrayal is the motivation for the tragedy of the plot, not Othello’s power as a figure in the Venetian army. Miller’s play ‘The Crucible’ was also inspired by his run-ins during McCarthy America.

Miller argues that the ‘common man’ is just as valuable as a tragic hero than any character of great power and status. Shakespeare put on plays for the ‘groundlings’ of Elizabethan society and those audiences were still fully capable of understanding the plight of the high-ranking characters before them. Perhaps characters that are more ‘normal’ make plays more compelling, Willy Loman has survived so strongly as a figure in tragic literature largely because his undoing is so relatable to audiences, his disillusionment with the system is one that most people can probably relate to, especially after/during the pandemic, where social inequalities have been exposed in their most insidious forms.

Miller’s message in his play is founded in the ways in which the common man, the everyday individual, navigate a world in which they are deliberately isolated from the power and high status that other characters in tragic tradition have enjoyed (or not enjoyed – Macbeth did not have fun once he murdered his way to power). Willy Loman, despite the sadness inherent to his exit in the play’s narrative, leaves behind some hope for his family as the Lomans are “free” and perhaps Biff and Happy have one more chance to find the success their father hoped he would be able to see them achieve.

With thanks to LS year 13 2022