Willy Loman as the tragic hero in Death of a Salesman Willy Loman, the tormented father and husband in Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller , can be classified as a tragic hero, as defined by Aristotle in his work Poetics. In Aristotle's Poetics, a tragic hero was defined as one who falls from grace into a state of extreme despair. Willy, as we are introduced, becomes increasingly unhappy as he goes from a devoted and loving, if not without his flaws, father to a suicidal and delusional man. The definition of a tragic hero, as stated in "Poetics", also describes a person who is influential and significant to others. Although, in reality, Willy Loman may not possess these characteristics, he perceives that he does as he takes care of himself, his children, and his wife. A final distinction noted by Aristotle was that a tragic hero is not a bad person who deserves his impending misfortune, but instead has committed a series of mistakes that lead to his downfall. We can see that Willy does not purposely create this harmful situation for himself, he is just unaware that some of his actions are wrong, which contributes to his downfall. Willy Loman therefore personifies the attributes of a tragic hero as proposed by Aristotle. Willy, with a house, a car, a job, two children he adores and a supportive and caring wife, seems to have everything any man could want. . He manages, however, to alienate himself from these things he loves towards the end of the play as he slips into a self-induced state of altered reality. Willy, being "...just...terribly lonely" (Miller, page #) has an affair with a woman during his marriage to Linda. Even if Linda isn't aware of it, or doesn't mention it... middle of paper... she hasn't honed her sales skills, but she has never purposely hurt people in her life. Willy Loman's actions, and the reactions of those around him, we can see that his character follows the model of a tragic hero presented by Aristotle in his works, "Poetics". Willy goes through life on a path that begins with prosperity, as evidenced by his assets and his successful family, and ends in poverty, when he loses his job and commits suicide. Willy has indeed made mistakes in his life, and we can recognize that they are mistakes and were never intended to harm anyone, but rather to satisfy his own needs. These characteristics therefore, by Aristotle's determination, make him not an "evil man" (Aristotle, 1303), and not a virtuous man, but "a man whose place is between these extremes"; (Aristotle, 1303) by definition, the tragic hero.