The Failure of Willy Loman: A Cautionary Tale Introduction Start with brief summary overview: What is play about,

literally characters, setting, basic plot events? What does it mean? (theme, Millers purpose). Lead into idea that this play is not an Aristotelian tragedy, following Millers and our democratic belief in equality rather than in the superiority of noblemen over commoners. Thesislast sentence of introductory paragraph: Living as a middle class American salesman instead of as a noble king, Willy Loman doesnt repeat the tragic experience that Aristotle spoke of, through his blatant absence of moral values, his deserved fall resulting from a major character flaw, his delusional lack of realization, and the audiences apathetic response. Here is why it works as a thesis: Arguable: some willl say that Death of a Salesman IS an Aristotelian tragedy because Willy is noble in wanting the best for his family and trying his hardest, because he doesnt deserve his fall through hamartia, because he recognizes he is a failure toward the end of the play, and because the audience pities Willy and fears the fate of the low man. Willy is the hero who falls, and realizes he is worth more dead to his family than alive. Therefore, Aristotles requirements for the tragic hero are met. Supportable with evidence from the play. Specific prongs indicate sub-divisions for the argument: (1) immorality of character, (2) fall through major character flaw, not hamartia, (3) lack of insight, (4) audiences indifference. These will provide the topic for the body paragraphs.

Bolded parts of outline are grammatically parallel. Italicized portions below provide material that could be used in support, but they are not in grammatically parallel form. I. Blatant absence of morality (Adjective-Noun-Preposition-Noun) A. Desire for family to succeed (to conform to the American Dream) 1. To be well-liked a. Willy thinks that to succeed, one must be well-liked. b. Doesnt need to actually work hard or follow a moral code. 2. To be the best (Willy wants Biff and Happy to be the take what you want no matter what type of people like Ben was and to lie or cheat or steal to get there) B. Continuance of actions that are immoral 1. About affair (Willy enters an affair with a woman despite having a family and a wife to take care of) 2. About lying (Willy continues to fib to his sons and even his boss about his success) C. Pursuit of values of others 1. Of Dave Singleman (Willy wants to be just like Dave, to be able to be successful and just be lazy, sit around, and have success come to him) 2. Of Ben (He admires Bens take all attitude and thinks that anyone can make it in the jungle) Deserved fall through vices (character flaws, not hamartia) A. Choice of job (Willy chose to be a salesman, despite being happier working with his hands) B. Choosing to lie/cheat his way through life (Willy is obsessed with being well-liked, no matter the cost) C. Delusions of grandeur (He believes he can still succeed, leading him to still try and be what he cannot, causing him to become insane over time) D. Backwards definition of happiness (Willy thinks that being successful is the top priority and leads to being happy, instead of happiness leading to a good life and success) Delusional lack of realization A. Absence of recognition (Willy never sees the problem is not the rest of the world, but himself that prevents his success from ever coming to fruition) B. Suicide instead of overcoming (Instead of actually facing his challenges head on, he takes the easy way out by killing himself in a car wreck after talking to Ben) C. Broken qualifications to be loved (Willy believes he must make money or be well-liked for his family to love him. He doesnt think they love him because of his personality or character, but because of his job)

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Apathetic response of audience A. Dislike towards Willy (Willy is a pathetic character, but not to be pitied. He blames the rest of the world for his problems and never takes any action to solve them) B. Unconcern of fate (The audience does not fear what happens to Willy, because his fate was his own fault. He became insane due to his own vices and failed to achieve his broken dream: one that is not shared by the audience)

Conclusion Do not begin, In conclusion. Briefly repeat your point that Millers play doesnt adapt to modern times Aristotles ancient stipulations for tragedy. Then tell why it matters. UTP-ER!