Willy's False Dream

Tragedy, according to “On the Nature of Tragedy” by Arthur Miller is a drama which not only recalls the events of the past, it lets us see the reasons for why things turned out the way they did. It does this by revealing the characters’ personalities, and, through them, revealing a hope for a better and brighter end. By getting to know a character’s whole personality, we are discovering their dreams and their goals. A character who, in the end, did not achieve their goal is tragic. “Tragedy arises when you are in the presence of a man who has missed accomplishing his joy (“Nature of Tragedy).” Willy is a tragic character because he puts all of his hope into a dream of being successful; but his hope was false, and his dream was his end.
Willy believed that he could earn success simply by being well-liked and well-known: “…it’s not what you do…It’s who you know and the smile on your fac...