The Tragic Heroes of Oedipus and Willy Loman

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Although Willy Loman and Oedipus come from different spectrums of the social ladder, their hamartia cause them to suffer a similar downfall. The protagonists are cursed with the inability to distinguish illusion from reality. Willy Loman, a common salesman, is living a delusional life, one of the repercussions of the delusions carved by the appeal of grandeur of the American Dream. Willy’s delusions stem from his visions of success, visions that have buffered his reality for a number of years. Willy went to his death with these delusions. He died without coming to grips with reality, a death amid a cloud of delusion. Willy’s hamartia is that he has an uncanny inability acceptt the truth. Willy is so caught up in his warped illusions that he even goes as far as to justify his suicide saying that Biff will be able to finally make something of himself with his life insurance money. This act confirms the belief that, even until the last moments of his life, Willy lives a lie. Similarly, in “Oedipus and the King,” Oedipus, the epitome of a tragic hero, is buffered from reality. He believes in a set of facts that are proven false as the truth of his situation is revealed over the course of the play. Instead of owning up to his reality, Oedipus continues to run from his misfortunes and blinds himself. Oedipus's harmartia is his lack of knowledge about his own identity.

Although both plays take place in different time periods and strikingly different scenarios , they encompass the same ideals. Willy would have rathered died a “dignified death” underlied with lies than accept his failure and Oedipus would rather have blinded himself than accept responsibility and face his wrongdoings. As a result, their hamartia leads each protagonist down the path towards imminent tragedy: Willy and his suicide, and Oedipus and his self- inflicted mutilation and exile. Similarly, both Willy Loman and Oedipus commit acts of violence in order to recompense their guilt over their failure to do "the right thing".