The Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller tells the story of the failure of a salesman, Willy Loman. Although not all Americans are salespeople, most of us share Willy's dream of success. We are all partners in the American dream and believers in the conspiracy of silence that failures must outnumber successes. (Samantaray, 2014) Miller merges the archetype of the tragic hero with the ordinary American citizen. The result is the anti-hero, Willy Loman. He is a simple salesman who constantly aspires to become "big". Nevertheless, Willy has a declining sales career and is an aging man who considers himself a failure but is unable to consciously admit it. As a result, the drama of the play lies not so much in its events, but in Willy's deceptive perception and memory as the audience gradually witnesses the tragic demise of a helpless man. By creating Willy Loman, Miller presents the audience with a tragic figure of human proportions. Miller characterizes the common man (the “low man”) and ennobles his achievements. Willy's son Biff refers to his father as a "prince", evoking a possible comparison with Shakespeare's Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. Thus, the play greatly appeals to the public because it elevates an ordinary American to the level of heroic. The death of a salesman seems consistent with the “tragic” tradition according to which there is an anti-hero whose state of hamartia causes him to suffer. The audience is forced to genuinely sympathize with Willy's demise, in large part because he is an ordinary man subject to the same temptations as the rest of us. Miller uses many characters to contrast the difference between success and failure in the American system. Willy Loman is an illusory salesman who... middle of paper ... has access to, and we measure men by their career success rather than the more difficult process of looking at the whole person. We are all partners in the American dream and believers in the conspiracy of silence that failures must outnumber successes. Perhaps the great power of Death of a Salesman is that it shatters the conspiracy of silence and reveals to us a failure that looks too much like our worst fears. Works consulted Bloom, Harold. Arthur Miller. New York: Chelsea, 2008. Griffin, Alice. Understanding Arthur Miller. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1996Miller, Arthur. Death of a seller. UK: Penguin, 2013. Samantaray, Swati. “DYSTOPIA: A REVIEW OF ARTHUR MILLER’S DEATH OF A SALESMAN” New Academia, January 2014. Web. May 18, 2015. http://oaji.net/articles/2014/1439-1416462621.pdf