Choose one of the following topics for your essay. Be sure to form a well thought out thesis, narrower in focus than the topic furnish. Defend the thesis with appropriate evidence in the form of quotes and brief summary of parts of the play. Please follow the format below, and do not neglect to submit a rough draft, significantly different from the second, revised draft that you wish to be considered for a grade. Also I remind you that your essay, like every essay submitted on the university level, must have a title that is not just a description of the assignment..

1. Aristotle notes that the tragic hero is a man who is "eminently good and just, yet whose misfortune is brought about not by vice or depravity, but by some error or frailty [a 'tragic flaw' within the person]." Arthur Miller's idea of the modern tragic hero emphasizes the clash between the character and the environment, especially the social environment. He says that each person has a chosen image of self and position and that tragedy results when the character's environment denies the fulfillment of this self-concept. Choose one of these two definitions to argue that Willy Loman, Biff, or Linda from Miller's Death of a Salesman is a tragic hero. If you use the modern definition, you may want to define in the first or second paragraph what you mean by "environment" in the context of your essay.

2. Putting aside the question of heroism discuss one of the characters.
A. If you choose Willy, discuss his good points as well as his failings. Try to show how Miller enables us to care about what happens to Willy. Conclude by explaining how Willy's role serves to convey the theme of the play (which you will therefore have to state).

B. If you write about Biff and Happy, discuss how they function in the play and how their roles reinforce the theme.