Willy Loman and Troy Maxson: Tragic Heroes In his essay, "Tragedy and the Common Man," Arthur Miller wrote, "Tragedy, then, is the consequence of a man’s total compulsion to evaluate himself justly." This truth is apparent in the two plays, "Death of a Salesman" by Miller and "Fences" by August Wilson. Through their struggles against society as well as themselves, the characters of Willy Loman and Troy Maxson bring new meaning to the classical definition of "tragic hero." In "Death of a Salesman" Miller condemns the American ideal of prosperity, seeing it as something that few can pursue without making dangerous moral compromises. Willy Loman, the sixty-year-old pr