Willy Lomans tragedy is due more to his own flawed character than to societies flaws. Advancements in science throughout this century have led to tremendous advancements in industry. Advancements in industry, however, have not always led to advancements in living. For some, society has created mass wealth. For most mass society has created a standard of living unparalleled throughout history. For Willy Loman, however, mass society has created only tremendous grief and hardship, aggravated by the endless promise. For these reasons, his tragedy is due more to societies flaws than to the flaws in his own character. Willy Loman was host to many flaws and deficiencies ranging form suicidal tendencies to psychotic disorders. However, these shortcomings did not account for his tragic end, not by themselves anyway. Society is to blame. It was society who stripped him of his dignity, piece by piece. It was society who stripped him of his lifestyle, and his own sons who stripped him of hope. The themes in the play were greed, compassion, and the third is a social safety net.The most obvious flaw in society is greed, the desire to get ahead of the next guy. This malady is present on a national level. It is the philosophy of business and comprises the dreams of man. Sometimes, this can drive man to great things, sometimes it can drive a man to ruin. Willy was driven to the latter. (Not his own greed for he was a simple man with simple dreams, but by the greed of others.) The developers who took away the sun and gave birth to shadows, his boss who reduced him to commission and his sons which reduced him to a failure. The next largest flaw in society is a lack of compassion. This could be as a result of almost overwhelming greed, the main culprit being big business. "I'm always in a race with the junkyard! I just finished paying for the car and it's on it last legs. The refrigerator consumes belts like a beep maniac. They time those things."(Act 2...
