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QUESTION
‘It is often said that protagonists in plays are flawed in some
way.’ To what degree and with what effect are the strengths
and weaknesses of the protagonists significant to two or
three plays you have studied?
It is often the case that the audience’s interest in the protagonist of a play is
derived as much from his weaknesses as his heroic qualities. The works
‘Death of a Salesman’ and ‘A Doll’s House’ exemplify this fact. Willy Loman
suffers from a tragic lack of self-knowledge and is trapped by his materialism,
while Nora is presented as a meekly submissive housewife with no identity of
her own. Significantly, it is the inability of these characters to recognise and
address these flaws that determines their eventual fate. Hence the strengths
and weaknesses of the protagonists are of central importance to the
development of both plays.
In ‘Death of a Salesman’, Willy is a character who suffers many faults. The

most fundamental of these is his lack of self-realisation. A man who ‘never
knew who he was’, he is determined to insulate himself from reality and
refuses to face facts. Instead, due to his hubris, he inhabits a half-imagined
world in which he relives memories of Biff’s sporting success at Ebbett’s Field,
and of his successful brother Ben who is represented by a haunting and
wistful musical motif. In truth, Willy is a failure as a salesman and
breadwinner, and his son a ‘lazy bum’ unable to earn a dollar an hour. Biff’s
remark ‘We never told the truth for ten minutes in this house’ is thus an apt
one. Miller conveys this idea of self-deception though extensive use of
flashback and the device of the invisible ‘fourth wall.’ These elements serve to
blur the boundaries between past and present, truth and fantasy and dream
and
consciousness in the mind of the audience. The towering apartment buildings
on the set also create a feeling of claustrophobia, giving events an almost
phantasmagoric quality. In this way, the playwright reveals the hallucinatory
nature of Willy’s experiences. In addition to this, Willy also suffers from a
crippling materialism, as represented by the motifs of the refrigerators and
cars. The fact that these are always breaking down conveys the shallow
nature of such an outlook on life. Thus, Miller presents his protagonist as a
deeply flawed man.
In ‘A Doll’s House’, Ibsen’s central character also suffers from significant

weaknesses. At the outset of the play, Nora is portrayed as a vacuous ‘doll-
wife’ and Torvald Helmer’s ‘most treasured possession.’ She is happy to hear
her husband’s patronising terms of endearment ‘songbird’ and ‘spendthrift’, as
long as they bring her monetary reward. The Helmers’ marriage is a
meaningless infantilised one, as shown by Nora’s comment. ‘I can’t get
anywhere without your help,’ which reveals an almost cringing subservience.
The triviality of Nora’s existence is represented by the symbol of the
macaroons. Like Willy, she lacks self-knowledge and has no identity other
than the role society has proscribed to her. She is the image of a pampered
bourgeois housewife, as represented by the motifs of stockings, cigars and
candles which represent decadence. Moreover, she appears almost utterly
naive regarding the world outside her ‘doll’s house,’ as her
clumsy attempt to commit and conceal her forgery demonstrates. This aspect
of Nora’s character is emphasised through the contrast with her foil, Mrs.
Linde, a widow who has learned the difficult lessons of life and poverty.’ She
also reveals a lack of sensitivity and understanding of emotions through her
idle flirting with Dr.Roak, whom she needlessly wounds by comparing him to
‘a servant.’ It is thus clear that, like Willy, Nora is a character with serious
weaknesses.
These flaws of the protagonist play vital roles in the two works. Crucially, they
provide the sense of inner conflict and struggle that is an essential part of
engaging drama. Significantly, it is the character’s ability to recognise their
own weaknesses that determines their ultimate fates. For Willy, his self-
deception persists to the very end. Blinded by a false epiphany, he commits
suicide in the belief that Biff ‘is going to be magnificent,’ with a 20,000 dollar
life insurance payout behind him. In reducing his own life to a figure of money,
he has allowed his destructive materialism to triumph. Moreover, since both
he and his son are ‘a dime a dozen,’ his sacrifice has been in vain, a false
step towards an unreachable goal. As such, Willy’s inability to prevail in his
internal struggle underlines one of Miller’s central themes, the great
importance of self-knowledge. His flaws are used as a vehicle to
explore this idea.
Nora, however, is able successfully to realise her own weaknesses. Indeed

the threat of Kronstadt’s incriminating letter propels her along a path to
greater fulfilment. By the play’s conclusion she recognised that her husband is
a ‘complete stranger’ with whom she has ‘never exchanged a serious word
over a serious subject.’ She is determined to create an independent identity
for herself, ‘first and foremost as a human being.’ Moreover, she is able to
achieve emancipation from the restraints of her ‘sacred duties’ as a member
of the bourgeoisie, and decides to ‘satisfy [herself] which is right, society or
[her].’ Thus, Nora is no longer a naive doll, but rather a strong willed and
decisive woman, qualities that are clearly conveyed by the emphatic
slamming door at the play’s conclusion. The gradual decay of the
once lush Christmas tree also symbolises the collapse of the pretensions of
Nora’s former life. Hence, Ibsen employs the protagonist’s triumph over her
flaws to provide insights into the conflict between the ideals of society and the
individual’s
need for authentic fulfilment. It is thus clear that the conflict between the
central character’s strengths and weakness is of central important to both
works.
In conclusion, both Nora and Willy are flawed characters. Their faults provide
a fundamental sense of conflict and internal struggle that underpins each play.
Significantly it is their ability to comprehend the reality of their weaknesses
that determines their destiny. Hence, although the two playwrights employ the
struggle of their protagonist to explore different themes, they both ultimately
warn against the great dangers of self-deception and of leading a fraudulent
existence.

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Apply the criteria to mark the short example below:

In ‘Death of a Salesman’, Willy is a character who suffers many faults. The

In ‘A Doll’s House’, Ibsen’s central character also suffers from significant

Nora, however, is able successfully to realise her own weaknesses. Indeed

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