A tragic hero brings about his own demise due to a crippling character flaw. Willy Loman from Arthur Miller's "Death of a Salesman" meets the criteria of a tragic hero because his hubris leads to his downfall. Although he is not a high-ranking man, Willy's willingness to "give up his life" (Miller's criticism) makes him an excellent example of a modern tragic hero. Willy's pride inhibits his family's success by feeding his selfish nature, idealism, and false value system. Willy eventually comes to grips with these negative traits he possesses and sacrifices himself for his family, thus satisfying Death of a Salesman as a tragic play. An overly inflated ego can quickly destroy a person's success. Willy's tragic lack of pride feeds his selfish nature which causes immense distress in his family. Out of a desire to satisfy his ego, Willy finds a mistress who “chose” him (38). By having an affair with a woman who chose him, Willy manages to feed his inflated ego. The need to constantly feed his ego is caused by the tragic lack of pride that harms his son Biff's future. Biff is heartbroken because his idol and father commits such adultery. He runs away “crying his heart out” (121) when he discovers the healing truth he once thought he was great about. Due to Willy's selfish nature and need to feed him a mistress, his downfall begins in Biff's eyes. Not only does Willy lose Biff's respect, which is proven when Biff calls him a "fake little fake" (121), but Willy is also too prideful to change his relationship. This makes Biff lose confidence and abandon his dream of studying at the University of Virginia. Due to his selfish nature derived from his desire to achieve bad things. This further leads to the downfall of Willy and his family, proving that Willy Loman is a tragic hero. To conclude, Arthur Miller's "Death of a Salesman" meets the criteria for a tragic play because Willy's pride is a tragic flaw that leads to his downfall. Ultimately, Willy realizes his false perception of life and realizes how much he is inhibiting his family's success. This revelation leads him to sacrifice himself for the well-being of his family. Over the course of his life, Willy's pride gave him an inflated ego, a bizarre idealistic outlook on life, and a false value system. These negative traits ultimately lead to his downfall in which he sacrifices himself, revealing himself to be a modern tragic hero. Willy Loman is an ordinary man doomed to his demise because of the one tragic flaw in pride he possesses..