Borderline Personality Disorder In Death Of A Salesman

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Recommended: Symbolism in Miller's Death of a salesman

Arthur Miller has written many great stories and plays that have a motif involved, one of the plays he wrote was Death of a Salesman. Willy Loman, the protagonist and antagonist of the play comes off to the reader as a tragic hero which seems unreal. He is protagonist in a sense that this is his story and it revolves around different situations which coincidently become the reason for him being an antagonist. Willy is also considered an antagonist because he becomes a block on the road for his son’s success that he has been chasing for years causing that dream to destroy him completely.
Willy Loman’s character may seem a little crazy to many readers, but in fact Willy is a hero in distress which causes him to pay the ultimate price of losing his life. Willy’s downfall has many various reasons such as Willy’s failure as a father and husband. Willy goes through regressive episodes that could have altered the end of this play but Willy represses conflicts that tend to erupt.
Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) is a mental illness marked by unstable moods, behaviors, and relationships. Few of the symptoms of a person suffering from BPD is a pattern of intense and stormy relationships with friends and family, distorted self-image or sense of self, and recurring suicide behavior. It would have been difficult for Willy’s family to diagnosis him with a mental disorder, due to their lack of knowledge. Willy possesses all of these symptoms which can be seen throughout the play. Willy’s relationship with his son Biff is on edge, the reason is that every time Biff comes home to visit, he ends up leaving after an extensive dispute. Despite all the fights and insults, Biff repeatedly tries to make things right by returning home. This process...

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... happy by doing some craftsman work and trying to be a good parent by motivating his sons. His other world includes being out in the field driving around for hours to sell his products only to comes back home empty handed. When Biff and Happy get home from the restaurant, they find their father outside planting. This causes Biff to get angry and confront his father with the hose Willy had been trying to commit suicide with. Biff and Willy get into their biggest fight yet. The emotional roller coaster takes off when Biff cries and jumps into the arms of Willy. This incident caused Willy to realize his son still loves him even after the incident in Boston that torn them apart. One would think after this father-son confrontation, everything would be fine and they would lead a normal life. Twist in the plot occurs as Willy leaves the house only to commit suicide.

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