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Comment on the play death of a salesman by Arthur Miller
Role of Willy Loman in death of a salesman
Death of a salesman theme of success
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Analysis of Death of a Salesman by Arthur m
Characters
The main character in the play is the salesman, Willy Loman. He constantly has “daydreams” in which he remembers memories of when he was more successful (in business and in his home life). These daydreams are the conflict throughout the play since they cause him to forget the real world, where his life is actually failing. His charisma is no longer there the way he claims it is, and his children don’t respect him anymore. He also loves to stroke his own ego, yet he is secretly insecure and fragile. In the end, he dies without realizing that his outlandish, material desires weren’t necessary for a content life. Linda Loman is the wife of Willy, and she is strong and supportive of him.
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Biff is okay with his failures because he doesn’t let them overtake his life the way Willy’s failures have. Biff used to idolize his father and believed that the only way to happiness was through material achievement. Though after Biff caught Willy and his mistress, he realized that Willy didn’t have the answers to a happy successful life. After this, Biff moves out west (which represents freedom from Willy’s expectations) and lives well. Instead of Biff becoming what Willy always wanted to be, he goes and searches for himself which is why Willy dislikes …show more content…
He is two years younger than Biff and was never put to as high of a standard as Biff. Even in Willy’s daydreams, he doesn’t say anything that his father cares too much about. Even so, Happy see’s himself as successful while only being the assistant’s assistant. Happy also feels less lonely and unaccomplished because he doesn’t have a family of his own (Miller Act II:1618). Resulting in him seeking as many women as possible. He is what Willy would consider a success while being blind to eventually share the same doom as his father. Ironically still being in his failed brothers shadow.
The Loman’s next door neighbor is Charley. Willy is jealous of Charley’s wealth, yet he tries to help him out by offering him a job and giving him loans every week. Charlie is more realistic about the success and that it comes with hard work. He doesn’t like Willy because their views on success and how to gain them are different. That is shown between how they teach their son’s, as Charley wants his son, Bernard, to be smart in order to be successful. Unlike Willy wanting Biff to be charismatic to get through life and have more opportunities (Miller Act
Willy Loman is not the only victim of his tragic flaw. The rest of the Loman family is also affected by Willy's problem. Willy's wife, Linda, is the only one who supports and understands Willy's tragic flaw completely. Linda supports every far-fetched claim her husband makes. She is even described as having “infinite patience” whenever she is conversing with Willy (Miller 99). Willy's two sons, Biff and Happy, are also affected by his flaw. Happy, when in the company of two ladies, claims that Willy is not even his father, and “just a guy” (Miller 91). Later in the play, Biff decides that he does not want to be in his father's life anymore. Biff's problems are simply too much for Willy to handle with his current state of being, even though Willy needs Biff in his life. After both internal and external conflict, Biff reveals to Willy that Willy had been lied to for a number of years, and that the life he lives is essentially a lie (Miller 104).
Biff Loman is flawed, he cannot hold down a job, he steals from all of his employers, and he even went to jail for three mouths. The deal with Biff is that he is Willy 's oldest son and the one whom Willy seems to be more concerned with than Happy. Biff caught his dad cheating on his mom this seems to be the thing that cause him to become a wonder working on ranches in the West. Happy Loman is Biff’s younger brother who is almost an exact copy of his father Willy Loman. Though Happy is relatively successful in his job, he has his dad 's very unrealistic self-confidence and his imposing dreams about getting rich quick. Happy always-felt second best has more of a desire to please his father. Despite his respectable accomplishments in business and the numerous women, he had slept with in his life like his bosses’ wife he did it three times to other people that are above him. Happy is extremely lonely because he wants to settle down with a good woman. . Just as the melancholiest
Alistair Deacon from As Time Goes By once said that, “The people in the book need to be people.” The main character in a story or in a play always has to be somewhat likeable or relatable. Who doesn’t like to feel like they can relate to their favorite character in a story? In many cases the authors of stories or books always try to make the reader feel like they are not the only ones with problems or going through a crazy situation. Wanting the reader to become engaged in the characters' conflicts is what they aim for. In Arthur Miller’s play, Death of a Salesman, many people were gripped by Willy Loman’s, the main character, problems because they too struggle with many of the conflicts that Willy faces. Willy could not keep his life together, failing to see reality and pursuing the wrong dream, with a wrong viewpoint, ended up causing others around him and himself to hurt.
In a flashback Willy has, it is shown that Willy jokes about Charley’s son, Bernard, a “nerd” who helps Biff with his math so he doesn’t fail, by claiming that despite Bernard being smart, he will not get far in life because he is not as “liked: as Biff, who at the time was a football star. After Biff saw his father with is mistress, he began viewing his father more negatively, rejecting all of Willy’s future plans for him, calling him a “phony little fake”. Biff’s rejection of Willy’ future plans for him sends Willy into a downward spiral, making him more and more delusional. Ironically, Willy failed to sell his plans to his own son, when his main profession is selling products to people, as he is a
Willy gets it from all sides; primarily his conflict is with Biff but also Charley, Howard, and Bernard. He is an average man who truly believes he is better than those around him, and that his sons, especially Biff, are greater still, but people, he has very little respect for, are all more successful than he is. Biff starts out like Willy perhaps but comes to the realization that being an average man is okay. Willy never comes to that conclusion; in fact he decides he is more valuable dead than alive.
Willy Loman becomes incredibly involved in work-related matters, instead of the happiness surrounding his family life. He discourages Biff to take his own path, and instead, nearly forces him to become a salesman, in hopes that Biff will be more successful than he turned out to be. Willy tells Biff that his dreams will “cut down (his) life…!” Willy cannot simply hope for Biff and Happy to attain satisfaction in life, which is the element that Willy misses. He is so consumed by the idea of success that he had not once stopped to reflect on being a good father or loving his wife. Having an affair was one of his main problems-he could not put enough love into his family, so he put it anywhere else he could. He visited his mistress on business ventures, which is the only aspect of his life he truly appreciated. Therefore, his home life became full of lies, Biff saying that they “never told the truth for ten minutes.” Miller is, again, critiquing American households, since their typical values revolve more around money and presentation than a loving, kind, and caring home. Willy had a family who loved him, but he neglected to notice this, which lead to his unhappiness. Never placing any type of value of love and kindness can cause a person to become cold and bitter, which is exactly what Willy became. He may have avoided suicide if he had realized the love and care he could have been surrounded
Linda Loman is the enabler of the Loman family, and also uses self- deception to escape her life mentally. Linda never spoke up to Willy, and did nothing but feed his unrealistic dreams. Linda lived a life of “what ifs” with Willy. They both did the bare minimum in every aspect of their life, which is why
Charley is Willy's closest friend and he displays the failure of Willy Loman's ideals. He is a very realistic character who attempts to convince Willy that his ...
Willy shows concerns for Biff by having his worries out for him and finances when he can. Granting that, not only did he attach to financial achievements, he also had fame among his colleagues. He notices when he walks in everyone, "seemed to laugh at me" (Hart 62) as stated in the Promised End. Many problems occurred and sometimes touched his heart in many
Willy Loman’s false pride leads him to believe that he has been successful as a father. He remembers how he was once looked up by his children, especially by his son Biff. However, Willy fails to realize that the relationship he once had with his son Biff has been broken, due to the fact that Biff caught Willy in an affair he was having with another girl; Biff was heartbroken to fin...
Willy also has very poor parenting skills. He has two children Biff and Happy. Willy excuses Biff for a lot of events when he was younger. If Biff stole something, Willy just brushes it off and says that is was no big deal. He didn’t even care when Biff failed math and did not graduate from high school. He measured success in how many people you knew not what your grades are. In one breath Willy would say that Biff is lazy and then in the next say he’s not.
Like countless characters in a play, Willy struggles to find who he is. Willy’s expectations for his sons and The Woman become too high for him to handle. Under the pressure to succeed in business, the appearance of things is always more important than the reality, including Willy’s death. The internal and external conflicts aid in developing the character Willy Loman in Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman.
Happy Loman is Willy's youngest son and is often over shadowed by his older brother Biff and ignored by his parents. As a result of growing up in Biff's shadow, Happy was always striving for Willy's attention, but never really got it. This is shown when the young Happy is always telling his father
Death of a Salesman is a classic tragedy depicting a salesman and his attempts in the American dream. The tragic aspect of the story is the pride that destroyed the opportunities that the salesman, Willy Loman had in achieving the American dream. However, because Willy did not grasp the opportunities and took his own path, he ended up as a failure as a salesman, husband, father and friend. Willy Loman is a relatable character because everyone has flaws and make that one mistake that they would regret till the day they die. In this play, all the Lomans are tragic characters who possess a fatal flaw of their own and flaws that they share with one another. These flaws eventually ended up destroying their family and turning the American dream into an American nightmare.
Willy Loman’s tragic flow leads him to purse the idea that reputation in society has more relevancies in life than knowledge and education to survive in the business. His grand error of wanting recognition drove him crazy and insane and lead to his tragic death. Willy’s hubris makes him feel extremely proud of what he has, when in reality he has no satisfaction with anything in his life. Willy Loman’s sons did not reach his expectations, as a father but he still continued to brag about Biff and Happy in front of Bernard. Willy Loman caused the reader to empathize with him because before his tragic death he did everything he could for his family. Empathy, Hubris , and Willy Loman’s tragic flow all lead him to his death that distend for him the beginning.