Willy Lowman's Misguided Dream in Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman

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Recommended: Character of Willy Loman on death of a salesman

Arthur Miller‘s Death of a Salesmen is a bittersweet play about the Loman family and

their life with a salesman as a father. Most of the play takes place in the Loman home and

revolves around a series of conversations and flashbacks from Willy‘s past. Through these

flashbacks, we find out that Willy has had an affair, has a strained relationship with this eldest

son, and lies to his entire family about how he is doing at work. Miller paints a fascinating

picture of how the wrong ideas to succeed in the business world have not only kept Willy from

becoming a great salesman but also led to the failure of his family‘s life. This failure includes

Biff wandering from job to job and Hap talking up his role at his job. The aging traveling

salesman, Willy Loman, has the wrong perception of what it takes to be successful in the

business world causing lies, infidelity, and disconnection.

Miller‘s perception that the typical American salesman, given the opportunity, would

cheat and lie is a valid idea. In the middle of Act One, Willy begins remembering of a time he

spent with a character only known as ―The Woman.‖ During part of the conversation, Willy

expresses that he plans to see this woman again when he says, ―Well, I‘ll see you the next time

I‘m in Boston,‖ The Woman responds, ―I‘ll put you right through to the buyers‖ (Miller 1.787-

788). These lines make it appear that he is only with the woman to help further this career, which

has long been suffering. By this I mean, the response of the woman leads the reader to the

thought that Willy only cheated on his wife to help get in the door with buyers and not because

he was unhappy in his marriage. Later on, we find that in addition to trying to get a...

... middle of paper ...

...rt. Willy‘s last

best idea to make it is to sacrifice his life so that his family would finally be a success. Years

and years of traveling and ill-conceived ideas of being successful take its toll on the life of Willy

Loman and his family. 21

Works Cited

Eisinger, Chester E. ―Critical Readings: Focus on Arthur Miller‘s Death of a Salesman: The

Wrong Dreams.‖ Critical Insights: Death of a Salesman (2010): 93-105. Literary

Reference Center. EBSCO Web. 4 Nov. 2010.

Miller, Arthur. Death of a Salesman. Literature: Craft & Voice Eds. Nicholas Delbanco and

Alan Cheuse. Vol. 3. New York: McGraw-Hill 2010. 288-339. Print.

Ribkoff, Fred. ―Critical Readings: Shame, Guilt, Empathy, and the Search for Identity in Arthur

Miller‘s Death of a Salesman.‖ Critical Insights: Death of a Salesman (2010): 183-192.

Literary Reference Center. EBSCO. Web. 4 Nov. 2010.

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