Willy Loman's Character
Betrayed or Betrayer? Discuss theses two aspects of Willy Loman’s
character and comment on how they affect both Willy himself and the
other characters’ relationships with him.
Betrayed or Betrayer?
Discuss theses two aspects of Willy Loman’s character and comment on
how they affect both Willy himself and the other characters’
relationships with him.
‘Death of a Salesman’ is a play written by Arthur Miller and first
produced on stage in 1949. This play is Miller’s most famous work. The
play shows a conflict within one family but on a deeper level does
much more than that. This play deals with larger issues regarding
American national values. Miller examines the American peoples ideas
and beliefs. This play looks at the life of the Loman family in
particular Willy Loman who is the central character in this play.
Willy Loman is ‘past sixty years of age’, a husband, and father who is
exhausted and coming towards the end of his life. This play follows
his last 24 hours. In order to understand the conflicts leading up to
boiling point in the Loman household and the reason why Willy
eventually takes his own life, Miller uses ‘flashbacks’. Each
flashback somehow relates to the present. They also offer essential
background knowledge. The main relationship throughout the play is
Willy’s and his eldest son, Biff. Both characters believe that the
other has betrayed them; in fact, this is quite true. The theme of
betrayal runs throughout this play. The aim of this assignment is to
look at the different points of Willy Loman s character asking was he
betrayed or was Willy the betrayer. When analyzing this play it would
seem that Willy betrayed others because he had been betrayed.
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Death of a Salesman Auther Miller (First published) – 1949 York Notes (on)
Death of a Salesman Brain.W. Last (First published) –1980
Websites used:
http://www.geocities.com/soho/den/1151/miller/genre.htm
http://www.homework-online.com/doas/discussion.asp.com
http:www.sparknotes.com/lit/salesmanhomeworkonline.com/doas//ipbs.org/wnet/
americanmasters
Another person that represents the American dream is Dave Singleman.
Dave is the man who inspired Willy to become a salesman. Dave a
successful salesman was a man Willy had met many years before. He had
not only material wealth but popularity in society, something that
Willy craved ‘cause what could be more satisfying then be able to go,
at the age of eighty four, into twenty or thirty different cities, and
pick up a phone, and be remembered and loved and helped by so many
different people?’
The play, “Death of a Salesman” written by Arthur Miller, presents Willy Loman, as a salesman, who fails to earn a living and slowly loses his mind. Willy continuously seeks the past to find out where he went wrong. During his years in life, Willy wanted his two sons, Biff and Happy to become someone they’re not; Willy wanted them to become a salesman like him. However, because of his obsession in the American Dream of easy success and wealth, he created a life full of lies for himself and his sons. In the end because of “his misconception of himself as someone capable of greatness” leads to his downfall and the end of his life (Death of a Salesman).”
Arthur Miller’s play “Death of a Salesman”, primarily focuses on the flaws and failures of Willy Loman, Millers’ main character in this story. Willy’s distorted and backward views of the American Dream, paired with his inability to let go of the past lead him down a road of regret and in the end his biggest failure which was his wasted life.
The play “Death of the Salesman” by Arthur Miller, introduced the dramatic story of Willy Loman, a salesman who has reached the end of the road. Willy Loman is a washed-up salesman who is facing hard times. In “Death of a Salesmen,” Willy Loman has been deluding himself over the years to the point he cannot understand what is wrong with him. This leads to the problems with is sons, wife, and career; it ultimately is what ends his life. I believed that the character of Willy 's delusion caused him to fall. While there were many contributing factors to Willy 's demise, his failure to cope with such circumstances and to become trapped in his own delusion is what tears Willy apart from himself and his family. Rather than facing the reality, Willy
One of the main characters in Of Mice and Men is a man named Lennie Small. Lennie is a, "huge man, shapeless of face, with large, pale eyes, with wide sloping shoulders" (46). Lennie has been causing lots of trouble for himself because of his mental disability. Every time he touches something, specifically an animal, he squeezes so hard yet does not know his own strength. In other words, he does not realize it when he strangles animals to death. To him, it might seem like a normal hug, but to others, it might feel like they are being choked to death. By the time he stops squeezing, the organism he strangled is already dead. Lennie is seen holding a dead mouse, a dead puppy, and a dead woman, all of which Lennie killed due to his love of petting soft things. But because he has a mental disability, these actions are not Lennie's fault. One of his actions happens to be the
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.
When I first saw Auggie Pullman walk towards me, I couldn't hide my surprise. It's not like his mother didn't warn me, but you can't prepare for these kind of thingsin a couple of days.
Lennie is lonely because he is different. He processes the world differently than everyone else. All though that's not a bad thing, it’s very hard for lennie and that makes him lonely. I don’t believe that anyone actually understands his thought process. Granted George makes him feel less lonely, and so do little critters. But they can not understand him. Not being able to function like other men and having to rely on George is very difficult.
In Of Mice and Men, Steinbeck develops Lennie into a beloved but rather stoic character to pull at the heartstrings of his readers. Lennie loves to pet soft things, is blindly devoted to George and their vision of the farm, and possesses incredible physical strength. John Steinbeck also makes Lennie seem doomed from the beginning. Steinbeck develops Lennie’s character through dialogue throughout the story. When Lennie is first introduced in the story it is done by George scolding him about his memory “‘So you forgot that awready did you?’” (Steinbeck 4). The quote gives an insight into Lennie’s life and how he is very forgetful. His forgetfulness is part of what makes him doomed in life. Lennie is also portrayed as a static and flat character.
Easter Seals once said “The worst thing about a disability is that people see it before they see you.” In John Steinbeck’s novel, Of Mice and Men, there are two men Lennie and George who are traveling to a ranch where they can get away from Lennie’s troubles he had in the last town. Throughout the novel, Lennie obeys George’s commands and stays loyal at all times. Lennie Smalls is one of the main characters in the novel and plays a big role. Lennie is a huge, shapeless man who is sometimes referred to as an animal. Lennie has childlike behaviors and is innocent and mentally handicapped with no ability to understand abstract concepts like death. He is extremely strong and does not realize it due to his disability. Lennie does not quite understand loyalty and thinks that
George has been taking care of Lennie for a long time and he knows him very well. In the world that Lennie and George were brought up to live in, being strong is the only way to survive. This is difficult for a lot of people including Lennie. Even though Lennie is a big strong guy, he is not bright and has trouble dealing with his differences. Even George does not know what to do with Lennie. At the end of the story, George made a very hard decision that would affect his whole life and Lennie’s.
Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman tells the story of a man trying and failing to obtain success for him and his family. Willy Loman, a traveling salesman, has been trying to ‘make it big’ for the majority of his life. Miller’s play explores the themes of abandonment and betrayal and their effects on life’s success. Willy sees himself as being abandoned by his older brother, Ben, and constantly views his sibling’s betrayal as one that changed his prospects forever. Willy, in turn, is guilty of a different type of abandonment and betrayal of his sons, especially Biff.
Arthur Miller’s play Death of a Salesman follows protagonist Willy Loman in his search to better his and his family’s lives. Throughout Willy Loman’s career, his mind starts to wear down, causing predicaments between his wife, two sons and close friends. Willy’s descent into insanity is slowly but surely is taking its toll on him, his job and his family. They cannot understand why the man they have trusted for support all these years is suddenly losing his mind. Along with his slope into insanity, Willy’s actions become more aggressive and odd as the play goes on. Despite Willy and Biff’s “family feud”, his two sons Happy and Biff truly worry about their father’s transformation, Happy saying: “He just wants you to make good, that’s all. I wanted to talk to you about dad for a long time, Biff. Something’s – happening to him. He – talks to himself” (Miller 21). Willy, as a father, cares about his children but he wishes they would do better. He believes Biff should have been an athlete. According to Harrington, “Even figuratively, Willy is haunted, and particularly in Biff’s failure to achieve success as a sports figure” (108). This haunting is part of what led to Willy’s slow plunge into madness. As Willy’s career in sales fails, he also fails, even failing his family. Heyen adds: “He didn’t have anything of real value to give to his family, or if he did, he didn’t know what it was” (48). His debilitating flashbacks and delusional hallucinations with Uncle Ben cement his horrifying realizations that he has let down his family. Willy Loman blames the economy for his downfall in his career. In one of his more extreme outbursts he exclaims, “There’s more people! That’s what’s ruining this country! Population is getting out of control. ...
In the book Death of A Salesman, author Arthur Miller shows how cruel life can be through the life of Willy Loman, the main character. His feelings of guilt, failure, and sadness result in his demise.
Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller concerns itself with the fall of a simple man perpetually in a steadfast state regarding his own failure in a success-driven society. The protagonist of the play, Willy Loman, will follow a tragic trajectory that will eventually lead to his suicide. Arthur Miller's tragic play is an accurate portrayal of the typical American myth that sustains an extreme craving for success and a belief in the illusion of the American dream, a dream attainable only by a handful of people. Having chosen a career in sales Willy Loman constantly aspires to become 'great'. Nevertheless, Willy is a poor aging salesman that considers himself to be a failure when comparing himself to his successful father and brother, but he is incapable of consciously admitting it. Consequently, Willy will measure his level of success with the level of success attained by his offspring, particularly his eldest son Biff. Their difficult relationship contribute to the play's main plot. Willy unfolds his deluded perception and recollection of the events as the audience gradually witnesses the tragic downfall of a man shadowed by a mental illness that has already began to take it's toll on his mind and personality.
In literature and in life, people endure events which are the effects from the relationships between a parent and their child. In Death of a Salesman written by Arthur Miller it is evident how the relationship between Willy and his sons creates the downfall of the dysfunctional Loman family. Miller depicts the possessiveness that exists in humans through Willy Loman. In the 1949 era to preserve a healthy household it was important for the father-son relationship to be strong. If conflicts were to arise in their relationship the entire family would collapse and fail. Biff and Happy constantly idolize and praise their father, however, they realize that he is flawed and how as a father he failed to prepare them for the real world. Willy Loman is a man that is happy and proud in one moment and suddenly angry in another, which exhibits how the inconsistencies in his character make it difficult for anyone to have a strong relationship with him. In the play it is evident that the tension between the father and son relationship is the factor that causes the protagonist’s tragedy. The dispute between the father and