Willy Loman’s decisions are responsible for his death in Death of a Salesman.
For example, Willy’s tendency to blow his son’s football game out of proportion and brag about it gives a sense that he is self-centered. At the beginning of the play Willy states “The way Biff used to simonize that car? The dealer refused to believe there was eighty thousand miles on it” (8). Notably here, Willy tries to make the model T his family owned seem to be the greatest car in the world. This occurs constantly throughout the play with Willy misrepresenting anything, which causes the people around Willy to dislike him, further alienating Willy and leading him to fall further into depression. Similarly Willy’s decision to lie is also responsible for his death.
Willy's logical inconsistencies brings confusion towards the audience itself toward the start of the play; in any case, they soon turn into a characteristic of himself. Willy's conflicting conduct is the after effect of his powerlessness to acknowledge reality and his propensity to control or re-make the past trying to get away from the present. For instance, Willy can't leave himself to the way that Biff never again regards him on account of Willy's affair with another woman. As opposed to concede that their relationship is irreparable, Willy retreats to a past time when Biff appreciated and regarded him. As the play goes on, Willy disassociates himself more from the present as his issues turn out to be excessively too much, making them impossible to manage.
However, pursuing this goal came with a price. Since he was highly motivated to becoming a successful salesman, he rarely stayed at home. Instead, he spent most of his time travelling around the country to conduct sales. He became a workaholic, forcing himself to make sacrifices in his family life in order to seek his own ambitions. Therefore, Willy’s perfectionistic ideals led to his demise.
In many pieces of written work, one demonstrates the sentimental pity and distress towards a character’s misfortune. Throughout the course of ENG3U8, numerous pieces of written works are perused, and a few of the characters from these pieces of literature gain sympathy from the readers. For example, in Macbeth, by William Shakespeare, sympathy is most felt towards Macduff, because his innocent wife and son are executed for unknown reasons. Moreover, in The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, readers show sympathy for Gatsby as his fantasy of Daisy gradually goes into despair. He spends his whole life attempting to get the girl he loves, but is unsuccessful at the end.
Based on the theme that a man's pride will be his downfall to change, Willy is no longer a successful businessman. In Arthur Miller’s classic tragedy, Death of a Salesman, Willy Loman focused on his past successes and who he was, over what he could accomplish if he only changed his thoughts. An example of this is when Willy Loman’s pride caused him to miss an opportunity for success because it was his neighbor who offered the job. The passage writes that Charley is offering a job to Willy Loman, but he denies it by saying, “I got a job, I told you that. What the hell are you offering me a job for?”(Miller, 1977, p.43).
Because Willy no longer has a job, he is unable to support his family the way that he is supposed to, which negatively affects his relationship with his wife Linda, and their two
About the cause of Willy 's death, critic like Bert Cardullo, in his article subtitled The Swollen Legacy of Arthur Miller, argues that: … The salesman figure that comes through is not of a typical grunt brought down by financial failure but of an exceptional invalid, in whom the stress of business only increased existing psychological imbalances ( ' 'Death of a Salesman
We learn that Willy is a salesman, who is has only had minor success. Willy blames this on the fact that he is not well liked. In the beginning of the play Willy has had a car accident and his wife Linda wants him to ask his boss if he can work only in New York instead of having to travel. When we see Willy in a flashback he appears to be happy and affectionate with his sons, who seem to return the affection.
Another characteristic of a tragedy is the use of violence and death. Once again, both play’s use this in entirely different ways. In “Death of a Salesman” it is shown that Willy and his family have tremendous family issues because of Willy’s fatal flaw of illusion. Most of the play consists of arguments, sobbing and pleading because of Willy’s ignorance of the true values of life. Especially when Willy becomes violent when things do not go his way.
As the old saying goes, not all heroes wear capes. This is especially true for Willy Loman in the Death of a Salesman. Death of a Salesman is a rather tragic tale depicting the fall of Willy Loman and, to some degree, the fall of his son Biff Loman. There are two ways in which one could interpret Death of a Salesman, with Willy as the protagonist, or with Biff as the protagonist. Either way, the story is not made a tragedy by its plot, but rather, it is made a tragedy by its characters.
Willy tries to make himself feel better by lying to himself. Although Willy’s death is unfortunate, if one closely examines his pride, bad temper, and his lies, one can see that these flaws will eventually bring him to his demise. Throughout the play, Willy demonstrates his sense of pride while talking to his family and friends. In this quote one can
This helped lead Willy to his own downfall because he was always lacking and felt unwanted and
Ana Oceguera 12. 19. 16 AP English Death of a Salesman Character Compare and Contrast In the play Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller, the audience follows the dynamic between the members of the Loman family. The father of the family, Willy Loman is a self-deluded traveling salesman whose dreams of success do not match his reality. Prompted by his frustration due to the discrepancy between his unrealistically ambitious expectations and his reality, we watch as his mental health takes a turn for the worse, and his story eventually ends in suicide.
Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller portrays the last 24 hours of the life of a common man, Willy Loman, as he reflects on the failures of his life. Loman’s success as a salesman has passed now that his old loyal boss, Howard, has died, and he now works as an unsuccessful traveling salesman, scraping by on commision from Howard’s son. Loman goes to the neighbor, Charley, often borrowing money for household payments, but refuses to take a job-offer from him. Willy Loman’s spouse is Linda and they have two boys, Happy and his older brother Biff, who are now middle aged men who live back at home and are trying to find where they belong in life. Bernard is a childhood friend of the Loman boys, and is Charley’s son.
Tragedy can spread. In Death of a Salesman, Willy Loman is the protagonist, however he not the only person in the play who’s story ends tragically. His view on life spreads to those close to him. Primarily, Willy teaches it to his children who look up to him while his wife simply attaches herself to him, rooting for him in blind support while really she should be waking him up to the cold and dark reality that is their life. Throughout the play, the Loman family evolves differently.
Willy Loman is the central figure of the play. He’s an untalented but energetic man gripped by the American dream. Willy’s personality disintegrates as he moves into his 60’s and his strength begins to fail him. He commits suicide in hope of earning thousands in life insurance for his wife and two sons. Over the course of the play, he is presented as a complex person who hides deep insecurity beneath bluster and drive, relying on his handsome and athletic sons to compensate for his own sense of inadequacy.