Theme Of Betrayal In Death Of A Salesman

The first important theme is denial where each character showcase their denial of certain aspects of their lives. Willy has denial against himself and what he is because he wants to be big and known which he isn't but he thinks he is and so he denies the fact that he is just an ordinary human being. Also, throughout the play the characters keep contradicting themselves and it is seen a number of times especially with Willy. For example, in the first scene he states that Biff is lazy but then he goes on a line or two later to state that he is a hard working lad and that he is not lazy. This behavior is why he can not accept reality in order to ignore the present and re live the past. It gets to a point where Willy ignores all his problems and only remembers and tries to re-create the good times of the past instead of living in the present. This obviously creates a problem between him and his family and others around him

The most common character that carries that trait is of course Willy. Willy shows betrayal from the very beginning, when the author told us about Willys’ affair. By having an affair, Willy not only betrayed Linda but he also betrayed Biff as he lost his trust. The reason why he might betray a lot is because he is afraid of betrayal and so in order to overcome it and not feel like he was ever betrayed, he goes and betrays. As mentioned above, Willy reflects Biffs’ failure in business as a reflection of his own dreams of succeeding although he only succeeded for a short while in his life. Also, the affair that Willy was in might have affected Biff and made him unable to keep a job. Willy has such insecurities with betrayal and himself that not only does he believe his family betrays him but also people on the outside too. His boss, for example, just because his boss fired him, Willy takes it as a form of betrayal even though he tells him, “there’s no room for betrayal in the business