Death of Salesman by Arthur Miller

Death of Salesman by Arthur Miller

The Requiem seems to simply conclude the play at the funeral and let

us see the other character's view of events with some retrospect.

However, with closer scrutiny, we see that old issues and resentments

are still very prevalent.

The Requiem can be split into two halves. The first half sees Charley,

Biff, Linda and Happy over Willy's grave. Each character is unique in

their perspective at this point, reflecting Willy's own change of

perspective towards the end of play and reminding us of several themes

in the text.

Happy still clings to the memory of Willy Loman as the successful

salesman and general good man. Indeed, he holds this view with some

ferocity. He tries to stop Biff being negative about his father (the

stage directions include 'almost ready to fight Biff infuriated') and

his last words are ones of defiance:

'I'm gonna show you and everybody else that Willy Loman did not die in

vein this is where I'm gonna win it for him'

This seems rather absurd to the reader as it is clear now that the

American Dream for the Loman family is just that- a dream. The

spectacular failure of his father and the collapse of the family show

that the dogmatic pursuit of success is fruitless and even dangerous.

'Happy' is a very apt name for the son who tries to be happy and show

a brave face even when things have collapsed around him. Other

examples of this include Happy rallying Biff both when they talk about

setting up business together and when Happy tries to make Biff attract

women at the restaurant in Scene 2. Happy also represents the side of

Willy that he was most used to (Happy, unlike Biff, lived with Willy

day to day and so was more indoctrinated to the lies and...

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...wife. Instead of seeing the inevitable, as Charley does, or

being somehow released like Biff, she can only see things in terms of

money and time, like Willy used to obsess over- 'He even finished with

the dentist'.

The second half of the Requiem is dedicated to Linda. It is quite hard

to understand. She says that she 'can't cry' but then seconds later

she is 'sobbing more fully'. Why is this? Maybe telling her true

feelings to Willy instead of suppressing them like when he was alive

releases her, but she keeps repeating 'we're free'. As she whispers

this she seems to be on a higher plane and connecting with Willy.

This, however, is open to interpretation and all we can safely say is

that the Requiem releases the pressure that was mounting in the Loman

household in possibly the only way it could; with the realisation of

the failure of the American Dream.