Death Of A Salesman Foil

Foils in Death of a Salesman

In the play Death of a Salesman, by Arthur Miller, each main character has a parallel minor character to relate with. The main characters, the Loman family, create a foil with minor characters in the novel. Willy, the father, Linda, the mother, and Biff and Happy, the sons, are the major characters in which the play is focused on. Minor characters like Charlie, the neighbor, Bernard, the neighbor’s son, Ben, Willy’s brother, and Willy’s mistress are all minor characters that enhance the major characters presentation in one way or another. In the play Death of a Salesman, by Arthur Miller, the major characters and minor characters highlight each other's personalities and behaviors through the similar situations

At first glance, Bernard and Biff seem very similar. They are both middle age men from the city. But once you look past the superficial things, you see that they could not be more different. Bernard is a successful, happy, married, man with a child. Biff contrastingly, is single, living with his parents, jobless, and incredibly unhappy. Despite the major differences between the two, the similar circumstances in which Bernard and Biff grew up in, it is clear that Bernard is meant to accentuate Biff’s imperfections. Bernard and Biff grew up together with the same opportunities, but Bernard clearly benefited from it more. While Biff was a jock and played football and hung out with girls, Bernard was a nerd who studied a lot and received stellar grades. Bernard eventually graduates and goes off to college while Biff fails his math course and never received a diploma. Bernard pursued a career in law and Biff stays at home with no job at all. Clearly, Bernard contrasts Biff so much so that he shows the flaws in Biff’s behavior character which proves how a minor character is able to have an influential impact on a major

The mistress and Linda are complete contrasts of another. Willy’s mistress, who is not given a name, is needy, materialistic, and immorale. Willy’s wife, Linda, is loving, caring, and defensive on her husband’s behalf. Willy’s wife takes care of the entire home, paying the bills, cooks, cleans, and puts everything before herself. She even goes as far as to fix her teared stockings instead of buying new ones because she takes care of the financials in the home. The mistress on the other hand is flaky, irresponsible, and puts herself before everything else. She does not show the slightest bit of care when Biff finds out that she is having an affair with his father. She even demands new stockings every time Willy visits her, clearly showing her lack of maturity and sophistication compared to