Alex Kinsler
Professor Dodson
English Composition II
3 December 2017
Death of a Salesman Arthur Miller’s “Death of a Salesman” written in 1948, performed in 1949, has been called arguably the best American play of the twentieth century (Treanor). After reading it and watching it, I’d have to agree. Many who’ve watched or read it can either relate, or know someone that relates to the struggles portrayed in this story. This play is about Willy Loman, a traveling salesman who wants nothing more than the “American Dream”. He longs to be well-liked by everyone, to have the ideal family, and to be financially successful. I chose to do a character study for this essay because each character has a different, unique past life and there’s so many situations that lead up to how they are in the present in the play.
The first character I chose is, of course, Willy Loman. We see in Act I that Willy has some sort of mental and/or emotional problems. He has conversations with himself and reiterates conversations with his late brother, Ben. He
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But, it’s more of desperation than love. She’s treated so poorly by Willy yet, still accepts him and all his flaws. She’d rather be with Willy and all his baggage than to not be with him at all. I wish Miller would’ve included more to Linda’s backstory as to why she is so desperate for love and fearful of being alone.
In conclusion, Miller did an amazing job portraying these characters. “For anyone who’s ever felt inadequate or adrift, or who’s ever broken a family relationship in a way that feels like it can never be fixed, the story’s resonance is gut-wrenching.” (Hurwitt). I’d have to agree with this statement. He related this play to many struggles families face every day and how it affects their behaviors, hopefully not the killing yourself part though. He made sure every character was different and had different personalities and behaviors, all being motivated by one character:
According to Frye's definition, tragic heroes bring suffering upon themselves. Willy Loman is delusional and has a skewed view on the world he lives in. Willy asserts that he is young, popular, and respected among his family and workmates. Flashbacks of past memories, which interrupt the present day flow of time, prove that Willy is not everything he used to be in his younger years. This constant misconception of time is Willy Loman's main flaw, and he is the main victim in this suffering. Willy's misunderstanding of the world around him is shown in key scenes, such as his conversation with his brother Ben in the garden near the end of the play (Miller 99). The death of Willy Loman is also a consequence of his flaw: Willy's disorganized state of mind causes him to jump into a car and crash.
Alistair Deacon from As Time Goes By once said that, “The people in the book need to be people.” The main character in a story or in a play always has to be somewhat likeable or relatable. Who doesn’t like to feel like they can relate to their favorite character in a story? In many cases the authors of stories or books always try to make the reader feel like they are not the only ones with problems or going through a crazy situation. Wanting the reader to become engaged in the characters' conflicts is what they aim for. In Arthur Miller’s play, Death of a Salesman, many people were gripped by Willy Loman’s, the main character, problems because they too struggle with many of the conflicts that Willy faces. Willy could not keep his life together, failing to see reality and pursuing the wrong dream, with a wrong viewpoint, ended up causing others around him and himself to hurt.
(Page 137) throughout the play we see Linda constantly follows what her husband says and believes anything that he says no matter how ridiculous what he says could be, Linda knows that she has to believe it or she will get yelled at and maybe even hit. Even when the reality of this whole story is so ridiculous this is what happened I don’t think any man should treat a woman and never mind a women your own wife like this. In the Lomans household there are many problems that occur Willy starts to face the facts that his family knows about what’s going and he refuses to be an honest man. This is right about the time that biff walks in and he hides his mistress in the bathroom Willy was more concerned with keeping her hidden in there than actually caring and listening to what biff is saying about how he flunked math and can only graduate if he goes to summer school and that’s all his day wants from him, but he saw the mistress come out of the bathroom “he goes dad who is she” and of course he lies saying she someone who she isn’t tells her she from next door and her bathroom is broken. After biffs sees this he does not care for his dad at all anymore and he wants nothing to do with him because he lies and lies to biff and the rest of the family. Then the family goes out to eat and Linda knows nothing at this point like she always does and acts like nothing is going wrong to impress her husband in front of his work colleges and biff gets up and leaves in
“…He died the death of a salesman, in his green velvet slippers in the smoker of the new York, New haven, and Hartford going into Boston-when he died, hundreds of salesmen and buyers were at his funeral.” (Miller, 1949). In the “Death of a Salesman”, by Arthur Miller, the tale of a hardworking father named Willy Loman who faces cruel challenges is told. He covers up the ugliest parts of his life up with lies even though he means well, but this makes his mind sick. The theme of this novel is to be true to whom you are and lead an honest life. The author develops his theme through the characterization of Willy Loman with his mind, his relationship to his family, and the way his family used to live.
...jumps between Willy's daydreams and reality and how totally plausible it all is. In an average day, distractions do appear in my thoughts, and Arthur Miller really did a good job of showing these random transitions. The story is also real in that the family frequently explodes on each other. I am not too enthralled by the play, only because it is not the kind of story I really adhere to, but I would certainly recommend it to anyone interested. I am more for action and adventure than this tale of a "housewife." Otherwise, I would honestly rate this book a five, so there is nothing I severely disliked. Along the same course, there is nothing for me to change if there is nothing outstandingly wrong or misplaced. Finally, I do not think this book or the story inside is similar to many other books I have read. I also doubt this kind of story is too common in book at all.
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.
In brief, it is apparent that Willy’s own actions led to not only his own demise, but his children’s as well. The salesman tragically misinterpreted the American Dream for only the superficial qualities of beauty, likeability and prosperity. Perhaps if Willy had been more focused on the truth of a person’s character, rather than purely physical aspects, his family’s struggles and his own suicide could have been avoided. On the whole, Arthur Miller’s play is evidence that the search for any dream or goal is not as easy and the end result may seem. The only way to realize the objective without any despair is the opposite of Willy Loman’s methods: genuineness, perseverance and humility.
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.
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.
Another character that developed almost immediately within the first two pages of the play is Linda. Again the stage directions on page 8 introduce the audience to her as “Most often jovial, she has developed an ironic repression of her exceptions to Willy’s behavior.” (Miller, 8).... ... middle of paper ... ...
In the play, The Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller,Willy Loman, an unsuccessful business man struggling to support his family is completely out of touch with reality throughout the plot line. Many characters throughout this play and their interactions with Willy have showed the audience his true colors and what he thinks is important in life. His constant lying and overwhelming ego certainly does not portray his life in factual terms, but rather in the false reality that he has convinced himself he lives in.
Arthur Miller's, "Death of a Salesman," shows the development and structure that leads up to the suicide of a tragic hero, Willy Loman. The author describes how an American dreamer can lose his self-worth by many negative situations that occur throughout his life. The structure and complications are essential because it describes how a man can lose his way when depression takes over.
Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman is a play that follows the troubles of a salesman named William “Willy” Loman, whose overzealous definition of true success inevitably leads to his suicide. I feel that a few of Willy’s unique characteristics contribute to his downfall, but that his unstable point of view and completely misconstrued concept of reality make the greatest contributions.
Arthur Miller’s “Death of a Salesman” ends with the tragic suicide of Willy Loman, the lead character. It is the end of a life spent futilely chasing “the American dream”. Willy has been unsuccessful in achieving the success he so desperately craves because his perception of the formula for success is fatally flawed. Willy believes that the American dream is only attainable for the popular and attractive few, and he does not believe he belongs to this elite group. Yet, Willy still works his entire life pursuing his dream.
One major theme in Death of a Salesman is the pursuit of the American dream. Playwright Arthur Miller details main character Willy Loman’s misguided quest of this dream. Death of a Salesman was written in postwar America, when the idea of the American Dream was a way of life. The United States was flourishing economically, and the idea of wealth was the base of the American Dream. Capitalism was alive and well, and by living in a capitalist society, everyone in America was supposed to have a chance to become rich and successful. Miller makes the reader realize this dream is a falsehood, because it doesn’t always work for everyone as planned. In the play Death of a Salesman, Willy Loman is a prime example of someone trying desperately, yet unsuccessfully, to pursue the false hope of the American Dream, directly resulting from capitalism’s effects.