Death Of A Salesman Log
Arthur Miller’s tragedy is not simply detailing the failure of poor Willy Loman, a broken down salesman, but of middle-class America. Miller uses the Lomans as a vehicle to show precisely what can and does go wrong with the American Dream.
Miller uses many characters to contrast the difference between success and failure within the system. Willy is the dreamy salesman whose imagination is much larger than his sales ability, while Linda is Willy's wife who stands by her husband even in his absence of realism. Biff and Happy are the two blind mice that follow in their father's fallacy of life, while Ben is the only member of the Loman family with that special something needed to ...
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not make a final judgment on America simply because Willy Loman cannot be viewed as tragic hero. Willy is a foolish and ineffectual man for which I can only feel pity. I cannot see Willy’s failure equate those of America. Within the play there is a lot of room for success and failure. Willy can only blame himself for not succeeding.
Miller departed from the accepted norm for a tragedy by making his flawed hero a simple salesman. Some find it hard to raise Willy Loman to the level of Oedipus or Medea; however, Miller could not make portray Middle America, through such a great character. What makes Miller brilliant, is that he can makes us pity, a born loser, and show us how our own system is flawed through his failures.
With Linda, Miller moves from the business aspect of the American Dream, to that of the family. Linda is the near perfect American housewife. She is the nucleus of the family, the point at which love is given, and received, the woman who suffers and ...
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on Willy’s dreams, but was forced to see them for the lies and illusions they truly are. And is the truth (his father’s cheap philandering) that paralyzes him. I believe that Willy, and Biff are one in the same. They are both completely inadequate in every respect due to their dreams. Biff was crippled by the effects of disillusionment, Willy by the effects of the illusions themselves. At the end of the play, just before Willy’s suicide, they sum themselves up:
Biff: I’m a dime a dozen, and so are you!
Willy: I am not a dime a dozen! I am Willy Loman, and you are Biff Loman!
The tragedy is that they are both right.
In addition, Happy, the youngest son, ...
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Death Of A Salesman Log. (2006, November 23). Retrieved April 24, 2024, from http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Death-Of-A-Salesman-Log/55998
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"Death Of A Salesman Log." Essayworld.com. November 23, 2006. Accessed April 24, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Death-Of-A-Salesman-Log/55998.
"Death Of A Salesman Log." Essayworld.com. November 23, 2006. Accessed April 24, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Death-Of-A-Salesman-Log/55998.
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