Character Morphing Into Personality “The image of myself which I try to create in my own mind in order that I may love myself is very different from the image which I try to create in the minds of others in order that they might love me.” Stated by W. H. Auden, this quote aptly illustrates Willy Loman’s external image conflict as well as society’s changed perspective regarding character and personality. Willy Loman, the main character in Arthur Miller’s “Death of a Salesman,” was determined to become a successful salesman because society regarded the charismatic occupation highly. Willy, striving on the idea that “being liked” made an individual successful, ultimately failed in embracing his true identity, becoming a carpenter, by devoting …show more content…
Some may argue that it was advertising and famous celebrities that brought about this change, but it was the impatience and greed of individuals themselves that sparked the transition. Society has become increasingly impatient over time, and impatience still continues to increase in today’s world. It is this quality that has caused individuals to favor personality over character because personality is apparent in others almost immediately unlike character. Character tends to represent itself only in select instances or when no one is even watching, deriving from the anonymous quote, “Personality is who we are and what we do when everybody is watching. Character is who we are and what we do when nobody is watching.” In order to determine whether someone’s character is “honorable” or “moral,” observation is required. Contrastingly, personality, such as extroversion or introversion, can be determined almost immediately by others. Because character was not as immediately apparent as personality, it caused society to forget its existence at times, leading to the eventual favoring of personality. Money, something that is desired by most individuals and seems more commonly possessed in surplus by extroverted than introverted individuals, also contributed to the favoring of personality. When society looked upon successful individuals, more often than not these individuals would have a charismatic personality. Society, like Willy Loman, assumed too quickly that it was personality that led to success because personality was what they saw in a successful person immediately, not character. If people would have taken the time to truly observe a successful figure’s character, maybe they would have been able to achieve success by attempting to resemble that figure’s character, an attribute that can be improved, over personality,