Miller New York: Harper Audio 3 january 2003 Comparition between Blanche Du Bois from and Willy loman characterstheir responsible failures and consequences. Blanche is already a fallen woman in society’s eyes. Her family fortune and estate are gone, she lost her young husband to suicide years earlier, and she is a social pariah due to her indiscrete sexual behavior. She also has a bad drinking problem, which she covers up poorly (Previn 50). Behind her veneer of social snobbery and sexual propriety, Blanche is an insecure, dislocated individual. She is an aging Southern belle who lives in a state of perpetual panic about her fading beauty. Consequently, Willy is an individual who craves attention and is governed by a desire for success. He constantly refers to his older brother Ben, who made a fortune in diamond mining in Africa, because he represents all the things Willy desires for himself and his sons. Because Willy has an incorrigible inability to tell the truth, even to himself, and an unreasonable mode of thinking, he justifies his death by saying that his sacrifice will save his sons, particularly Biff; the insurance money they collect will be a tangible remembrance of Willy. Willy Loman is a tragic figure who is largely to blame for his own downfall. He is fired from the Wagner Company because he is no longer effective and gets angry with and lies to the boss. He misjudges his sons and fails to accept the truth about either of them ( Miller, Arthur 67).
The to characters suffers similar fate of life and unpleasant consequense.

SIMILARITIES
Both Characters Deceive Themselves About their Appearances. By placing shades over the lights and only dating Mitch in the evening, Blanche creates the illusion of youthfulness in her appearance; further, she dresses as though she were yet the Southern belle and she is flirtatious and proud of her girlish figure. Similarly, Willy believes that he can be more successful if he regains his youthful look (Williams 45).
Both believe that they can Attain Happiness outside Themselves. Willy Loman and Blanche Du Bois seek false and shallow promises of happiness; Willy perceives material wealth as the keystone to success and contentment, while Blanche seeks attention and romance as a delight and marriage as security (Miller354).Blanche delights in attention and romantic flirtation as a diversion from reality as well as a bolster for her diminishing self-esteem and as escape. Blanche hopes to attract Mitch enough to get him to propose and, thus, bring her some contentment and financial security since Belle Reeve has been sold to pay debts.
Willy feels that happiness is attained through personal success and material wealth, he say that he realized that selling was the greatest career a man could want because what could be more satisfying than to be able to go into twenty or thirty different cities. Like Blanche, he looks elsewhere for contentment. For instance, Happy tells Biff, who complains that Willy mocks him, "He just wants you to make good, and that’s all." Even his act of suicide is intended to give his son's some financial security and himself some respect.
Present and Past Blur for both. Blanche and Willy retreat to memories and illusions of success. Blanche’s life has revolved around lies. William’s emphasizes this throughout the play using the extended metaphor of light, which symbolizes the truth.

DIFFERENCES
Differences in their Weaknesses. Willy Loman and Blanche Dubois are pathetic and weak rather than flawed victims of fate’. Willy is ultimately a flawed victim of fate, and thus a tragic hero, on account of the existence of his hamartia, his pure intentions and the admiration his character evokes (Arthur 68). However, Blanche does not reach the status of a tragic hero, largely due to her self-caused vulnerability, her pitiful character and the lack of genuine emotion that she evokes. Willy can then be considered a flawed victim of fate, whereas Blanche is simply a weak and pathetic character.
Differences in Handling the Failure and Loss of Reality.Willy and Blanche have both a different way of handling their failure. The end result of handling with this failure is the same by the two characters. They both lose their grip on reality. Willy’s loss on reality is expressed by some strange things he does. He tries to plant a garden in his backyard while the air is polluted and his backyard is not the best place to plant a garden.
Blanche loss on reality is evident when he feels her ‘nerves’ coming up. For instance, Blanche is taking a bath when she feels that her ‘nerves’ are coming up. This bathing is symbolic because she can wash the pain, or failure, away. She does not only clean her body but also her consciousness. The characters are different with handling their failure. Willy is trying to commit suicide while Blanche is trying to pretend that she still has her position in the upper class.
Differences in Terms of Respect and Treating Others. Both characters are shows a different ways of treating and respecting people. Willy’s way of treating and respecting other people is formal. Willy keeps distances between himself and his boss. He lives in his own world and he does not have much contact with the outside world. He also wants people to like him and he thinks that he knows how to play the ‘psychological game’ while having social contact with people around him.
The form of respect Blanche has towards other people is informal. She thinks that she really is above other people (Previn 120). Blanche thinks that she belongs to the highest social class even though she lost almost everything and treats other people like if they were her maids.

Work cited
Miller, A., Cobb, L. J., Dunnock, M., Hoffman, D., Grosbard, U., & North, A. (1991). Death of a salesman. New York: Harper Audio.print.
Previn, A., Littell, P., & Williams, T. (1999). A streetcar named Desire. New York, NY: G. Schirmer.print.