...Tragic heroes hold a large influence within their social circle that ultimately affect those that are around them in a negative and positive light. In the play, “Death of a salesman” by Arthur Miller, Willy Loman becomes increasingly miserable as he progresses from a dedicated, loving father, though not without flaws, into a suicidal, delusional man. This would lead willys influence within his family to affect his relationships with Linda Loman and the negative impact Willy has in Biff and Willy's life. Willy Loman indirectly brings great sufferings to his family in ways that go unseen. Biff and Willy however, have the most strained relationship within the family, “I saw the things that I love in this world. The work and the food and the...
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...Willie Loman died a Hero? Willie Loman has failed to live up to the standards of being a tragic hero because he neither accepts nor admits to his faults. Willy loses his dignity and one of his biggest faults is his failure to be a good father. Willy’s problems come from his own delusions, the American Dream and his misunderstandings of his job and family. All of this tells the story of everyday people in American Society. His environment is changing faster than his beliefs which are why he is in the dilemma that he is in. Willy Loman delusions are a result of his father to succeed in life. At age 63, He still believes he is a popular, respected and good looking, which is not the case. Willy s delusion was that there would be many people from across the country at his funeral. Nobody liked him that much and very few people attended his funeral. In the moments where he would realize the truth, his wife would support his delusions in attempt to make him feel better about himself. A tragic hero is someone who dies for personal dignity. Willy dies for his sons dignity . In act two, Willy reveals his desires to win back Biff’s respect by committing suicide. During one of his illusions, Willy says “Ben that funeral will be massive...that boy will be thunderstruck, because he never realized I am known”. In trying to persuade Biff that their father is a great man, Willy will not accept any challenge to his dignity. He refused to realize that the ideas he set for himself and Biff...
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...Willy Loman When one thinks of Willy Loman, victim is the last word that comes to mind. His character flaws make him responsible for his own misfortune. He has never taken responsibility for any of the disgraces in his life and has constantly blamed everyone, for not being able to live the life he feels he deserves. Some people are able to curb unrealistic expectations into something that is more tangible for them, while others such as Willy are not. Normally a salesman is someone who is able to accept their flaws and learn ways to improve, because this is how they make their living. Because Willy Loman never fully accepts his flaws, he has no way of progressing in life. He has reached the age where he can’t compete with the younger salesmen or keep up with the traveling that is required in order to be successful in his field. This is causing great strife in his life. The pride of a man can contribute to his life by being either a great asset or a ridiculous flaw. This trait is definitely a flaw for Willy Loman. Pride can assist you with taking control of your life and allow you to get what you think you deserve, however, it can also be crippling. This was the case for Willy. Pride kept him from talking to his boss earlier in his life as to why he needs to stop traveling and work from New York. Driving over 700 miles out of town just to come home empty handed would be too much for anyone, but it definitely weighs a toll on a 60 year old man. Once Biff decided he would stay...
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...be the “American Dream” and the middle class family trying to make that dream a reality, through the play’s protagonist Willy Loman, who is a depressed, overworked, and spiritless working man with delusions of grandeur. Originally written as a short story, Arthur Miller’s uncle (who was a salesman) inspired him to turn the story into a play. When the drama hit Broadway in 1949 it was a total hit and transformed Miller’s career, as well as gained him recognition as a gifted playwright, with the production winning the Pulitzer Prize that year and has remained a classic to this day. Chasing the “American Dream” Willy Loman is the play’s tragic hero and as the story line progresses the audience gets to learn how truly depressed Willy Loman is and how he has an unrealistic view on the world. The play starts with Willy coming home early from work because of a business trip to New England he has cut short. He tells his wife that he kept finding himself daydreaming while he was driving and drifting off the road. He appears tired, worn out and spiritless right from the beginning and his wife is worried and concerned for his well being. The character of Willy Loman symbolizes the plight of the middle class working man living in New York City and early on the protagonist evokes feelings of pity and sadness from the audience. You genuinely feel bad for Willy at the beginning...
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...The only thing a salesman needs is a smile and shoeshine. For year Willy Loman lives a life of traveling and selling, but as his age increases his mental state declines. In Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller, we follow a delusional, suicidal man who is forced to face the harsh truth of his life. Throughout this play, Willy reimagines his life as he saw, but is really running from the truth with his delusions of grandeur. He believes he plays an important role in his job, his oldest son Biff is a prodigy, and that his is going to make it out alive. As readers watch Willy’s mental state unravel, his death is inevitable and unavoidable. The death of Willy Loman rests in the hands of his son Biff; once his true identity is revealed it’s too much for his father to bare. Biff is the apple of his father’s eyes, he was a football star, an aspiring salesman, and idolized his father. In many of Willy’s delusions we see him...
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...his brother’s triumph in Alaska, Willy struggles to achieve the same level of unrealistic, exaggerated success as a mere salesman in Death of a Salesman. Similarly, by working under the exaggeratedly cutthroat Gordon Gekko, Bud Fox seeks a hollow life of luxury, stolen through cheating. Both Willy and Bud try to succeed with exaggerated and unrealistic goals due to the pressure presented to them through external forces such as their mentors, society, their families, and the workplace. The pressure that Bud and Willy’s mentors place on them causes them to exaggerate their goals to unrealistic levels. As a result, Willy’s lucidity spirals into a deep depression that leaves him in a delusional mentality that refuses to let him face the reality of his present situation while Bud’s sanity becomes overcome by his hunger for power that is fed by his ego and arrogance. Ben Loman is the foil to Willy Loman’s character. He is wealthy, bold, and a ruthless business man. He is the epitome of a success story and living the American Dream. Ben is one of the fortunate few who found incredible success without much work, something which Willy recognizes and wants. Willy Loman believes that like his brother, he too can rise from humble beginnings to importance. His specific angle on this outlook is that a man succeeds by selling his charm; that to be well liked is the most important aspect a man can have. After working as a salesman for thirty long years, Willy finds he can no longer make the sale...
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...Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller is the perfect example of a tragic hero as he brings suffering not only to himself but also to those around him including his wife and sons. Willy shows the definition of a tragic hero by the pain he brings to himself and his family and this suffering contributes to the tragic vision of the story as a whole. Suffering is brought upon himself through his delusions and the confused view of the world he lives in. He believes he is young, successful, and well liked. The flashbacks throughout the story proves Willy is not who he used to be. Willy’s misconception of time is his main flaw with him being the main victim of that flaw. It eventually leads to Willy’s death as he jumps into his car and crashes it to get the life insurance money for his family....
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...How does Miller convey Linda’s complicity in the tragedy and in the patterns of self-delusion? In ‘Death of a Salesman’ Miller writes Linda’s situation as being one of an exceptionally difficult and intractable nature; we see that she is aware of Willy’s suicidal tendencies as well as his financial issues and yet keeps them to herself. Stuck in an invariably volatile relationship, Linda is shown to be doing her best for her husband and sons, yet struggles with the burden of responsibility. She seeks solace in what she deems to be the only way possible; almost by ignoring the problem rather than confront them. Whilst some may denounce Linda as a form of tragic villain, it seems more fitting to view her as a victim of circumstance, her failings in aiding Willy derived only from her well-intentioned yet misguided attempts to be there for him. ‘You’re my foundation and my support,” Willy tells Linda, only highlighting Linda’s profound devotion to him despite everything. Willy needs Linda to stay sane- she provides stability to his otherwise uncertain state. It would be expected then that Willy would pay Linda the utmost respect and reciprocal love, but we find this not to be the case; instead Willy treats her rather cruelly and even cheats on her. Why then does Linda stay with him? The answer is clear: she loves Willy unconditionally. Linda believes and supports Willy’s dreams to a great extent, even talking him out of the opportunity his brother Ben offered him in Alaska, choosing...
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...entrepreneurs. Alexander Becker, a distinguished business journalist, wrote in his article that “Your business depends on your integrity while your integrity depends on delivering what you promise.” It is important that Integrity is embedded within the entrepreneur and his business that customers can easily distinguish it and are easily drawn to it. However, this essential trait of an entrepreneur is not seen in either of the Loman brother. Happy has great capacity for self-delusion; being only an assistant to the assistant buyer, he constantly brags to his family that he is the assistant buyer at his store. When Biff tries to free him from this self-delusion by saying that “you’re one of the two assistants to the assistant, aren’t you?”(Miller 131), the statement “Well, I’m practically…” (Miller 131) indicates that he is still attempt to cover up the exposed truth. In another occasion, he tries to lie to Linda that Wille had a great dinner with them by saying that “Boy, what a night you gave me!”(Miller 124) Even though he is aware that Linda already knows how the Loman brothers abandon their father in the pub, he insists that “he had a great time with us”(124). The integrity of a person capable of lying to himself and his family is not to be trusted; therefore Happy does not possess this important entrepreneurial trait. On the other hand, the honesty of Biff is also questionable. Even though at the end of the play he decides to...
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...Combatting Reality in Death of a Salesman The public has certainly had its effects on society through the years. It has brought forth fads and trends and assigned people to follow those trends. It has recognized and brought to fame individuals. It has exposed and then censored others. It has taught us what is morally right and wrong. But sometimes we don’t endorse or condone what the public brings to us. Arthur Miller demonstrates this to readers through Willy Loman in the play, Death of a Salesman. Willy, enervated by demanding work, struggles to come to terms with what reality has presented to him. With so much seemingly missing in his life, Willy turns to materialistic and egotistical ways in an attempt to compensate. The best way to...
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...In “Death of a Salesman: by Arthur Miller. The play produced and published in 1949. The story portrays a family in late 1940’s who is trying to keep up with times. America was becoming a consumer culture. People wanted bigger cars and bigger TV’s. The main character Willy Loman wants a piece of that American dream. Willy is an unsuccessful traveling salesman. He is married to Linda and they have two sons Biff, and Happy. Willy slowly starts to lose his mind. There multiple reasons for him to become depressed and suicidal. The first reason is Willy is older man, and knows that change in him becoming rich is slim. Second, reason is the disappointments from his sons Biff and Happy. Willy is trying to keep up with the times. The industry of car...
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...its discord, but none a bad as Biff and Happy from ‘Death of a Salesman’. These two brothers were very close when they were younger, but one incident changed the whole dynamic of the family’s relationship. Biff, the eldest son of Willy and Linda Loman, was supposed to be the one with the most potential, but fell short of the goals everyone set for him. The three main differences of these two brothers was their age and responsibilities that came with the age, the fact that Biff was a realist while Happy was ignorant and delusional like his father, and the and attention. The eldest is always burdened with more knowledge, higher expectations and more secrets than the younger one. Biff is the only one who knows the real Willy Loman. He knows him as a cheat, a liar and a man riddled with suicidal tendencies. When Biff failed his math test he rushed to Boston where his father was on a ‘business’ trip and discovers the mistress who had been receiving all of his mother’s stockings. He knows that Willy lies about being well liked and making all the money that he does, he borrows most of it and takes it as his own accomplishments. He is also the only person to find the evidence that Willy had tried to kill himself of Monoxide poisoning with a small tube Willy hid behind the water heater. Happy on the other hand sees nothing wrong with his father in the same way the father saw nothing wrong with Biff. In the end Happy follows his father’s exact footsteps in his own attempt to receive some...
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...to castigate the collective societal delusion of the American Dream. While protagonist Willy Loman’s character arc is traditionally read as a direct allegory of the decay of the American Dream, the role of Benjamin Loman is tragically undervalued in this respect. In order to illustrate a twisted ambition rooted deeply in materialism and blind aspiration, the vaguely successful Benjamin serves a necessary but controversial beacon. The very status of Uncle Ben as a unique character is wholly complex at its core. He is at once Willy’s brother, a romanticized memory, and an extended facet of Willy’s own personality, all while never truly existing within the scope of the play. Benjamin’s real and imagined affirmations falsely guide Willy on the path to downfall. The increasing ambiguity of...
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...Power of Success The unflinching conflict of obtaining success is eloquently portrayed throughout Arthur Millers “Death of a Salesman”. In this modern tragedy, Miller successfully depicts the human condition in midst of denying failure. The play unfolds around a washed- up salesman named Willy Loman, whose obsession with reaching concrete evidence of success, creates unfortunate repercussions on his family, and himself. Willys conviction that a man must not only be like, but he must be well liked (Miller, 1250), along with his uninterrupted focus on prominence, reflects on his two sons, Biff and Happy, as he infuses them with values of social status as well as future success. Willy’s sense of self value depends on the response of others. Such gestures of recognition provide signals that society is a comfortable home for him, one where he hopes to make his sons as happily at ease as he (Jacobson, 249). This is doubtlessly a mirage of security for Willy, as he desperately suppresses his inner motions of regret, and refuses to embrace his conscious identity. Ultimately, Willy Lomans self- delusion of success disabled him to obtain his true identity, and influence a displacement of identity in his sons. Most people in today’s society develop a constant necessity to better their lives, as well the quality of life for their family. For many, this necessity stems from their core beliefs of what a comfortable life should contain in our society, along with secure elements for their...
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...America is the land of opportunities. It is a land of hope, because the early settlers were the Europeans who left their countries in search of democracy, freedom and equality. In the 20th century, America was looked upon by the world as the superpower and dream continent where people’s visions came true. America became the melting pot of world and all the cultures of the world met here. There was a thirst for fame, power and money. This opened a door of commercialisation of the society. Many people became greedy and inhuman in their pursuit of fame and money. A famous essayist, Bacon is of the view, “Certainly fame is like a river that beareth up things light and swoln, and drowns things weighty and solid.” (Of Praise 133) Instead of a healthy competition and right path towards success, many were blinded by the materialistic aspect of life. American society also saw mushrooming of commercilisation and competition among the section of people, who were ready to sacrifice anything and everything for power and fame. This destroyed their family life and career. One of the most dominant beliefs of American society goes by the name of “the great American dream”. This concept is based on the doctrine of self-help, which assumes that a person having self-confidence and self-initiation can rise from a lower to a higher position. This doctrine is mostly highlighted by referring to famous personalities like Benjamin Franklin and John Garfield, who became role models for the posterity. ...
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