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Biff Vs Bernard Death Of A Salesman Essay

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The technique of contrasting characterization was used to explore the idea of success in Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller. The two characters contrasted are Biff and Bernard. In the beginning of the play, Biff is a success, he is a jock, he is popular and everybody looks up to him, while Bernard is a nerd and he is called “anaemic” (Pg. 25) by Willy. In the middle of play Biff starts to become a failure as a result of his father’s affair and he loses the desire to continue to succeed, whereas Bernard still knows the importance of study. At the end the contrasting of characters by Miller, shows the success of Bernard, because he is a lawyer arguing in the high court, he is humble in his success. Whereas, Miller shows the unsuccessfulness …show more content…

Miller used symbols by contrasting Linda’s stockings with Willy’s mistress’s stockings. In the beginning Linda is found by Willy mending her stockings and he yells at her, “I won’t have you mending stockings in this house! Now throw them out!” (Pg. 31). This is because the stockings are a reminder of his affair and a reminder that he is not providing for his family. In the past with the affair the stockings are shown again by Miller when Biff comes to the hotel where his father was cheating on his mother. In the hotel, Willy buys his mistress a new pair of stockings, while Biff realizes that his mother is at home mending her old pair of stockings. In the present when Willy sees his wife mending her stockings he once again gets angry. The stockings become a symbol of betrayal, because each time they appear in the play they are representative of Willy’s disloyalty towards Linda, his cheating on his family and cheating on himself. Willy does not like to see the stockings, because it is a reminder of his affair, it arouses feelings of guilt and betrayal of all of those he loved and should have been loyal to. Miller uses the idea of betrayal through the use of the technique of symbols, to emphasize to his audience and make them aware of the fact that one can betray another, but everything around them will make them remember it

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