Dichotomy In Death Of A Salesman

Willy undermines her authority with the boys. He denies any negative comments out of her mouth when their children are discussed. He interrupts her. He shouts at her. Linda reacts with veiled hostility to Willy?s disrespect. She laughs at the idea of planting a garden, pointing to Willy?s past failures at growing a garden. Every time Linda pokes at his failures, she is retaliating against Willy?s failures and the fact that she has been pulled into Willy?s dead end dream against her will.

Within seconds of his scathing condemnation though, Torvald learns that his reputation will not suffer from Nora’s actions and he “forgives” her with an open and willing heart. How could one not crack under such pressure as this? Willy, like Nora, had a dream. Willy dreamt of success: personal success, success in his family life, and success for his sons. For him, salesmanship was the measure of his success; throughout the many flashbacks he would often exaggerate his sales, boosting his image in the eyes of his children. He felt as though his place as a meaningful member of society hinged on this success. Therefore, he would only admit his shortcomings to Linda, who understood and never judged him. In the eyes of his young children, Willy could do no wrong: he made top sales records; he was “well-liked,” nothing could defeat him, further adding to his societal pressures (Miller 1.509). Willy also had to deal with the pressure from his brother who had struck diamonds in Africa by mistake, constantly living in that shadow, that stigma as the “little brother” who turned down the chance of a lifetime and instead became a salesman. Pressured to pursue his American Dream, Willy gives himself over to the overwhelming waters of society, drowning himself in its expectations and demands.

The reader can see this when The Woman says, “I’ll put you right through to the buyers,” (Miller 39). Thus, Willy has multiple expectations for his sons and The Woman.

In Theatre Mitu’s “hyper-theatrical” production of “Death of A Salesman” by Arthur Miller many aspects were added to heighten the messages and morals of the story about the American Dream. One major choice was the use of objects to signify characters as well as add to characters. Willy carried a empty, open briefcase. Linda carried a sun parasol. Biff carried football gear. All the other characters are objects themselves. Happ is a punching bag. Charley is a refrigerator door, and Bernard is a bug repellent light. The Women is a fan. Ben is a big light, and the waiter is a champagne bucket. Almost all of the characters excluding Biff, Willy, and Linda are recording voices which creates a degree of separation from the outside world. Happ is somewhere in between by being an actor with a microphone.

Willy is unable to acknowledge any of his failures and completely exaggerates all of his success to the point where he lives a lie, while Blanche rejects her new life by rebelling against the more coarse values of the southern environment around her. In their descent into madness, both Willy and Blanche completely lose grip of reality and become tragic victims of their own delusion, becoming examples of the Aristotelian notion of hamartia in their delusional error. But their characters also demonstrate elements of Aristotle’s notion of anagnorisis, or the epiphany of realizing a tragic error and attempting to rectify it.

Even though Miller makes assumptions in his writing, he does keep the reader’s attention with a face-paced tone and long sentences with similes. For example, when Miller says “The notion that the principal, or only, purpose of going to college is to win a ticket of admission to the great upper middle

2. Explain Miller’s use of comic relief at the beginning of this act. How is this scene ambiguous?

6. Given Miller’s earlier definition of tragedy, what is illuminated by the tragic figure’s destruction? What comments does Miller make about the “condition of life” and the “wrong”? How does he mean each of these terms?

Apart from Willy’s delusion of his own success, he also sees his sons as great successes in the business world, and that they will amount to so much in their lives. These boys cannot be successful because they have been “[blown] so full of hot air [they] could never stand taking orders from anybody” (131). Willy’s illusions about his sons not only ruined Willy’s life, but it caused these boys to have a false sense of reality, which is the theme. This false sense of reality leads to their downfall in the business world because Willy had built them up so high that they believed they should be the one giving the orders, not taking them. When Willy tells his boys “together [you] could absolutely lick the civilized world” (64), this is an example of the way Willy falsely sees his boys and fills their

Miller writes the story in a very unique way. He gives his readers a chance to explore the words written on his pages, with the hope that the reader is able to draw their own conclusions from his work. His unparalleled approach to the essay forces the reader to use critical thinking in order to make since of the essay. Miller’s feelings about reading, writing and the

George could not turn his back on New York City because the city had never turned its back on him, even when he had absolutely nothing. The effects of being raised in this sometimes cruel, yet prosperous environment is evident in the life of George Andrews; he represents not only the harsh

Willy treated people poorly which in turn his children learnt to do. For instance, Willy was married to Linda but went ahead to have another woman. He had an affair with another woman because he was not satisfied with his marriage. His poor treatment of his wife misled his sons to see it as acceptable to be dishonest. They in turn, viewed women as inferior objects of use.

Throughout the play, Willy’s hubris is part of the fault that leaves him to a tragic ending. One example of Willy’s hubris, is when he tells his family he is a power salesman that knowns powerful people who respect him. He is expressing excessive pride, by creating image of himself he wish he was and convincing himself he is. This hubris makes him believe that he can go ask his employer for a stationary job in New York, so he doesn’t have to travel.  

This quote taken from page 6 act one displays the way Willy treats his wife Linda. Willy shows his wife very little respect, as seen in the quote Linda was being a great wife and trying to please her husband Willy. Subsequently, the lack of respect that she is presented by her husband does not in any way alter her patience and love for him. As he is angered by the purchase of American cheese, she does not let that affect her yet sands strong and patient.

Death of A Salesman Essay Death of a Salesman is a play written by Arthur Miller that follows Willy, an unsuccessful traveling salesman that is eventually led to commit suicide. Willy lives with his wife Linda and his two sons Happy and Biff. The play shows the development of Willy’s ambition and how that led to his unfortunate death. Miller uses the literary elements of Symbolism, Irony and Imagery to express how the American dream can destroy someone.