Willy's Delusions

In the heart of Arthur Miller’s extraordinary play, Death of a Salesman lies the idea that anyone can become successful and accomplish the ultimate American Dream. Willy Lomen is a dreamer in extreme proportions. He believes the road to success is through charismatic personality, not good intensions or hard work. His idea of success involves materialistic things, or being more financially successful than the neighbor next door. He is extremely optimistic to the point where it disturbs his mind and disrupts his ability to distinguish between reality and false reality. In act one he states, “I have thoughts, I have such strange thoughts.” Willy gets so lost in his flashbacks that he is unable to identify

Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman, bashes at the problems created by Willy Loman. He struggles to live a satisfying life and portrays a dysfunctional state of mind that negatively affects his family as a result of his bipolar disorder. This failed salesman dreaming the American dream can barely think for himself, let alone dream a dream. As supportive as Willy’s family can be, they prove to have hardships when Willy is unstable and constantly going through mood swings. To make matters worse, Willy also experiences delusional thoughts that act as a disturbance to his daily life. In Death of a Salesman, Willy portrays the symptoms of bipolar disorder, establishing

    In Arthur Miller's play, Death of a Salesman, Miller probes the dream of Willy Lowman while making a statement about the dreams of American society. This essay will explore how each character of the play contributes to Willy's dream, success, and failure.

In Death of a Salesman, by Arthur Miller, Willy Loman’s life seems to be slowly deteriorating. It is clear that Willy’s predicament is of his own doing, and that his own foolish pride and ignorance lead to his downfall. Willy’s self-destruction involved the uniting of several aspects of his life and his lack of grasping reality in each, consisting of, his relationship with his wife, his relationship and manner in which he brought up his children, Biff and Happy, and lastly his inability to productively earn a living and in doing so, failure to achieve his “American Dream”.

Willy’s fixation with the American Dream and through which he measures his personal success prevent him from achieving a sense of fulfilment, leading him to become mentally unstable and suicidal. In Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller, the American dream can mostly be shown as the desire to become successful by most characters, although they each have personal, different definitions of success. For Willy Loman, success is achieved when an individual is very well-liked and superficially attractive.Willy believes that in America, anyone is able to achieve success, and by working hard, anyone is destined to. This is not necessarily true and becomes more evident by the end of the play.

The main character, Willy, in Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller is an exact replica of a tragic hero. Although it almost seems as if Willy has dementia, which is a possibility due to his old age, his true tragic flaw is his obsession with the idea of success. Willy is never satisfied with the reality of life and instead chases a fantasy of his “perfect world.” His determination to fulfill this fantasy disconnects him from the real word, leaving him stuck in his head while everyone else around him moves forward with their lives. Willy’s fortune turns awry due to his poor job performance, drastic reduction in sales, and his verbal outburst in the office causing him to get fired. Unfortunately, Willy can now no longer provide for his

In Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman, the author conveys the reader about how a person lives his life when he or she cannot live the “American Dream.” Willy Loman, the main character in the play is a confused and tragic character. He is a man who is struggling to hold onto what morality he has left in a changing society that no longer values the ideals he grew up to believe in. Even though the society he lives in can be blamed for much of his misfortune, he must also be the blame for his bad judgment, disloyalty and his foolish pride.

In the play “Death of a Salesman”, by Arthur Miller, the primary theme can be seen as a conflict between man and society. In which the ambition to achieve the “American Dream” controls the life of Willy Loman and the influences he has. When success is not reached, sends Willy’s mind on a mental ride.

Many individuals tend to ignore the realization of what is occurring on around them and continue living on. As a result, they develop this whole new world in which they believe that their lives are going well. Although this sounds optimistic, when reality hits them, they do not understand what is transpiring and instead of admitting their mistakes, these individuals go back to their own worlds. Likewise, Willy Loman experiences events that change his relationships with his family and his life. Instead admitting these mistakes, Willy Loman disregards them as if they did not happen and continues living on, which eventually catches up to him. In Arthur Miller’s play, Death of a Salesman,the author’s intent through the character Willy Loman is

As though to recreate the connection in life, literature often shows the relationship between past events and a character’s present actions and values. In Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman, Willy is haunted by memories of his older brother, father, and salesman Dave Singleman. Willy’s character and values are constantly influenced by the memory of the three men, compounding upon his deliria throughout the play. Willy considers these men the epitome of success, thus explaining his dependency on all three. Miller’s view on society, men, and the success of the American Dream are portrayed through Willy’s interactions with the men. The American Dream is synonymous with the phrase “the world is your oyster,” but Miller uses Death of a Salesman to criticize the American Dream through Willy Loman and his interplay between the past and present.

Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman tells the tale of Willy Loman, a man who falls from the top of the capitalism system in a resonant crash. Being controlled by his fears of the future, and stuck in his memories of the past, Willy fully contributes to his self-victimization by putting little blame on his own mistakes. Although Willy is perceived as selfish, it is important to see that he is misguided. His character is one of a common man, he has never been anything special, but he chose to follow the American Dream and continue the “destiny” it gave him. However, in my reading of the play, I feel it was not an unlucky destiny that pushed Willy to damage his own life and the lives of his family,

The play, Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller, takes issue with those in America who place too much stress upon material gain, at the expense of other, more admirable human values. Miller uses flashbacks to provide exposition, to foreshadow the upcoming tragedy, and most importantly to reveal character traits. An analysis of the main character, Willy Loman, illustrates the underlying theme that the concern over material success breaks down the bonds between men that form the basis of a smooth-functioning society.

The death of a Salesman is considered to be a literary work of art of morals and dreams of American life. The “American Dream” is a concept that is sought after by everyone all over the world, depicting that the thoughts and ideas that Miller had in the 1900’s are never changing. The character Willy Loman is an ordinary man who embodies traditional American values of success. Reaching a point in his career of a traveling salesman he is faced with termination, at this point he begins to examine his past life to determine its value. Willy is obsessed and fascinated by the American Dream as seen from the flashbacks of characters from his past, and he is able to picture how much better life should and can be.

Death of a Salesman illustrates a salesman by the name Willy Loman, who will not stop at nothing to achieve the American dream. He does not come to the terms, when he realizes that his son is an average performer. It is in fact his obsession with the American dream that causes his death. It seems that Willy lives in a fantasy world, as he thinks that everyone around him likes him and his sales activities. He, however, realizes the opposite; he is not well liked nor is he a good salesperson. While to Jay Gatsby’s obtaining the material dream is a means to personal fulfillment, Miller manages to present Willy Loman’s American dream as a means of obtaining the material dream. Miller, therefore, succeeds in

  In Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman, Willy is depicted as living in his own world. The play centers around the end of Willy’s life, when the real world comes crashing through, ruining the false reality he had created for himself and his family. Throughout the play, Willy Loman uses the concept of being well liked to build a false image of reality, as shown through his teachings to his son, what he considers successful, and his reasoning for committing suicide.