Arthur Miller
Death of a Salesman (Drama)
Death of a Salesman is a famous creation of Arthur Miller. Willy Loman, Linda, Biff, Happy, Ben, Charley, Bill Oliver, Bernard and Wagner the remarkable characters in this drama. The playwright has discussed the p and present activities of a salesman focusing the American social life, Amer can social life is very complex and mechanized. The central character Wi Loman is mentally confused. He desires power and material success in h life. However, as a sincere salesman it is not possible for him to become successful man in the competitive society. He suffers from inferiority an complexity. He has an unbalanced mind. He has a sky kissing ambition but be is not able to bring economic emancipation of his family. He wants to be rich by hook or crook. He doesn't know the strategy to be rich man. The life of Willy is bitter, contradictory, neglected deprived and mysterious. He hunts the secret of his failure. He has traveled along wrong path most of his life. He wants to know from his brother Ben and his neighbor Charley about the cret of success. Ben proposed Willy to go to Alaska. But Willy did not agre Ben went to Alaska and earned huge money. After returning from Alaska Ben became aristocrat. All classes of people respect him. In this situation Willy felt his mistake. He thought that the proposal of Ben was right.
Why didn't I go to Alaska with my brother Ben that time?
If I'd gone with him to Alaska that time, everything would've been totally different.
He believes that a man can rise to a high position and can attain wealth by means of personal attractiveness, personal charm, personal initiative and contacts. He compares his elder son Biff to Hercules, and then to God. He is determined that Biff will be able to get huge amount of money from Bill Oliver to start business. He also believes that Biff has a personal charm that will help him to be established. On the contrary he is very worried about Biff To him, Biff is a vagabond boy.
There's such an undercurrent in him.
He became a moody man. The trouble is he's lazy, goddammit.
Willy has served at the Wagner Company for 34 years. Recently he has bee deprived of his regular salary and relegated to working on a commission b sis. He has no traditional religion. His religion has been the American dream His Gods have been Ben, Dave Singleman, and his father, but they are all dead. Willy is a pathetic figure throughout the play. He has a lot of self respect and a sense of personal dignity. He refuses to accept a job from Char ley, even though he needs it badly. Both Charley and Bernard are always pre pared to help Willy. Willy admires Charley in the following way:
I don't know why I can't stop myself-I talk too much. A man ought to come in With a few words. One thing about Charley, he is a man of few words.
Linda, wife of Willy is a good woman character. She is devoted wife. She is considerate, sacrificed minded, helpful, moderate, modest, self-controlled and simple. She is an affectionate mother. She is quite indulgent towards her two sons. Both Biff and Happy have a high opinion about their mother. She plays an important role in making friendship between Willy and Biff. She loves her husband very much. She admires him very cordially. She considers her hus band as an angelic figure. She wants to remove the dispute between Biff and Willy. Actually she doesn't know the reason about the dispute between Biff and Willy.
Willy, darling, you're the handsomest man in the world
Linda has high opinion about Willy. She is very faithful to her husband. She further says:
He is the dearest man in the world to me
And I won't have anyone making him feel unwanted and low and blue
One day Biff went to a hotel and saw his father's sexual intercourse with a prostitute. After watching that scene, Biff was broken heartened. He became very upset. He started considering his father as fake. A dreadful abhorrence filled in his mind. He started abhorring his father.
Never had an ounce of respect for you. He's got no character. He is fake.
Linda has blind support to Willy. She believes that her husband has no fault. Therefore, she scolds Biff. Hearing the fact from Biff she insults him instead of Willy. She loves Willy very much. She admires him very cordially.
Willy Loman never made a lot of money. His name was never in the paper.
He's not the finest character that ever lived. But he's a human being,
And a terrible things is happening to him. He's been trying to kill himself
Ben, the younger brother of Willy is a promising man. He proposed Willy to go to Alaska. Willy refused his proposal. Ben went to Alaska and earned huge money. After returning from Alaska, Ben became aristocrat. All classes of people started to respect him. Willy felt his mistake and improper decision. He thought that the proposal of Ben was right. Charley is less speaking man very helpful to Willy. Charley is a modern American man. Willy considers himself as a talkative person. He thinks that he talks more than Charley. Happy is the younger son of Willy and Linda. He is proud of his numerous conquests over woman.
I just have an over-developed sense of competition or something,
But I went and ruined her, and furthermore I can't get rid of her.
He is more successful than Biff. He is, however, not satisfied with what he has achieved. He is making enough money but he thinks that he cannot go higher in life unless the merchandise manager in his firm dies. He has got his own apartment, a car, and a plenty of women, but still he feels lonely. At the end of the drama we see that Happy is also a vagabond like Biff. Willy is very worried about the vagabond life of two sons. To escape from painful life, Willy decided to commit suicide. He thought that if he would take the path of suicide, his two sons will get twenty thousand dollars from insurance com pany and they will become rich. In fact, one of the reasons for his suicide is that Biff would be able to build up his career with the insurance money. He thinks that his funeral will be a 'massive' affair and will be attended by very important people in the trade. Actually only Charley and Bernard attend the funeral besides the members of his family.
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