Summary
In one of my previously written essays, I discussed and analyzed the protagonist from Death of a Salesman named Willy Loman. He is one of the main figures in the literature piece written by Arthur Miller. This paper will provide an analysis of the three main characters of the play. Through the characters, the author has emphasized one of the work’s significant themes, family.
Willy Loman
Willy tells himself lies and lives in an illusionary world in order to convince himself and his family that they are successful. He falsely believes that he is essential to the New England territory and will someday be promoted as a result of his dedication. Even concerning his actual income, he lies—first to himself, then to his boss. Willy has at least one affair because he wants to show himself that he is liked by everyone (Noras 1). He draws the young woman by offering to buy her a pair of silk stockings. Biff recognizes Willy for who he is and calls him a fraud and a fake when he finds his father in the hotel room with the woman.
Willy likewise dwells in a fantasy world regarding his two boys. He believes Happy to be a successful young guy who will soon take the reins as store manager. In reality, Happy is a failure like his father, who creates his own fantasy universe and helps Willy maintain it (Wei 329). Happy acknowledges that he is lonely and miserable despite having his own apartment, car and claims of connections with women. He has no idea how to get past his sadness, and Willy is even more gullible about Biff. Willy has invested the majority of his hopes in this older son because he is the more attractive one and was an accomplished athlete in high school. Biff, however, utterly fails. He fails math and is unable to finish school. He is a habitual thief who has been fired from every position due to his theft. Even Biff recognizes that he is a complete failure and a “nothing.” Even though the son attempts to explain it to Willy, he won’t accept the truth about Biff. In actuality, Willy kills himself so that Biff might receive his life insurance payout.
Willy Loman’s love for his family, especially his undeserving son Biff, is his one saving grace. Willy is unwilling to accept the truth as it is shown to him by his oldest son, Biff, even after Biff forces his father to face reality. Instead, he decides to end his life since he thinks it will increase Biff’s chances of succeeding in life. Willy believes that he is making the ultimate sacrifice for his family by killing himself. As a result, Willy passes away in his own mind as a husband and father rather than a salesman, as the play’s title suggests.
Linda Loman
The play’s most sympathetic character is Linda Loman, Willy’s devoted wife. Linda is depressed and appears to be living a dreadful life, yet she genuinely loves her husband despite all of his flaws and always supports him. She never moans about her life, despite spending it cooking, cleaning, trying to make ends meet, and enhancing Willy’s ego. Instead, she bemoans the disrespectful manner in which her sons, Happy and Biff, handle their father. She even warns Biff that he won’t be allowed to return home unless he improves his relationship with Willy.
Linda’s shortcoming is that she lacks the imagination necessary to comprehend Willy’s aspirations for success. When Willy has the chance to leave for Alaska and strike it rich with Ben, Linda is the one who prevents him by pointing out his bright future at the Wagner firm. She also deceives Willy over and over, making him believe that he is adequately supporting her and the family.
Linda is merely the stereotypically worried wife and mother who strives to make ends meet while trying to maintain her family’s happiness, especially Willy. She also contributes to and strengthens Willy’s self-delusion (Aberg 6). The play’s Requiem paints a tragic picture of Linda in her final moments. After everyone has left, she stays behind at Willy’s grave because she wants to tell her final goodbyes. She informs Willy with pride that she has paid off the house’s mortgage in full and bemoans the fact that she is the only person left to live there.
Biff Loman
The older of Willy’s two children is Biff. Despite being a failure in life, he is a handsome man. Biff was a standout football player in high school and received numerous scholarships. Unfortunately, despite Bernard’s best efforts to make him study and assist him in cheating on the exam, he failed math and was unable to continue school. Additionally, he started stealing in high school but received no punishment for it. In fact, Willy justifies his actions by arguing that the coach would likely be pleased with Biff’s initiative for wanting to train at home when he steals balls from the locker room.
Biff establishes early in the play that he has adopted all of Willy’s ideals and hasn’t created any of his own. Biff’s father taught him that the key to success is having a positive reputation and being considered beautiful. When Biff claims that Bernard “is loved but not much liked,” he even somewhat mirrors Willy’s outlook on life. Biff believes that he will be popular and successful because he is attractive. He expects great things to happen to him, but they never occur. Instead, as a result of his compulsive theft, he continuously loses job.
Biff gradually comes to terms with the fact that both he and his father are failures in life during the play. When he is still a teenager, the disenchantment starts. Biff learns some terrible news about his father when he travels to Boston to tell Willy that he failed arithmetic. He discovers him in a hotel room with an unfamiliar woman and suspects Willy of financially and sexually betraying his mother. He labels Willy a fake liar.
Biff appears to be gaining strength toward the play’s conclusion. The reality about himself and his father has been confronted and accepted by him. There is hope that he can realize his potential now that he is aware of his issues. The figure of Biff serves as the play’s lone beacon of optimism. There is a chance that he can recover and live a regular life, free from Willy’s influence.
Family Theme
The Lomans, who refuse to recognize the passing of time and suffer, as a result, serve as a vehicle for the family theme. The whole literature piece represents the image of the family in the mass culture (Levin 2). Characterization plays an important role in delivering the play’s central theme (Gunawan 8). Willy makes repeated attempts to realize his aspirations but is unsuccessful. After several fruitless attempts, he turns his focus to his boys in the hope that their jobs will help him achieve his vision of the perfect existence. Unfortunately, neither of them succeeds; Happy doesn’t chase dreams, while Biff lacks direction. In contrast to Willy’s dysfunctional family, Charley and his son enjoy tremendous financial and professional success, enabling their family to live the American ideal.
Works Cited
Aberg, Joakim. “The Process of Individuation in Willy Loman: A Jungian Archetypal Literary Analysis of the Protagonist in Arthur Miller’s Play Death of a Salesman Compared to the Classical Hero of Odysseus in Homer’s The Odyssey.” University of Gävle, 2019, pp. 1-24.
Gunawan, Handy Yosua. Characterization and Power Relation in Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller. Indonesia University of Education, 2019.
Levin, Henrik. “The Effects of Mass Culture on the Loman Family: The Frankfurt School Critical Theory Applied to Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman.” University of Gävle, 2021, pp. 1-27.
Noras, Maya. “The Role of Defense Mechanisms in Willy Loman’s Character: A Freudian and Marxist Analysis of Death of a Salesman.” University of Gävle, 2020, pp. 1-25.
Wei, Qingxia. “The Analysis of Death of a Salesman from the Perspective of Modern Tragedy.” US-China Foreign Language, vol. 17, no. 7, 2019, pp. 328-331.