Arthur Miller's "death of a salesman" is a story of a man who tries to do things right as he sees them but is destined to fail from the outset. This is not a play of hope, but a tragedy and for the play to be an effective tragedy it is important that the audience can relate to the lead character. For this end Arthur Miller's lead character "Willy Loman" is designed to reflect the average man on the street, or the "Common man".
Willy Loman has the "perfect" family, fulfilling the "American dream" When he is young;.
"Ha! Don't leave the hubcaps, boys. Get chamois to the hubcaps. Happy, use newspaper on the windows it's the easiest thing. Show him how to do it Biff".
Willy's boys Happy and Biff are cleaning his car, Willy is encouraging them, telling Happy how to clean the car and encouraging his older son Biff to show his brother how. This epitomises the American dream with the men of the house all laughing and joking over an interest they all share and getting on as good friends. In the fifties, when the play was written the American dream was the benchmark of American life, something for all its citizens to aspire to, so by achieving this Willy Loman is the "Average American". This is a good reflection on the American dream because Willy is the average,, or common man by achieving the American dream when in real life few people ever actually achieve this.
Willy puts his life into his job, only to be put aside when he is no longer of any use to his company;.
"Howard: I don't want you to represent us, I've been meaning to tell you for a long time now.
Willy: Howard, are you firing me?.
Howard: I think you need a good, long rest, Willy".
Willy has just gone to see his boss, Howard to see if he can change his work to office based as he is getting old. Howard's response is to fire Willy, he tells Willy that he has been planing to fire him for a while because he is not as good salesman as he was. This is a good reflection on how the common man is treated n society, when someone is no longer of use to a company the company sacks them because the companies interests are on making money, not the individual employees.
Witt, though, misses Miller's purpose for Willy Loman. ... He says, "They don't need me in New York. ... Willy really tries to get a job closer to his family. ... Willy being fired fuels his demise and pushes closer to his anti-heroic suicide. ... She sits, mending her stockings and Willy says, "I won't have you mending stockings in this house! ...
Willy Loman states: I'm fat. ... Willy Loman had one chance in his life to become successful. ... Some say leaving their native homeland was the wrong decision, and many share stories of failed grocery stores and dry cleaners and how they regret they did not do something else. ... Willy Loman says, "Can you imagine that magnificence with twenty thousand dollars in his pocket? ... In conclusion, Willy Loman tries his best to gain wealth. ...
Willy Loman is a middle-class man making a middle-class wage living in a middle-class society. ... "My God, if business doesn't pick up I don't know what I'm gonna do- Willy says (pg36). ... Willy has this hatred and denial against his son we see on the outside but there are many references in the play when Willy states that Biff is still a good kid and a son who Willy loves. ... Willy Loman, a sixty-one year old father, who is very passionate about his work, slowly looses his sanity due to the stress in his life with his sons disregard for growing up in the world, and his jo...
Charley says to Willy "Don't get insulted" (43) after offering him a position at his work. ... Call out the name Willy Loman and see what happens! ... "Willy Loman is here!' ... As the disillusioned protagonist, Willy Loman is constantly struggling with himself to find answers for what he does not understand. ... Throughout the book, one can see clearly that Willy Loman, a common man with stellar dreams, is a tragic hero....
How would you like that, Huh? ... Loman and says, They don't need me in New York. ... Loman, and cheats on her with another women. ... Willy then questions how he will ever pay Charley back the money he owes him. ... A few editors also came up with an opinion of Willy's identity also, like when they say, The whole question of Willy's hidden identity is curiously like that in Oedipus. ...
At the very outset of my essay, I will you to get to know Willy Loman. ... But in fact, there are two Willy Lomans in the play. There is the Willy Loman, how we met him at the beginning of the Book, as an exhausted man, which life is soon at the end. And on the other side, the young and self-assured Willy Loman, who appears in Willy's flashbacks and fantasies. ... Willy hhad an affair with a women he meets on sales trips to show himself how well-liked he really is, but he was caught one time by Biff. ...
Oedipus, Macbeth, Lear, Hamlet, Othello "or Willy Loman. ... Gradually, the audience members become Willy Loman, and his struggle becomes their own struggle. ... Willy Loman is incapable of discerning what is real from what is not. ... Willy Loman speaks not of "success," so much as of being "well liked" (Miller 1324). ... Loman is a pathetic fool, but he is completely recognizable "to laugh at, to commiserate with, or to deplore. ...
Willy Loman to this day is one of the hardest characters for an actor to act out in a play. ... How Biff has affected Willy was in a big way. ... Willy refuses to listen to what Biff is saying; he tells Biff how great he is and how successful he can become. ... How Willy attempts to solve this situation was suicide. ... No one is present at Willy Loman's funeral. ...
Willy Loman: A Tragic Hero A tragic hero is a character exhibits traits of good moral, but possess a fatal flaw that brings upon his or her own downfall. In Arthur Miller's drama, Death of a Salesman, the protagonist and tragic hero, Willy Loman, although somewhat corrupted by material desires, is a man with good morals and noble qualities, but possesses a tragic flaw, which sees him to his inevitable downfall Though a seemingly unsuccessful and emotionally unstable character, Willy Loman has good noble qualities, a characteristic of a tragic hero. Further supporting the characte...
