In Death of a Sale man, by Authur Miller Willy Loman is 60-year-old man who seems to have a hot temper and is now starting to become very forgetful. At the beginning he starts to forget that he is actually driving and what is going on around him. He tells his wife Linda that “I’m goin’ sixty mile an hour and I don’t remember that last five minutes. I’m- I cant keep my mind to it”(13). Willy seems to becoming very distracted and forgetting what is exactly is going on around him. This forgetfulness also occurs once he demands Linda open up the windows in the house when they are already open. Willy also complains through out about his sons shortcomings and failures. He believes at 34 he hasn’t amounted to anything but a farm hand but maybe later…
Aristotle, an ancient Greek philosopher, established the ideas that led to the development of modern science, the Industrial Revolution, and the creation of the United States. He laid the foundation for reason by creating the basic principles of scientific epistemology, which is the role of senses and abstraction, the laws of logic and of reasoning. Furthermore, Aristotle kept the Greek theatre alive through his analysis of poetry in his book Poetics. Poetics is the earliest surviving work of dramatic theory and the first philosophical book that focuses on literary theory. Through this, he created the tragic hero and states, “a man doesn’t become a hero until he can see the root of his downfall.” According to Aristotle, the hero must endure a reversal of fortune (peripeteia) due to his tragic flaw (hamartia). They must then discover their mistake (anagnorisis) and receive their harsh fate. Arthur Miller’s play, Death of a Salesman, mostly portrays Willy Loman, the main character, as a tragic hero. Willy believes wholeheartedly in the American Dream, influenced by his successful and wealthy father and brother. However, Willy is unsuccessful in achieving his goals due to the major industrialization around him, his excessive pride, and distorted…
During the span of the book, Willy attempts to take his life. Whatever motive was behind his actions, one presumes it is almost definitely related to Willy’s. But why? The audience must wonder what horrible thing pushes a man over the edge like that? For willy, his idea of success is unlike many others. He himself believed that he was an above average salesman. Yet, he never exactly “made it big”, much like an amateur actor in Hollywood. Willy never got his hollywood premier no matter how far he traveled or how hard he seemed to work for it.…
One of the main slogans we here Willy say repeatedly throughout the play is that he is “The New England man” or that he is “Vital in New England”. Willy often uses this slogan to illustrate himself to his wife Linda and to convince her that he is the big successful salesman he acts to be. Willy is well aware that his career is coming to an end but doesn’t want to come to terms with this reality. Instead of coming to terms with reality he keeps saying and believing that he is “Vital in New England”. If he faced the fact that his career was coming to an…
During the play the main focus point is Willy’s volcanic relationship with his eldest son Biff, in which he is on the same path as his father. “WILLY: Sure. Certain men just don’t get started till later in life. Like Thomas Edison, I think. Or B.F. Goodrich. One of them was deaf. [He starts for the bedroom doorway.] I’ll put my money on Biff. (Act 1)” Willy sticks to his gut and hopes that Biff will be the greatest major business entrepreneur. He’s desperate for Biff to follow in his foot steps even though his advice is not the reality of the new world they live…
In this particular story, the protagonist - Willy Loman - is on the surface elevated no higher than a psychotic liar who often manipulates even those he loves the most. However, when looked upon through a harsher lens, the only thing that truly becomes obvious is that Willy himself is the archetype of a tragic hero. Lying to his family in friends, while in part cowardly, also questions the way in which a family could be defined as successful. Willy’s affair with another woman, while gross and unforgivable, allow others in the story to demonstrate the perseverance of love. In fact, it is throughout the entirety of Death of a Salesman that Arthur Miller uses his characters to question society, and then demonstrate their unwillingness to fall to adversity. Willy Loman, while indeed a pathetic man, falls through no weakness of his own…
One major flaw of Willy is his reliance on false hope. This can stem from his son, Biff. As seen in imaginings, adolescent Biff looks up to Willy as a great man, causing him to seek for his approval. In high school, Biff has many athletic achievements and is well liked. His awards cause for Willy to have high hopes in what he can conquer later in life. This developed vastly and became an influence in Willy’s mood. When he has a sense of hope to hold onto, he is liberated of his daily pressures. When Biff and Happy are at the restaurant with…
Willy and Nora: Tragic Heroes or Home-wreckers? No one has a perfect life. Despite what Aaron Spelling and his friends in the media might project to society today, no one's life is perfect. Everyone has conflicts that they must face sooner or later. The ways in which people deal with these conflicts can be just as varied as the people themselves. Some procrastinate and ignore their problems as long as they can, while others attack problems to get them out of the way as soon as possible. The Lowman and Helmer families have a number of problems that they deal with in different ways, which proves their similarities and differences. Both Willy Loman, the protagonist of Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman and Nora Helmer, protagonist of Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House experience an epiphany where they realize that they were not the person the thought they were: while Willy's catharsis brings about his death, Nora's brings her to a new life; hers. Both character's flaws bring about their departure from their respective families as well. They are both overly concerned with the appearances they and their families present to society: as a result they both project false images to others. From their appearance, both seem to be involved in stable marriages and appear to be going places. Willy's job as a traveling salesman seems stable (although we never know what it is he sells) when he tells his family that he "knocked 'em cold in Providence, slaughtered 'em in Boston" (Miller 1228). It is not until Willy's wife, Linda tells us that he "drives 700 miles and when he gets there, no one knows him any more, no one welcomes him" (Miller 1241). If that's not enough to convince readers of his failure on the job, the fact that he gets fired after working for the same company for 36 years cements his incompetency in the business world to readers. While Nora does not work in the business world, (few woman, if any did over 120 years ago) her failure to take care of her responsibilities…
In my personal opinion i believe the play death of a salesman the story has a tragic hero aka Willy loman because during the entire story willy was crashing down here is why. In the beginning willy returns home from a long day of work he get greeted by his wife in panic checking him to make sure that he is alright then once she was done checking she asked where was he and where has he been and he replies that he was in yonkers and he stopped for a cup of coffee but he was not sure if it was even coffee then on his way home from yonkers he had trouble driving he said that at one point he could not move that he could not drive anymore that he was driving off to the side not able to help it later in the…
Most of his family members don’t even see this because they are just as delusional as Willy is. However, his son, Biff, is not quite as delusional and sees the “phony” in his father. Biff continuously tries to bring this up to Willy but Willy continuously tries to avoid this inconvenient truth. For example, when Biff and Happy, Willy’s other son, meet Biff at the bar to discuss Biff’s situation with Bill Oliver, Biff’s previous employer, Willy thinks everything went great and that Biff is going to have great new job with Oliver. Biff is trying to tell Willy that this is not how the meeting went at all. However, because Willy doesn’t want to hear it, he doesn’t let Biff finish many of his sentences. Willy is very ignorant to reality. He does not want to believe any of the truths his son is telling him and the only way he knows how to cope with that is by rudely interrupting Biff. The old saying of “ignorance is bliss” really pertains to Willy because he is mostly a jolly old man who ignores all the troubles, even though they may be true, that surround him. Although, it is hard to be ignorant of the troubles around you, especially when someone close to you is trying to remind you of…
Infidelity is a sickness that can ruin relationships and tear families apart since it is a betrayal of the love that a husband entrusts in his wife and vice versa. In both fictional plays, Fences by August Wilson and Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller, infidelity is a clearly evident theme as both of the protagonists, Willy and Troy, betray their wives and have relations with other woman. Both men have a sense that what they are doing is wrong, but both continue to do so anyway. The major difference between the two men is the manner in which they conduct themselves while being unfaithful. Willy Loman is discreet and tries to hide his affair from his wife, Linda. While Troy, on the other hand, is much more open about the idea, even telling his wife he was going to be bringing home a new baby from the other woman. In both plays, infidelity affects not only the two men, but their family, as well; as it breaks the already fragile bonds they have with their family and ultimately…
With failure comes consequences, unfortunately Willy fails to acknowledge severity of his. Near the end of the play Willy’s advice seems unreliable in Biff’s eyes due to Willy’s failure to acknowledge his defeat in life and many of his past mistakes that only Biff knew about. Willy chased his American Dream for far too long leading to the destruction of him and his…
Willy Loman has the confidence of a billionaire. He acts like he is a hero, almost as if he ran the town. Willy’s confident attitude rubbed off onto his kids (Biff and Happy) making them believe that their father was a very successful man and that they were living the high class life. When in reality it was so far from that. Only Willy saw himself as the best. His friends, his bosses all knew he was full of talk, but never mentioned anything to him. “Well, that's the training, the training. I'm telling you, i was selling’ thousands and thousands, but I had to come home.”(34) The reality of Willy Loman's life is quite sad and pathetic, thinking that one is making so much money and is going to be so successful when really none of that is going…
The Characterization and plot of Death of a Salesman verified that faults in a character make it more understandable. The main character of this play is Willy Loman. He is insecure, self-deluded peregrinating salesman. Willy believes wholeheartedly in…
He realizes he is no longer respected by Biff, mainly because of his affair. Due to these circumstances, Willy recollects memories from his past to satisfy him. One these memories is when Biff would try and impress Willy through football; “...just for you, I’m going to break through for a touchdown.” (p.1223). This is significant as Biff is ignoring the fact that he is “supposed to pass.”(p.1223), just so he can impress his father. Picture yourself in Willy’s shoes. For instance, my Dad was once, in essence, in denial, for being laid off. He reconciled through memories to appetize him, though he did not let it take him over as he used it as motivation to successfully find a new job. This is completely contrasted from Willy’s case. Is Willy’s actions and behaviour…