Similarities Between Hamlet And Death Of A Salesman

Death of a Salesman is a tragic play by Arthur Miller, about a sixty-four year old traveling salesman who is struggling to earn money and is very hung over about being “well liked” and to him that is the most important thing to be because it will lead to success. He has two sons and that have very high standards for him so they try to live up to them. Willy is always reliving the past, he is depressed with his life because he feels like he's never done anything with it and was never successful so he had tried killing himself multiple times before and at the end of the play he really does kill himself so that way his family can get his life insurance money and in that way he feels like he’ll have finally done something meaningful with his life. Another play that has a similar lead in it is Hamlet, a tragic play by William Shakespeare. Hamlet is about Prince Hamlet, of Denmark, after learning about the death of his father and who killed him is set out on avenging him. He finds out from his fathers ghost it was his uncle. The same one who married Hamlets mother and
took the throne. Throughout the play Hamlet is planning to kill his uncle and along the way some innocent lives are taken and a plot for Hamlets death is set out but that is avoided. And the play ends with the death of Hamlet, his mother, his uncle and the brother of a girl Hamlet once loved. Even though these plays take place in different eras they still have some similarities and differences, especially withe the main roles, Willy Loman and Prince Hamlet. Hamlet and Willy Loman can both see people that are dead, whom they have cared about.
Hamlet see’s the ghost of this father and while Willy sees his dead brother Ben, even though they both see things, Hamlets father is seen by two other people while only Willy is the only one who can see ben, because he's in his imagination. They both interact with the ghost and they listen to them and even make life choices. Though willy only talks about the past with Ben and reminiscence, it effects him in the present by making him feel like he hasn't done anything for his family and he always lives in regret with not having taken offers from Ben that could have made him rich like him. With Hamlet and his father they only talk about the present and future, his father tells Hamlet what to do and he listens to him. And his ghost only comes out when he wants him to. He didn't see his father as much as Willy saw his
brother. A major difference between Willy and Hamlet is that they had very different upbringings, each on almost the other side of the spectrum. Hamlet was born in to royalty, he was a Prince and he has had an education. While Willy is a salaryman who is Hamlets barley making money and I believe didn't have such an education that could compare to . Hamlet has never experiences the struggle of having to make a living on his own and putting work and effort into it and is mostly expected to be well liked by his people, while Willy thrives stop be well liked and for people to notice him. Willy has a lot of responsibility, he has family to take care of, bills to pay off, and a job he has to do. While hamlet Doesn't have that many responsibility, he is still just a prince so he doesn't have to do much. Hamlet probably would have never learned what its like to have a lot of people depending on you, while doing other things. Maybe if he would have ever became king after his fathers death he would have known what is like to have people depending on you and by taking care of a country he would have learned the true meaning of responsibility. But the only thing he feels responsible for is being the one to avenge his fathers death. Hamlet and Willy are both unable to walk away from certain things. Willy can’t seem to give up on his traveling salesman career, even though it is causing him lost of problems, he cant drive to well anymore and he can’t seem to sell his products. He’s had choices to leave that career, like his friend, Charley offers him a job that won’t make him travel. But he still won’t quit because he feels like his job will become better. In an article by T.E. Kalem, published in Time magazine, He says about Hamlet, “And like Willy Loman, he is virtually humorless, unable to season his despair or get a proper perspective on himself.” I fully agree with him. I feel like because of this Willy and Hamlet really began to lose themselves and become ‘mad’.