Similarities Between The Crucible And Death Of A Salesman

Arthur Miller said, “The quality in such plays that does shake us, however, derives from the underlying fear of being displaced, the disaster inherent in being torn away from our chosen image of what and who we are in this world” (Handout). Arthur Miller is a prestigious author who created three modern tragedies, The Crucible, All My Sons, and Death of a Salesman. Each play had several characters that had a “fear of being displaced” and was afraid of “being torn away from our chosen image of what and who we are in this world”. In The Crucible, John Proctor is a characters who is afraid that his reputation would be tarnished. In addition, John Proctor believed himself to be a man of honor and integrity and with his act of adultery, his image
Similarly, Willy, Happy, and Biff show these fears. Willy fears being displaced in the company and in his family, through his anger when he gets fired, his passion in his sons, his sadness when he realizes that Biff still loves him. Happy fears that the image he believed Willy had, that he was a successful salesman, will not come true for him, through his lie that he was higher in the ranks of the store than he actually was. Biff fears that he isn’t going to find his place in the world, and his revelation with Willy completely changed the way he thought of who he was going to be in the world. Another fear that Willy, Happy, and Biff have is facing reality. One of the prominent themes in Death of a Salesman—facing unpleasant, painful realities is necessary for personal growth—is shown throughout the play with Willy’s lies that coincide with his philosophy, Happy’s acceptance of Willy’s philosophy, and Biff’s rejection of Willy’s
Willy says to Linda concerning Biff and Bill Oliver, “If he’d’ve stayed with Oliver he’d be on top by now!” (67). The only purpose this lie would have had would be to boost Willy’s and Linda’s hopes for the deal happening the next day. Willy completely ignores the reality that Biff was only a shipping clerk, and especially with his stealing of the basketballs, he wouldn’t have made it very far in the business. Willy says several lies, boasting about his reputation, to make himself feel well liked. Willy says to Ben, “Oh, sure, there’s snakes and rabbits and—that’s why I moved out here.Why, Biff can fell any one of these trees in no time! Boys! Go right over to where they’re building the apartment house and get some sand. We’re gonna rebuild the entire front stoop right now! Watch this, Ben!” (50). Willy, trying to impress Ben and make himself feel well liked, lies knowingly and he even starts to believe what he is saying. In reality, people in the city, such as Brooklyn, don’t go hunting often and Willy lies about that by saying that was the reason why he came to Brooklyn. Also, in an attempt to impress Ben, he sacrifices his children’s morality when he tells them to steal sand from the next door apartments. He doesn’t face the reality that he should be worried about raising his children to be moral rather