What Is Willy's Image Of Himself

What is Willy’s image of himself and what is the significance of the stockings?
Miller uses a range of linguistic and structural devices to present Willy’s self-image and worth. He also reveals an important secret which is linked with stockings. In this essay I will be conveying some of these ideas and the significance of the stockings.
To begin with, Willy appears to have a positive and satisfied image of himself and this is displayed when he says, “I have friends…can park my car in any street” “very well liked”. By using phrases comprised of monosyllabic words and simplistic language it reflects Willy’s simplistic way of thinking; the blind faith in the cult of personality. Here he confidently expresses to the boys how successful he is due
to his popularity and being well liked in order to inspire them and motivate them to do well in life. In those times people were living in capitalistic societies and the belief in cult of personality was idolised. As Loman is aware that his sons look up to him as a role model , throughout the play he emphasises the importance in this ideology like when he said, “he’s liked, but not well liked”. The use of the conjunction “but” suggests a contrast that is unexpected in light of the first clause and presents the idea negatively. This reinforces that he believes that although Bernard is intelligent and has the skills, he isn’t popular and liked enough to be greatly successful. Therefore due to having this deceptive belief, he sees himself as superior and of high status which leads him to establish a judgemental character. On the contrary, the hidden contradiction is revealed in the play as Willy’s confidence and arrogance begins to unmask.
He begins to reveal that his success, popularity and fame aren’t the case, “Don’t seem to take me…laugh at me”. By using simplistic language, it shows a sense of defeat and confusion. Also when he directly admits his concerns with his appearance i.e. “I’m fat” he used colloquialism and dysphemism it indicates a weight being lifted off his shoulder as he made that confession. This shows that he no longer thinks highly of himself or perhaps that he’s abandoned that thought a while ago but only just admitted it due to him noticing this downfall in his career. On account of this it possibly suggests that he puts on this confident façade due to it being the time of the Great Depression where work, success, fame and wealth were almost impossible, which makes it his priority to ensure that his sons don’t go down the same route he did. However although this epiphany is established, Willy still hasn’t reached the anagnorisis stage, which is realising that cult of personality is futile in the current society. This is displayed when he says, “I'll go to Hartford. I'm very well liked in Hartford”. By repeating “Hartford” which symbolises Willy’s previous success and the repetition of “well liked” foregrounds the fact that by rehearsing memories of his past achievements is a way of coping and abandoning the harsh reality; that society is no longer capitalistic.
Success now comes from hard work and skills rather than looks and popularity and people now have to adopt the ‘every man for himself’ attitude. He does this throughout the play as he breaks into constant nostalgia to ignore the current issues he’s having. This further emphasises the importance of cult of personality to Willy. Whilst dealing with his disbelief and blindness to change in society, Loman has to also live with another secret which is revealed to us as an audience, leaving us in astonishment and holding a lot of significance to help us associate it with other ideas. This is the fact that Willy had an affair on Linda. Miller introduces the other woman in order to convey his guilt, “The handsomest” “(laughter of woman)”. By using mobile concurrency, it shows that as Linda and he interact he’s constantly reminded of the woman, which is why when Linda complimented him, his moral conscious reminds him of his bad deed. This dramatic irony presents Linda’s ignorance and innocence. This is further displayed when she says, “idolized by their children” where she again uses epithets to praise Willy then his guilty conscious replies with, “(woman, dimly seen)”. Again the mobile concurrency suggests that his mind is mocking Linda as well as Willy, reinforcing her naivety and gullibility. This burden further decreases Willy’s self-image and worth and helps the audience to associate this revelation with the strain in Biff and his relationship. Moreover, this makes it harder for Willy to be around his wife without showing any emotion or remorse. Like when Linda says, “Just mending stocking” to which Willy replied, “I won’t have you mending stockings in this house! Now throw them out!” The use of exclamatory emphasises his anger and disappointment with himself as he had also bought the other woman a pair of stockings, “thanks for the stockings” Although his affair with the other woman in Boston is mostly considered to be a mistake to Willy, in some ways it has also been beneficial