When the past no longer serves as an adequate escape, Willy resorts to complete fantasy in the form of Ben.
For Willy, his long lost brother represents the ultimate realization of the American Dream. Ben left his family to find fortune in Alaska. He represents the adventurer who makes a success through entrepreneurialism and audacity (Krasner 46). Miller however indicates that this success is decidedly uncertain; pointing out the wishful fantasy that has completely overridden Willy's ability to handle reality. Throughout the play, this juxtaposition of fantasy and reality serves as symbol of Willy's inner turmoil. Willy's fantasy is his own material success as a salesman, and the hope represented by his family. The fantasy culminates in the success of his brother Ben, and in Willy's regular references to himself as being "well liked" (Miller 30).
This illusion of being "well liked" is the contact point between Willy's true past and the one he likes to boast about. It is the point where his reality and fantasy fuse and become the same thing. Willy is not well liked. This is clear in the contempt...
Death of a Salesman: Tragedy in Prose Tragedy, can easily lure us into talking nonsense." Eric Bentley In Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman, we are introduced to Willy Loman, who believes wholeheartedly in what he considers the promise of the American Dream -- that a "well liked" and "personally attractive" man in business will unquestionably acquire the material comforts offered by modern American life. Willy's obsession with the superficial qualities of attractiveness
" Though critics such as Sheila Huftel characterize Willy Loman's "fall" as only a fall from "an imagined height," it is nevertheless still a fall, which makes Willy Loman, like Oedipus, a tragic figure. Willy has created very powerful ideas about what he wants his life to be and what he wants his sons lives to be. But these ideas are part of what make Willy who he is. He cannot
Death of a Salesman Culture and Gender in Death of a Salesman American culture is clearly changing. Yet, many within it are refusing to adapt, and are continuing to hold on to outdated middle class values that don't work within today's social context. This is Willy Loman. Arthur Miller presents a sad but realistic look at the destruction of the American Dream and middle class values within his work Death of a
Willy's "psychopathy," he explained, is a manifestation of his being "other-directed" -- or possessing a value system entirely determined by external norms…evidence that goes beyond normal human inconsistency into the realm of severe internal division" (3). The author's analysis illustrates that Willy's "psychopathy" is an inevitable and consistent result of his constant dreaming about success and wealth using the wrong approach. Knowing that he has failed himself and his
In conclusion, Death of a Salesman tells the tragic tale of Willy Loman's life. We do feel pity for this man as we watch him fail and we do understand that he makes tragic mistakes throughout his life that have brought him to this point. Many critics want to make allowances for the play because it represents the world in which we live. In doing so, they seem to forget
Death of a Salesman: Ethics in Business Arthur Miller's play titled Death of a Salesman is classic example of the transition experienced by those involved in the business world during the middle part of the 20th Century. Business ethics and the economy are interwoven and tied to the theme of achieving the American dream in the play. Willy, the main character in the play is caught in between two popular but
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