Death Of A Salesman
'He had the wrong dreams. All, all wrong.'
To what extent do you agree with this assessment of Willy Loman by his son Biff?
Willy Loman was a man of 'greatness', a man who was 'way out there in the blue, riding on a smile and a shoeshine' and but was a man who 'didn't know who he was'. Above all, Willy Loman was a dreamer, a salesman who saw it necessary to 'enter the jungle' to 'get the diamonds out'. From a reader's view, Willy was a very foolish man who turned his back onto reality and lived out his hollow dream but yet to access Biff's claim of Willy's dreams being 'all, all wrong'. There are three crucial aspects in which we must examine. Firstly, we must examine the battered ...
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which he can't reach. At first, he is presented as two different people. The first impression is that he is an angry man who blames the world for his faults, he has tried to mould his children into images of himself and often contradicts himself (as shown in Act 1 where he talks about Biff being a 'lazy bum' and then saying 'there's one thing about Biff-he's not lazy'). Willy is an insecure man who has cheated his loving wife, lied to his sons, and has taught them that cheating and stealing is a way of life. But most of all, he has unachievable dreams which he will do anything to accomplish, including that of foolishly committing suicide in order to show his sons that he is a man.
However, the other 'nobler' view of Willy is that he is a battered and tired man as a 'small man can be just as exhausted as a great man'. He has passed his opportunity for success due to his respect for his dear wife. He is most likely suffering some mental sickness and has just been fired from a job ...
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of behaviour and happening that we see that Willy can never achieve a perfect future because he does not have a perfect beginning. He will forever be plagued by his deeds and seeks escape through death. He cannot see that by being a salesman, he has literally sold his life, his welfare, his soul to something which he 'cannot lay his hands upon'. He has lost all his friends, his respect, his dignity but he has retained his pride, his pride which leads to his downfall since Willy cannot admit that he has failed and needs to start again.
Willy aspires to a man named David Singleman, a salesman who 'died the death of a salesman, in his green velvet slippers'. He knows that David has become ...
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CITE THIS PAGE:
Death Of A Salesman. (2007, March 5). Retrieved November 28, 2024, from http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Death-Of-A-Salesman/61278
"Death Of A Salesman." Essayworld.com. Essayworld.com, 5 Mar. 2007. Web. 28 Nov. 2024. <http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Death-Of-A-Salesman/61278>
"Death Of A Salesman." Essayworld.com. March 5, 2007. Accessed November 28, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Death-Of-A-Salesman/61278.
"Death Of A Salesman." Essayworld.com. March 5, 2007. Accessed November 28, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Death-Of-A-Salesman/61278.
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