This tone is highly consistent throughout the entire play. Death of a Salesman has a very serious, depressing and empathetic tone. The only resolution that comes from all of this that Biff finally comes to terms with whom he really is and where he wants to go. It then eventually eads up to the climax when Biff finally confronts Willy with the rubber hose and then tells Willy he will not have any pity, and goes onto confront the entire family about living in denial. You start to really see the downfall of Willy and Biffs’ relationship, hopes, and dreams as well as the disarray of the Loman family. After this incident is shown the play takes a dramatic domino affect with the rest of Willy’s memories. The entire play Death of a Salesman is an order and chaos flow, but when the play really takes its enticing turn is when Biff discoveries his fathers dark secret of having an affair and then sees his own father give a strange woman stockings that should have been for his mother Linda. Even at Willy’s end his suicide does not effectively right his wrongs. Miller does an excellent job reaching the audience to maintain interest by displaying a common man who makes mistakes and continuous poor and failed attempts to fix his problems. Sadly the dramatic action is self-contained in this play when Willy finally goes through with killing himself at one last attempt to make his situation right. Miller bases Death of a Salesman around the question Can a man/person accept change and failure? The dramatic actions that display this in the play are acts of rage, denial and conflict. Happy becomes self-diluted and a womanizer a true mirrored image of Willy. Happy is always looking for his fathers approval and sadly no matter how much he lies, never can live up to be equal to Biff in his father’s eyes. He always tends to make something out of nothing and in doing so exaggerates the reality of what his life is really like. Happy, like Willy, lives in a constant state of fabricated illusions. Happy is a young cookie cut version of his father, but lives in the shadow of his older brother. Biff goes form idealizing his father to despising him.Īll of which dramatically changes Willy and Biffs lives. Young Biff respects and adores his father until this image is horribly crushed and destroyed when Biff finds out about Willy’s affair. The majority of Willy’s flashbacks and memories are of Biff. He is the spark that ignites Willy’s excitement for life. Biff is the oldest son and golden child to Willy. Linda is aware her husband is depressed and suicidal but allows herself to stay in a constant state of denial to cope. She is a good companion and dedicated wife undeservingly to Willy, and a mediocre mom at best. Linda is the sad wife, mother and woman living in anguish and fear, which she chooses never to get away from. He has one friend and a poor relationship with his wife and two sons. Much like his attitude, the play revolves around him. Willy yearns for attention and respect but never earns it. He is the salesman and driven by desires of wealth, success and respect from his family and peers. All the characters are connected to Willy and their actions reflect to Willy’s interactions. Willy Loman is the play but each character has highly typified qualities. All of these characteristics can correlate to every type of audience and it is easy to allow yourself to be flooded with sympathetic and empathetic mind-set for each character and having reflective thoughts throughout the play. Miller uses his characters to display strong life changes like emotions, controversy, depression, regret and feelings of failure. These typified characters have reflective properties that allow the audience to compare it to their own troubles in life because of the overwhelming feelings felt throughout the play. Miller definitely made his characters relatable to people. Following Willy Loman throughout the play it is revealed that he, in present time, has a diminished mental state as he jumps from present day to flash backs, memories and dreams along with having conversations with his brother who is not really there. Miller portrays order versus chaos along with the perception that these characters lives can be dramatically altered and defined by a single event. Willy has a tough time with change and it comes across when he continually fabricates reality to his family and one friend.
#Death of a salesman analysis professional
Willy’s professional life is also greatly affected.