Death Of Salesman
Do we have the ability to control our destiny? The truth is this, one can
set
their goals and try to attain them and one can dreams their dreams and
try to
live them but the difference must be known. The character Willy Loman,
in the
play Death of A Salesman, seems to be a person who is not aware of
the
difference in reality and dreams. Willy’s choices throughout his
life
undeniably lead to his own demise. Willy Loman is a tragic hero. His
fear is
that he wants to be viewed as a good, decent human being. He wants to
believe
that he’s a well-liked, decent person who doesn’t make mistakes. The
truth
is that he makes mistakes, many that haunt him, and that he is human.
Willy does
not consider this normal and severely regrets such failures such
as raising his
children poorly, as he sees it, not doing well in business,
though he wishes he
were, and cheating on his wife Linda, showing her to be a
commodity of which he
takes advantage. Linda has a true, pure love for her
husband. Linda stands
behind him through it all, through his dreams and
broken promises, she still
believes in him. "The quality in such plays that
does shake us... 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 the world" (Miller,
"Tragedy..."). Willy’s "underlying fear of
being
displaced" is the real tragedy. He wants to do things right, but the
fact
is he has many incidences that haunt him. Consistently throughout the
play,
Willy drifts in and out of a dream. He is constantly haunted by
memories of his
dead brother Ben who struck it rich the jungle. He also has
flashbacks of
incidents that haunt him in other areas. For example, the
sequence in which Biff
catches Willy with a woman other than Linda. This
haunts Willy because he sees
it as part of why Biff does not love him.
"Tragedy then is the consequence
of a man’s total compulsion to evaluate
himself justly" (Miller,
"Tragedy..."). This is Willy’s flaw. The
circumstances in his life
and the identity he has created for himself are
being affronting by his inner
reality to "evaluate himself justly." This flaw
is "...his
inherent unwillingness to remain passive in the face of what he
conceives to be
a challenge to his dignity, his image or his rightful status"
(Miller,
"Tragedy..."). Indeed this is the case with Willy. He decides to
take
action rather than complacently become outdated. Willy continually
argues with
those around him in order to try to keep his personal dignity.
These include his
argument with Howard that he can still sell, his arguments
with Charley over the
card game and the job, and his argument with Biff about
not being "a dime a
dozen." "I am not a dime a dozen! I am Willy Loman and
you are Biff
Loman" (Miller, Death... 132)! Willy, in addition to meeting
Miller’s
definition of a tragic hero, in a way connects with the
traditional
requirements. Willy, after he receives an assurance that Biff
loves him, offers
the only thing he knows to somehow make recompense; he
takes his own life. He
does this so Biff will attain the insurance money.
Here we can see that Willy's
sincere desire is directed at something greater
than himself, his image, or his
success. He is motivated by his love for his
son. Therefore, since his primary
focus is beyond himself, it consequently
elevates him. "He taps into and is
accordingly clothed with the grandeur
tragedy" (Dwyer). Willy, like
traditional tragic heroes, has a tragic flaw.
"The possibility of victory
must be there in tragedy" (Miller, "Tragedy...").
Setting aside
Willy’s "tragic flaw," there is a certain amount of hope
that Willy
will change. If there is something to bring the element of hope
into the play,
there also comes the conceivable possibility of change.
"Change is the
compelling force, without which, there would be no hope"
(Dwyer). And with
change, comes the conceivable possibility of victory. The
entire play, Willy
lives by the credo "be well liked." "Someday I'll have my
own
business, and I'll never have to leave home any more... bigger that
Uncle
Charley! Because Charley is not liked. He's liked, but he's not
well liked"
(Miller, Death... 30)! He finds this untrue as he increasingly
makes less and
less money on business trips. "Howard, and now I can't even
pay my
insurance! You can't eat the orange and throw away the peel! A man is
not a
piece of fruit" (Miller, Death... 82)! He, however, refuses to change
his
view of the world and continues his struggle upstream. What makes this
tragic,
though, is that he does not change. It is his "tragic flaw"
that
brings this failure about him. His unwillingness to submit passively to
the
established order and values takes him down. He has a set idea in his
mind about
how he wants to be and the way he wants his children to be. He is
a salesman and
refuses to be anything else. Willy, even at an early age, had
a chance to change
and become like his brother Ben, but chose not to. He saw
the life of a salesman
and refused to do anything else. He had decided what
he wanted to be. In the
end, because of his unwillingness to change and
submit passively to the
established world, Willy dies at the hands of his
tragic flaws. The common man,
indeed, can relate to Willy Loman. His stubborn
refusal of character change
along with his fear of being denied his identity
by the world and his attempts
to believe that existence can be justly
evaluated brings upon him the death of a
tragic hero. This death locks him
into place both as a hero by Miller's
standards and by traditional standards.
So the question is raised again, does
one have the ability to control their
destiny? Dream you dreams or live them;
the choice is yours. " I don’t say
he’s a great man. Willy Loman never
made a lot of money. His name was never
in the paper. He’s not the finest
character that ever lived. But he’s a human
being, and a terrible thing has
happened to him. So attention must be paid.
He’s not to be allowed to fall
into this grave like an old dog. Attention
must be paid to such a person."