A candle burning its last flame, ignorantly trying to keep its flame burning, not realizing it has nothing left to burn. The death of a salesman is a play written in 1949, authored by Arthur miller is an appalling story revolving around an aging salesman’s family in the 1940s. In his play Arthur Miller does a fine job of not describing very much his characters with adjectives, but rather with their previous and present actions throughout the play. This essay, as the heading indicates compares three of the plays characters. The writer has chosen the salesman himself and his two sons to put into comparison, who at the present time of the play are visiting the salesman and his wife in their childhood home. The salesman Willy Loman, a major character and one of the main characters of the play is both the protagonist and the antagonist of the story. During the story, Willy is unsuccessful of achieving self-realization. He understand what his job (which is a major element of the play) calls for and what it requires of him, but he is incapable of realizing that he is unable to live up to and prevail with what is required of him, ultimately leading him to being unsuccessful at his job of being a salesman. Willy’s brother Ben, on the other hand, prior to his death was rich and successful due to accidentally stumbling upon a diamond during his travels to Alaska (which is where their father left to abandoning ben and Willy); on his way there he got lost at and ended up in Africa,