Willy's logical inconsistencies brings confusion towards the audience itself toward the start of the play; in any case, they soon turn into a characteristic of himself. Willy's conflicting conduct is the after effect of his powerlessness to acknowledge reality and his propensity to control or re-make the past trying to get away from the present. For instance, Willy can't leave himself to the way that Biff never again regards him on account of Willy's affair with another woman. As opposed to concede that their relationship is irreparable, Willy retreats to a past time when Biff appreciated and regarded him. As the play goes on, Willy disassociates himself more from the present as his issues turn out to be excessively too much, making them impossible to manage.
In the play Death of a Salesman, Willy Loman, the protagonist, is portrayed as contradictory, insecure, and suicidal. Willy can be described as contradictory early on in Act 1. For instance, when Willy is conversing with his wife, Linda, in their bedroom he states, “Biff is a lazy bum!”. However, only a few lines later, Willy contradicts himself by saying, “I’ll put my money on Biff”. Willy no longer believes that Biff is a lazy and thinks that Biff will be successful.
He wanted to be successful so badly, that when he doesn’t get it, he doesn’t know what to do with himself. When Willy was younger, he had great connections in the areas he would sell. The people respected him and he took great pride in the fact that his name held value with those people. However, as he aged, so did the people he used to sell to. When he isn’t able to make the amount of sales he used to, he doesn’t know
Charley asks Willy about a job and if he is interested, but Willy’s pride in believing he is a successful businessman doesn't
We learn that Willy is a salesman, who is has only had minor success. Willy blames this on the fact that he is not well liked. In the beginning of the play Willy has had a car accident and his wife Linda wants him to ask his boss if he can work only in New York instead of having to travel. When we see Willy in a flashback he appears to be happy and affectionate with his sons, who seem to return the affection.
Furthermore, he claimed that he “averaged a hundred and seventy dollars a week in the year of 1928”. However, other facts in the play contradict it. For instance, Willy's boss, Howard, tells Willy that “[he] never averaged”(pg 82) a hundred and seventy dollars a week, despite Willys absolute confidence that he had. He simply cannot deal with the fact that he is not “successful” so he inadvertently engenders lies to assuage his pain.
Willy tries to make himself feel better by lying to himself. Although Willy’s death is unfortunate, if one closely examines his pride, bad temper, and his lies, one can see that these flaws will eventually bring him to his demise. Throughout the play, Willy demonstrates his sense of pride while talking to his family and friends. In this quote one can
In the book it says, “Someday I’ll have my own business, and I’ll never leave home anymore,” (Miller 30). Also it says, “A hundred and twenty dollars! My God if business doesn't pick up I don't know what I’m going to do!” (Miller 36). These quotes show how earlier in life Willy was full of hopes, dreams, and a want for a new business.
Today, I would like to pay my respects and celebrate my husband Willy Loman’s life with his fellow loved ones, but unfortunately I cannot. I don’t understand how such a wonderful man does not deserve a nice funeral. Practically nobody decided to come to today. I wish Willy could receive the love and consideration he deserves. Willy was my entire world.
Willy Loman could be described as an insecure, traveling salesman. Willy is a man who desired great things in life but never was actually able to accomplish any of his goals. Willy worked hard in life to support his wife and kids, even though he was never truly satisfied at his job or with his home life. Willy, however, did try to make himself feel better by lying to himself about his job and family. He convinced himself that he was a great sales man and even started having an affair to live an alternate life.
And by God I was rich”(Act I). Despite the little information his uncle shared with him, Willy admires Ben’s story and decides to dedicate his life to being well-liked and successful like him. As a salesman man, Willy needs to be popular in order to have the most success. Ironically, Willy Loman is not a hard character to hate and he has such little success with his job, that he eventually gets fired. Back in the 40’s, men were considered the head of the household–they made the money while their wives kept busy at home.
Success is a noun which comes from the latin root word, successes, meaning, "an advance, succession, happy outcome.” Success can therefore be defined as an accomplishment of a desired end (dictionary.com). Everyone has his or her own interpretation or definition of what they think success is, but in this interpretation, there is always a common goal at the end. That goal is to have a happy and good outcome. Willy Lowman’s definition of success was skewed, and for this, he did not achieve a happy and good outcome like he may have planned.
A True Friend: The Role of Charley in Death of a Salesman The play Death of a Salesman written by Arthur Miller “adapts itself to the principles of Greek tragedy with some borrowed techniques of Expressionism to convey the inner life of Willy Loman. The play is set in New York in the late 1940s” (Kelly, 2015). Willy Loman is the main character in the play and he basically is going through a mental breakdown. Willy is focusing more on his job and making a name for himself than having a normal relationship with his family. His belief is that if your name is widely known then you are successful in life.
Rather than making money the right way, Willy takes money from Charley regularly, even though Charley continues to offer him a better job instead. At the beginning of the play, Charley says,
In the play the main character willy had trouble doing his job right. Willy was in a good mood, he woke up happy to go see his boss and ask for a job where he’ll stay in one place without having to travel but there were no jobs available, willy desesperante said “i 'm talking about your father! There were promises made across this desk! You 've shouldn’t tell me you got people to see…”(60). After this big fight with his boss he losses his job.
