FREE ESSAY ON DEATH OF A SALESMAN

DEATH OF A 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become outdated.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."
................Linda Loman, Death of A Salesman