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¶ … Death of a Salesman, by Arthur Miller. Specifically, it will address how Miller foreshadows Willy's suicide throughout the play, and how this foreshadowing creates tension. Willy's death comes as no surprise at the end of the play, for he has been doomed since the opening curtain. He is a man whose time is past, and Miller makes this clear with his foreshadowing and depiction of Willy as old, and past his professional prime.
WILLY'S DEATH
Death of a Salesman" has become a classic drama, made into several movies, and still performed around the country. It is the tragic story of Willy Loman and his family, a group of people who love each other, but do not know how to show that love, or communicate about it. From the very title, it is clear Willy is doomed to die in this drama, for there is nothing else for him to do. In a modern world, he is passe and old-fashioned, from his ideals to his sales techniques, and he has no other way to provide for his family except for the life insurance policy he has kept for his "ace in the hole." The policy itself is another link to Willy's impending death, for why would it be mentioned unless it was going to be used?
When Willy is first introduced, he is a salesman who is "down on his luck," and immediately there is tension from his wife, Linda. "Why? What happened? Did something happen Willy?" (Miller 1021). Clearly, Linda is worried about him, and not simply because he is growing older, has a hard time concentrating, and makes mistakes while driving. There is something not right with Willy, foreshadowing...
He says "nothing is wrong," and he continues to say those words throughout the play, but they ring false, and only add to the tension growing onstage.
Willy has never amounted to much, so he built himself up in his children, who he thinks can do no wrong. Biff was a high school football hero who never went any further with his career, and Hap is an unscrupulous businessman, who seems like he will never amount to much, either, and in fact, may end up just like his father - old, pathetic, and contemplating suicide.
Willy, the protagonist, believes in the "American Dream," but he has not achieved it, so he feels like a failure. "Willy's failure to achieve the American Dream is a personal one, this line of reasoning goes, not an inevitable result of the American economic system. The real truth is, Willy fails because he never understands what is really needed to succeed in business, insisting to the end that 'personality wins the day,' when, as Charley says, he ought to know from experience that 'all you have is what you can sell'" (Murphy 5).
As the action continues, so does the tension. The family sees Willy unraveling, but does not know what to do about it. Typically, Biff talks to Linda, rather than confronting Willy, who will only deny there is anything wrong. "Biff: God Almighty, Mom, how long has he been doing this? Linda: Don't, he'll hear you. Biff: What the hell is the matter with him?" (Miller 1031).
Also typical of a traveling salesman, Loman has a girlfriend on the road, referred…
References
Miller, Arthur. "Death of a Salesman." Masters of Modern Drama. Haskell M. Block and Robert G. Shedd, ed. New York: McGraw-Hill. 1962.
Murphy, Brenda, and Susan C.W. Abbotson. Understanding Death of a Salesman: A Student Casebook to Issues, Sources, and Historical Documents. Ed. Claudia Durst Johnson. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1999.
Death of a Salesman Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman is about a sad salesman, Willy Loman has spent his entire adult life in sales, with little success, but always believing affirming that a man who is well-liked is always successful. There have been many film and television versions of Miller's play since its first performance in 1949. The 1966 version directed by Alex Segal and starring Lee J. Cobb has
He can't let go of the idea that popularity and wealth are what are most important in a man. In the second act, Willy receives a terrible blow. He explains to his boss, Howard, how he met a salesman when he was about 19, and admired the man's skills, and decided that sales was the very best job a man could have. But he tells Howard he's tired, and he
Willy suffers from the consequences of the internal and external conflicts in his life. One of the antagonists in this story is the false promise of the American Dream, not another person per se. Willy is unable to become rich and show his family his own worth through material possessions, despite his hard work and perseverance, which is a conflict to him because he believed that would happen. He believes
"(Miller, 96) However, even if it can appear that Willy's death is a further failure and humiliation, Happy points out at his funeral that Loman had the braveness to pursue his dream to the end, despite the fact that he did not succeed: "I'm gonna show you and everybody else that Willy Loman did not die in vain. He had a good dream. it's the only dream you can have
The truth is simply too difficult to accept, so he turns a blind eye to it. For Willy, denial is easier than reinventing a new life. He believes that somehow, he will get an advance and "come home with a New York job" (Miller II.1070-1). He believes he can still get a promotion and never have to "get behind another wheel" (II.1071) again. These beliefs, while they are positive,
Arthur Miller / Lorraine Hansberry The idea of the "American Dream," of achieving material success through one's own efforts, is not merely a constant topic in American literature, it seems to be a fundamental archetype of American national mythology. The autobiography of Benjamin Franklin and the popular stories of Horatio Alger in the 19th century established this motif as central to the American concept of manhood: we can see the precise