Death of a salesman as a tragedy

¶ … Death of a Salesman" by Arthur Miller

Willy Loman's Failure as a Father and his Failed Belief in the "American Dream": Tragedy in "Death of a Salesman" by Arthur Miller

In the play "Death of a Salesman," playwright Arthur Miller centers on two important issues that has characterized American families in the capitalist economy. The first issue was the degeneration of the American family as they failed to achieve economic prosperity, true to the promise of the American dream. The second prevalent issue was the gradual decrease in power of male household heads in the dominantly- patriarchal American society. These are the issues that Miller discussed and focused on in his play, issues that are embodied and depicted through the character of Willy Loman and his family.

This paper discusses how tragedy is personified and depicted in "Death of a Salesman." In the context of the modern and capitalist American society, tragedy is shown through the Willy Loman, whose death was caused by two 'tragedies' in his life. The first depiction of tragedy was his failure to achieve the American Dream for him and his family, as he remained being an insignificant salesman, due to his misguided work ethics and dreams and ideals for his family, particularly his sons, Biff and Happy.

The second depiction of tragedy, meanwhile, was Willy's failure to live up to society's ideal of a successful man and father, which, in the capitalist society, is often equated to being economically able to provide for his family. The failure of his dreams for himself and his family created the tragedy that was Willy Loman, therefore categorizing "Death of a Salesman" by Arthur Miller as a tragic play.

The first depiction of tragedy, Willy's failure to achieve the 'American dream,' was illustrated in the scenes wherein the readers of the conflict that exists in the family piece-by-piece. It shows Willy's attitude towards life, and his "illusion" of economic achievement through the "American dream." However, the scenes from Act Two focus on the harsh realities of Willy's life as he interacts with people outside his family. These realities are in great contrast to Willy's idea of a good life. Instances of these harsh realities include the fact that Willy is a man that is "dispensable" despite his "likeable" personality. The reality that he is already an old man and that he should already take a rest from working illustrates how Willy is part of the "old world," wherein his ideals (personality and charisma) no longer exist in the modern age of economy.

Another reality of that contradicts Willy's illusions is that hard work really pays off. The scene by which Bernard is shown as a successful man greatly contradicts Willy's presumption that Bernard will not be successful in life because he is not "likeable." Willy's defiance to also accept Charley's offer to give him a job in his company greatly present Willy's stubbornness and insecurity. The last scene before the climax in Act Two shows how Willy's two sons neglect him by leaving him in a restaurant in favor of two girls whom Happy was flirting with. This scene elicits sympathy from the audience, although Willy can be found at fault because of his behavior and ideologies that is farfetched from reality. The next scene highlights the real reason why a conflict between Biff and Willy started. Biff discovered that his father was having an affair with another woman, and he called his father a "phony little fake," in reference to his father's ideals (which was violated by Willy himself).

The last scenes of the play illustrated Willy as a failed salesman who was not able to "sell" his beliefs and dreams to his own sons. His belief in charisma as the core characteristic that would propel him and his sons to economic success obviously failed, and this was mirrored in his current status as a poor man who remained dependent on the goodwill and help of other people. While his failed dreams are considered tragic, perhaps the most tragic event in "Death of a Salesman" was the hopelessness that Willy felt, eventually preferring death in order to escape his failures in life and spare his family from the suffering that he had caused them. The statement, "I've got to get some seeds, right away. Nothing planted. I don't have a thing in the ground," was an apt description of his life throughout the years.

While Willy's failure to achieve the American dream is considered a tragedy in the play, so is the death that resulted from his depression and inability to bear his failures in life. Death for Willy is his way out of the failure that he felt and his form of redemption for his wrong ideals he instilled in his sons. But on a closer look, it was mentioned that Willy's death insurance of $20,000 would help Biff start his venture of establishing a business for himself. This last effort of Willy to help his son is his own way of extending the message that for whatever fault that he had and whatever wrongs he had incurred in his family (his wrong ideals, stubbornness, and adultery).

At a larger scale, Willy's death can be seen as his way out of a society wherein he no longer exists, or acknowledged as existing. The new way of life and aspirations to success of America is in contrast of Willy's "old world" ways of achieving success. Contrary to his belief, Willy's personality and charisma did not help him find a better job, and did not help him uplift his family's life from poverty.

In the first tragedy of Willy's life, it was evident that his misguided belief that charisma will carry him and his sons through economic prosperity backfired. Furthermore, his reliance on relationships and friendships as his way of receiving favors and obtaining success was only short-lived. As he enters old age and his sons struggle to live life on their own, he confronted the reality that charisma and friendships did not actually helped him, but made his life complicated because it created the illusion that he was successful, when in fact, he was not.

Wakefield's (2004) analysis of Miller's characterization of Willy was expressed in the following passage (29):

Willy's masculinity has been reduced to nothing -- he has been demasculinized by a capitalistic society that has alienated him from his family, friends, and even himself. Indeed, Willy is nothing more than a shallow, hollow child by the end of the play -- he certainly isn't a man in the twentieth century masculine definition of manhood.

Interestingly, this insight from Shamir extended Willy's failure to achieve economic security and success towards society's perception of him as a man. The stigma of being tagged as an inefficient provider for his family had initially created greater repercussions on Willy's self-perception than the depression that he felt due to the disunity of the Loman family.

However, upon reflection of the tragedies in his life, Willy learned to accept the fact that he is presently living in a world wherein image is just a shallow surface that can be easily surpassed. What made his tragedy unbearable was the realization that he failed to keep his family together -- that, in his desire to successfully achieve the American dream, he forgot to establish stronger relationships with his family, his wife and two sons.

In effect, Willy's "inability to face himself gives rise to tragic consequences" in his personal and family lives (Otten, 2002:27). Biff's exclamation that Willy is "a dime a dozen" just like him (Biff), was the turning point in which he experienced a crisis in his life. He was unable to face the consequence of his misguided beliefs and principles in life: he has a weak relationship with his sons, particularly Biff; he had taken for granted his wife; and he created the image of himself as a man who is 'just a salesman,' and offered nothing significant to his family and society.

The second tragedy in the life of Willy, which was his eventual falling out with his sons Biff and Happy, had an even greater effect on his psyche as a man and father. Through his sons, he learned the hurtful truth that he was not only an unsuccessful salesman, but he was also a lousy father who had mistaken his own American dream as also the ultimate dream of his sons. His neglect of his sons and failure to spend time with them and get to know Biff's and Happy's dreams resulted to his detachment to the real world, where he found himself no longer having the people he used to depend and rely on to succeed and counted on to be the friends who would help him until old age.

It was tragic that Willy failed as a father, but what was even more tragic was Biff's failure as well. Misguided by his father and harboring ill feelings towards him, Biff cultivated the illusion that he can succeed on charisma and friendships alone, just like his father. Though he hated his father's beliefs and principles, Biff inevitable became the victim of these misguided ideals, and like Willy, eventually became a failure.

Biff was not able to achieve his desire to satisfy his father's expectations about him to be economically successful -- that is, to subsist also to his father's 'American dream' kind of life. Biff's resentment to his father resulted to his current state of poverty, with no permanent job to provide him with financial support and immaturity in dealing with his problems in life. He also lacks self-confidence because of his father's constant criticisms about his life and lack of ambition, which made him indecisive and resigned in the kind of life that he leads: " ... I realized something about myself and I tried to explain it to you ... I think I'm just not smart enough to make sense out of it for you" (128).

Biff ultimately brands himself similar to his father's failure in life, reflecting the truth about the two characters: Willy's belief that he and his sons are unique and bound to be great and wealthy individuals in the world of capitalism and commerce (i.e., the roots of economic wealth) is contradicted by the characters' behavior and beliefs in life, leading to their eventual downfall (132).

However, despite their irreparable conflict against each other, Biff and Willy share a bond, the bond that links and tags them as "failures" in the capitalist society they live in. Billy's continuous resentment of himself and his father shows how much he worries about what his father is going to say with whatever he has done or will be doing. Willy's constant reprimanding of Biff shows how he cares so much for his son's welfare, although the way by which he want his son to achieve success in life is not the appropriate one. However, these intentions were not communicated properly and misinterpreted between Willy and Biff, which further aggravated their anger.

The rest of the story illustrates the conflict between Biff and Willy, and their disagreements and disappointments with each other came to an end with Willy putting an end to his life by committing suicide, and Biff accepting the fact that his father's credo that "personality always wins the day" do not work in the New World anymore, wherein hard work and perseverance is given more importance than personal relations and connections between employers and employees. The story ended on a sad, tragic note: Biff stayed away from his father despite his reaching-out to him, while Willy resorted to suicide to end all the troubles and suffering he and his family had endured throughout his lifetime.