Willy Loman is a sad and pathetic character. According to many, including Arthur Miller, he is a tragic one. As I read Death of a Salesman, I felt little sympathy for Willy, due to his coldness with his children as well as his affair. He treats Biff and Happy poorly, which on some level can be excused – not everyone makes a great father. However, when he betrays Linda, who is truly loyal to him, trusts him, and defends him, I no longer feel much pity for Willy at all. So I must ask: what is wrong with Willy?
Perhaps he does not see that he will never be a great father or a great salesman and is so deluded that he never has a chance to consider his real situation. Or perhaps he has simply poisoned all of his relationships one by one, until he is left with no one but Linda – a woman who does not know the extent of her husband’s transgressions. Personally, I believe that Willy has such high expectations of himself and the world that he is never able to achieve them. He is therefore constantly disappointed, never happy with what he has. This cycle of disappointment is what will ultimately lead to Willy’s suicide.
Willy thinks that he is a strong man and a first-rate salesman. Yet he is always tired, constantly forgetting things, and cannot even make the drive along his sales route. Willy idealizes the past, thinking that if only men of good principle and proper values, like his old boss Frank, were still around, then he would be appreciated for his innate value. He feels that the world owes him something, that because of his actions decades ago, he deserves some grand justice. In a perfect world, he would have gotten it, but instead Willy blows his contribution to the company way out of proportion, fully expecting to receive commendations and the reward of his long sought-after desk job. It never occurs to him that he might be denied his just recompense because he has once again set his expectations far too high.
Monday, March 9, 2009
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