Is Willy Loman Presented as a Hero/Victim in
Is Willy Loman Presented as a Hero/Victim in "Death of a Salesman"?
Willy Loman is presented as both a tragic hero and an unconscious victim in "Death of a Salesman". "Death of a Salesman" is very much based upon the American Dream, and whether we are slaves or conquerors of this dream. This is an idea that the playwright Arthur Miller has very passionately pursued both through Willy's own eyes, and through his interaction with the different characters in the play.
Firstly, the definitions of a hero and a victim very much influence the way that Willy is viewed by the audience. Miller has not used the play to suggest that Willy Loman is an ordinary hero, but more a tragic hero. A tragic hero, simply by definition means that the reader already begins to see Willy in a more sympathetic light. A tragic hero is somebody who cannot forget his past, and so is destroyed by the consequences of his own actions.
In order to picture Willy as a victim, again one cannot think of a regular victim, but of an ignorant victim. This would mean that Willy was completely unaware of his role as a victim in the play. It would also imply that Willy was not in control of his own fate.
From the beginning of "Death of a Salesman" we see Willy playing the very victimised role of the conformer. Near the end of the first scene, as he speaks to his sons in one of his flashbacks he says: "the man who makes an appearance in the business world, the man who creates personal interest, is the man who gets ahead."
This sounds very much like a typical business ideal, and one cannot help but feel at this stage that Willy is taking on ideas from other people and convincing himself that they are true. This is reinforced by the evident confusion and foolishness within his character, implied by the way that he regularly contradicts himself, always with great conviction:
"Biff is a lazy bum...There's one thing about Biff - he's not lazy."
This is a very typical characteristic of a victim such as Willy, as much of his down fall is due to lack of knowledge, or illusions.
On the contrary, we are not immediately introduced to this delusional, flaky character. At the beginning of scene one, we see the more assertive side of Willy as he discusses business possibilities with his wife Willy. Miller balances out the audience's perception of Willy towards the end of the act where the more vulnerable side of Willy is illustrated, with the use of his behaviour and the response of others to his attitude. An example of this would be Linda diligently agreeing with Willy's strange statements.
One of Willy's traits which qualify him as a hero is his eternal sacrifice, and the way that he throws everything into the balance in order to secure his rightful place in society, and to live the American Dream. These sacrifices are perfectly illustrated by the long distance that Willy travels in order to sell his stock. At the start of the play, Linda comments on his driving up to New England to which Willy responds: "I'm the New England man. I'm vital in New England." Miller makes clever use of the language here, in order to present ...
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One of Willy's traits which qualify him as a hero is his eternal sacrifice, and the way that he throws everything into the balance in order to secure his rightful place in society, and to live the American Dream. These sacrifices are perfectly illustrated by the long distance that Willy travels in order to sell his stock. At the start of the play, Linda comments on his driving up to New England to which Willy responds: "I'm the New England man. I'm vital in New England." Miller makes clever use of the language here, in order to present quite a heroic view of Willy so early on in the play. The use of two short sentences reinforces how passionately he believes in what he is saying, and makes him seem even more resolute - and more like a conventional hero.
On the other hand, this statement also makes him into more of a victim, which is again implied by the language used by Miller. The two short sentences used when Willy is describing his role in New England could also imply a fairly uptight tone, suggesting that Willy is only striving to live the American Dream because of the pressures put upon him by the people he admires, such as his wife Linda. "there's nine-sixty for the washing-machine. And for the vacuum cleaner there's three and a half [dollars] due on the fifteenth .... odds and ends comes to around a hundred and twenty dollars."
Such domestic pressure to make enough money in order to pay for these daily essentials causes Willy to wonder: "My God, if business doesn't pick up I don't know what I am going to do!".
We also see from the very beginning that Willy often goes back into the past, and relives past victories and achievements. This is shown when Happy, Willy's son talks to his brother, Biff: "Something's happening to him. He - talks to himself....Most of the time he's talking to you."
Miller has used Willy's two sons - both of whom are ignorant of the seriousness of his condition - in order to make a key point about Willy Loman . The fact that Willy needs to go back into the past in order to find good times suggests that Willy does not lead a content life - both financially and socially. Miller is perhaps suggesting that the past is the only thing that Willy can be sure of, and exert control over in contrast to the present and future. This reinforces the reasons for casting Willy as the victim of the play as most victims show a distinct lack of control over events which oppress them.
Willy is also full of misunderstanding about the way that he is perceived by others, in comparison to how he sees himself. He says to his wife Linda, his constant source of support: "I'm very well liked in Hartford. You know the trouble is, Linda, people don't seen to take to me." Early on in the play we can see that he is torn between wanting to be honest, and wanting to create a good impression of himself to others, even to his own wife. This idea of internal conflict is very typical of a hero, who sees himself as being responsible for his fate and so is a lot guiltier about life.
In Act Two, Miller has succeeded in bringing to light the complexity of Willy Loman. The first scene begins positively, with Willy and Linda both having high hopes about Willy's possible move to a New York office, and the potential business agreement between Happy and Biff. "Biff was very changed...His whole attitude seemed hopeful."
These two incidents are used very effectively by Miller in order to present the more heroic side of Willy Loman, and indeed his whole family. They all appear to be fighting back against external forces which are dragging them away from the American Dream. However, when Willy is fired in the next scene with Howard, Miller has used the helplessness expressed by Willy in this scene in order to indicate that his title as a victim is still justified. Miller creates this desperate feeling with clever use of language throughout this scene, as shown in the following extract:
"Howard, all I need to set my table is fifty dollars a week...If I had forty dollars a week - that's all I need. Forty dollars, Howard."
The use of repetition, as well as the way that the amount proposed is reduced each time, implies that Willy's confidence is dwindling, and quickly takes a fraught tone. "Howard, are you firing me?...Howard you've got to let me go to Boston". The repeated use of his name also adds to the significance of the scene when we realise that he is indeed a victim. It is not unexpected that Willy should be fired from his job, as he fails to sell any products. It was his age, an uncontrollable force which inevitably led to him losing his job. He is, undoubtedly a victim of fate.
In the middle of Act Two, when Willy goes to see Charley to borrow money and is offered a job, we see the more stubborn (yet heroic) side of Willy shining through again, adding to the irrefutably multifaceted character of Willy Loman. Here he has the option of giving up the American Dream, and living a contented, honest life (i.e. he would not have to lie to his wife about his pay). Willy's stubbornness and jealousy prevent him from accepting Charley's generous offer.
Although this appears on the surface to be a very negative aspect of Willy's character, Miller has portrayed this rejection as nothing short of heroic, as Willy battles against the external forces which threaten to overcome him such as poverty and old age. Millers depiction of Willy as heroic is portrayed distinctly through the language used: "I've got a job...I don't want your goddam job!" This expresses the dedication to Willy towards what he already has, and his willingness to keep striving.
The key point of the play in Act Two is inevitably the death of Willy Loman. Miller is viewing his death as a heroic act, which affects how the audience perceives Willy. Miller uses Willy's final scene almost as a way of explaining why he chose to present the 'ordinary, modern man' in such a way. Miller takes us through the workings of the ordinary man's mind; from when he first realises that his son, Biff loves him, to when he decides that Biff would be 'magnificent' with "twenty thousand dollars behind him." Here we are made to understand that Willy saw life as the only thing he had left to give. He realised, whilst talking to Charley that "...a man ends up worth more dead than alive". It is because of his love for his son that he sacrifices himself in order to give them a chance in life.
Willy Loman's death can also be looked at from the perspective of him as a victim. Although the death scene itself is presented as bring heroic, the requiem brings to light the more foolish reasons that Willy had for committing suicide, which undermines his sacrifice. Willy wished for Biff to see how well liked he was. When 'discussing' the merits of his suicide with Ben, his dead but very successful brother, we still see that Willy is cloaking himself in illusions. "...that funeral will be massive! They'll come from Maine, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire!...that boy [Biff] will be thunderstruck." When we find in the requiem that only the family, Charley and Bernard come to the funeral he does appear to the audience as though Willy has met a very pitiful end.
Although not pursued much by Miller throughout the play, the audience may sense that ultimately Willy worked for nothing, and gave his own life in order to justify the waste of it. This is stated, in his own way by Willy himself, when he realises when speaking to Charley and his brother Ben that he is worth more dead (financially) because of insurance. However, the playwright does approach the idea of cowardice, through the voice of Willy's brother Ben, concerning Biff's possible reaction to Willy's suicide: "He'll call you a coward...And a damned fool...He'll hate you."
Willy is a victim of the 'law of success' which states that a man who has failed in business has no right to live. In the end, he succumbs to his law and ends his life. It is the motivation, not the action of his committing suicide which ultimately makes his death tragic. Willy is wrong in his answers and remains so to the end, because he still thinks that he can solve Biff's problems with money. On the other hand, wrong answers do not, and should not disqualify a man from being a tragic hero. If we see tragic heroes as being those ruled by lust, ambition or jealousy, and fully respect these forces; why not neurotic awareness? In some ways, don't we ourselves live by the rules of Willy Loman - that "liked" is very different to "well-liked"? Every ordinary person is a potential 'watered down' version of Willy. Arthur Miller is neither blaming this solely on society, nor is he presenting a pathetic creature who is the author of his own misfortunes.