How does Miller convey a sense of finality in the Requiem?

Biff will not, he will continue to fight for his father's dream. He says, "I'm gonna win it for him."

Happy's urge to fulfil his father's dream is probably linked to his guilt of having let him down;

Happy's pledge gives the play a cyclical feeling rather than an air of finality.

At the beginning of the Requiem Linda struggles to show emotion for her husband's death,

although she would like to. "Forgive me, dear. I can't cry," she says to Willy's grave. It is as though

she is still trapped in Willy's dream and is looking for some kind of release. This is emphasised when

she says "I made the last payment on the house today. Today dear." The repetition of "today"

stresses the irony in this sentence, and her longing for release. Shortly after this statement she finally

begins to cry as "A sob rises in her throat" and she finally begins to cry as "A sob rises in her throat"

and she immediately feels a sense of release, saying "We're free". Miller makes it deliberately

ambiguous about whether it is Linda who is free from Willy or whether the freedom actually refers to

Willy and Linda being free from the payments on their house. This sense of release and the words

"we're free" repeated at the very end of the play are a final conclusion to the tragedy, and give the

passage a sense of finality. Happy is excluded from the conclusion to emphasise the fact that he is

adopting his father's dream and continuing the tragic cycle. There is therefore no sense of finality for

Happy and this is juxtaposed with the closure of Willy and Linda, emphasising the difference

between their freedom and Happy's confinement.

Biff and Charley are used by Miller as a vessel for his conclusion about Willy in the

Requiem. Charley said that the reason why nobody went to Willy's funeral was that "It's a rough

world, Linda. They wouldn't blame him." The words "blame him" are repeated from the previous

sentence by Linda. This repetition makes Charley's declaration sound insincere, as though he is

merely trying to comfort Linda and shelter her from the truth that Willy was not "well liked". Biff then

says, "Charley, there's more of him in that front stoop than in all the sales he ever made." Here

Miller is airing his views that Willy had the wrong dreams and ambitions, using Biff as a vessel to air

his sentiments. The great irony of the play is the fact that only once Willy is dead, is it realised that he

had been chasing the wrong dream. When Biff makes this conclusion in the Requiem he gives the

passage an air of finality and appears to be wrapping up the play. When Charley repeats that

nobody should blame Willy for dreaming he uses the word "dast". This gives his speech biblical

connotations and therefore an air of authority. The change in register from colloquial to formal

emphasises the fact that Willy should not be blamed. The colloquial register used for most of

Charley's speech such as "a salesman is got to dream" gives it a patriarchal feeling towards Willy.

The poetry and metaphors used in Charley's speech, for instance "riding on a smile and a shoeshine"

make us share Willy's romantic conception of the American Dream and therefore the audience can

relate and empathise with Willy even though they know his perception is far from reality. Charley

can be seen as a choric figure in the Requiem as he airs the audiences feelings and acts as a narrator

in explaining Willy's motives for his actions.

The Requiem also emphasises the change in direction of the two boys, as their relationship

deteriorates Happy as usual refers to his own physique, "I'm not licked that easily," and "I'm gonna

beat this racket" he says as though he is physically challenging Biff. It is clear that Biff's character

has matured throughout the play in contrast to Happy as he does not respond, merely saying "let's

go, Mom". This sentence has an air of finality as though he has given up on Happy. In the final stage

directions the flute music is heard again. The sound of the flute highlights the claustrophobia of the

apartment blocks and the lack of freedom in the city. Biff follows the music of stage emphasising his

longing for an ethereal other world.

Miller uses the Requiem to conclude his play and sum up Willy's character while also trying

to get a message across to the audience that Willy's plight was not his fault but that of society's, and

that the American Dream is not actually suitable for the majority of people.

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