them.” Could it be that Willy is so obsessive over his dignity because he knows he doesn’t deserve it? He
also sees success as money; he is disappointed that Biff “has yet to make thirty-five dollars a week!” – he
sees the amount of money a person makes as how successful that person is. This again links with the
earlier point of his need to be seen as successful as he lies to his family (Linda in particular) about how
much he made on that trip. For example, initially he boasts of having made “five hundred gross in
Providence and seven hundred gross in Boston” then, as Linda works out what his commission would
therefore be, it reduces to “roughly two hundred gross on the whole trip” and initially, despite knowing
fullwell that he has had an overall unsuccessful trip, he still boasts to Linda about making lots of money
there. Could it be that Willy has false pride? That he is merely pretending to have such success to appear to
Linda as very dignified?
Willy also takes into great consideration the success of others. He views Ben as simply the best
possible example; to Willy he is “the only man… who knew all the answers”. His firm belief in the American
dream is the reason for this idealisation, Ben “was a man started with the clothes on his back and ended up
with diamond mines” – the perfect example of the American Dream, a man starts with nothing and he
becomes “a big shot”. Ben is (portrayed as) the typical example of the American Dream to Willy, when in
fact he is likely to be an exception as opposed to the rule. To Willy, his success, dignity and wealth are
really the only things there need to be to make a person a success. Ben’s personal attributes are not
mentioned – perhaps to emphasise that they don’t matter to Willy, he can’t see past his brother’s
accomplishments. But is Ben a good role model for Willy and his sons? He (it is suggested) didn’t do
Patrick Cunningham
12-5
anything in particular, he was just in the right place at the right time – is Willy basing his teachings to his
sons on the wrong person? And just as Willy looks up to Ben and views him as the picture of success, he
looks down on Charley, Willy is too proud to accept his repeated offer of “you want a job?” because he
sees himself as better than Charley. So for him would be a big hit to his dignity to accept a job working
below someone he sees himself as better than.
Another huge source of Willy’s dignity is his boys – in particular, Biff – but Willy perceives Biff to be
“spiting” him personally by not making a success of his life. This is because Biff and Willy have (when Biff is
older) strongly conflicting views on dignity and its importance. Biff doesn’t care for dignity, he doesn’t care
what other’s think, he just believes that “men built like we [Biff & Happy] are should be working out in the
open”. But this is a great source of anger and shame to Willy. He (despite his obvious talent and love for
manual work needing to “get seeds, right away”) doesn’t view it as a job to be proud of; he believes that as
it isn’t a very well paid job and money equals success, it isn’t a job that carries much dignity with it. Instead
of dreaming of fulfilling what he wants to do, Willy dreams of becoming seen as a success to others. As Biff
says “he had the wrong dreams. All, all, wrong” - are these dreams of success the wrong ones, bound to
failure? Willy is shown to be obviously very talented in manual work, is Miller hinting to the audience that
Willy’s view of success is all wrong? When Biff was younger, he did care about his personal dignity and
people’s opinions of him because his success depended on his reputation – “how they used to follow him
around in High School”. It is likely that Biff’s reputation is important to him (when he’s younger) because
that’s what has been taught to him by his father, to always try to be “well liked”, because (according to
Willy) “be liked and you will never want”.
When it comes to dignity, Willy’s wife Linda has a different view to Willy. She doesn’t care what others
think. She doesn’t mind “mending stockings” whereas Willy couldn’t stand the thought of people thinking
he couldn’t afford to buy new stockings for his wife. But just as Linda doesn’t think her personal dignity is
more important, Willy’s dignity maters to her greatly, “she more than loves him, she admires him” could be
the reason why; and she “violently” shouts at the boys when they leave him alone in the restaurant. She
says “he was so humiliated he nearly limped when he came in”, which shows Willy had been robbed of his
dignity by his sons, and it is because Willy’s happiness (and therefore dignity also) is so important to Linda
that she is so disgusted with Biff and Happy. And at Willy’s funeral, right at the end of the play, it is clear to
all that Linda is deeply torn by the loss of Willy – great ‘tragic feeling’ is invoked in her after Willy laid down
his life, showing that for all the dignity in the world she couldn’t care, she didn’t mind if Willy was the most
dignified man in the world or the least, she just loved him.
Willy is torn to insanity trying to keep his affair from Linda and everyone. He needs to be liked, by
everyone but most especially by his boys which is why his distress is very emphasised on Biff’s discovery of
“the woman”. Biff loses nearly all respect for his father when he finds out and as a result, Willy loses a lot
of dignity which is why the majority of the flashbacks previously are set up to give the audience the story
running-up to the flashback in which Biff discovers the affair. And Cicero said “where is there dignity unless
there is honesty?” which is very applicable to this situation as Willy’s dishonesty lead to a loss of dignity
when Biff discovered everything. But why is this the central story to the play? I believe that the reason for
this is that it is the single biggest hit we see Willy take to his dignity and as such Miller wanted to really
highlight how significant this was to Willy and so by creating this suspenseful build up to the eventual
discovery, it shows to the audience how much it mattered to Willy to keep it hidden.
Patrick Cunningham
12-5
When Willy talks to Howard in Act Two, he thinks of how dignified he wishes his funeral will be. He
remembers Dave Singleman’s funeral, how “hundreds of salesmen and buyers were at his funeral” and
later, when talking to Charley, he thinks of how, after everything, “you end up worth more dead than
alive”. This is Willy’s first outright mention of suicide – despite it being speculated at and hinted about
earlier – and later (once he’s thought of killing himself and letting Biff and Happy use the money to become
successful) he tells Ben how “[Biff]’ll worship me for it!”. He wants Biff and Happy to use his life insurance
pay-out to go and be successful in his name. This means he is not only avoiding the undignified old age he
would otherwise have had to endure, becoming physically and financially very dependent on others and
also of having to admit lack of money or job; no, he sacrifices his life to secure his personal dignity – and at
the same time his name has the potential to carry on to success, or at least he thinks. He didn’t believe his
life was worth living if he was continuously “ringing up a zero”. His suicide was not a spontaneous act, it
was (albeit in an imaginary conversation with his dead brother) a planned attempt to win back the respect
of Biff that he had lost.
In conclusion, in Death of a Salesman, personal dignity is shown in many characters and in many
ways but, quite naturally, it is shown most prominently in our central protagonist Willy. His needs to be
liked and seen as successful, dignified, are the eventual causes of his demise. His stubborn preservation of
his personal dignity is almost always the reason for his actions, he didn’t follow Ben to Alaska because he
was ”building something up” in his current job, which would (had it of been the truth) have been a great
source of personal dignity, he also continuously accuses Biff of deliberately not doing well in life, “spiting”
him by not doing well, and in the end, he chooses death in the hope his funeral will have such huge
attendance, it will prove to Biff he was a success, “well liked”.
