Show how Willy deceives Linda and how she suffers, but remains royal and dignified
Haesol Kim
U5G1 English coursework
Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller: Show how Willy deceits Linda and how she suffers, but remains royal and dignified
Throughout Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman, Linda is treated cruelly, harshly and insulted often by her husband Willy Loman. Whenever Linda seems to be speaking Willy halts her conversation and begins his own one. He ignores her as if she doesn’t exist and he often grunts at her, telling her to be quiet. This is clearly very appalling behaviour by Willy towards his wife and one expects Linda to shout or fight back. However, Linda remains peaceful, calm and supportive towards Willy. This is very unusual. She is always trying to stand between Willy and her sons to ease the tension. She is protective of Willy. She knows that Willy is tired and is a man at the end of his rope - the end of his life and, as he put it, "ringing up a zero." She wants him to be happy even when the reality of the situation is bad. Linda knows that Willy has been trying to commit suicide, but does not intervene because she does not want to embarrass him. She lets it continue because she is not the one to cause trouble.
The harsh treatment of Linda is evident in the beginning of Act 1, where Linda is treated so cruelly, that she is ‘almost in tears’ and ‘exits into the living room’. Linda is ‘exploded’ at by Willy because she not only interrupts Willy’s conversation with Bernard, but tells Willy that Biff should work harder lest he should ‘flunk’ math. Willy reacts furiously explaining how Biff shouldn’t be a ‘worm’ like Bernard and how Biff has ‘personality and spirit’ unlike Bernard. In this scene overall, we can sum up Willy’s character. Although he shows sympathy towards Linda: ‘every time she waxes the floor she kneels over’, he is mean as he shouts at Linda and calls Bernard a worm. Moreover, Willy doesn’t seem very concerned about Linda when she exits the room in tears. Even before this scene, Willy again yells at Linda for ‘mending stockings’. Although this again frightens Linda greatly, Willy is clearly caring for Linda, warning her that he doesn’t want to see her mend stockings as if she can’t afford them. Later on in the act, Willy this time ignores Linda and treats her as of she doesn’t exist. When Ben and Willy meet for the first time in many years, Willy is excited and very curious in finding out how Ben succeeded. However, when Linda enters the room with the same curiosity, Willy impatiently pulls Ben away from her, and continues to demand for the methods of success, giving Linda no chance to really greet Ben. Here, we discover that Willy is impatient and therefore treats Linda unpleasantly once more.
