Miller creates Willy’s main flaw in his foolish pride, which makes him a tragic hero. Yet there are many facets of his personality which contribute to the state he and his family are in during the play. His upbringing of the boys is one major issue, he raised them with the notion that if one is well-liked, he need not worry about succeeding academically. Willy believed their popularity would grant them success. He stupidly fails to realise that the only way the common man can get rich is through hard work, represented by Bernard, or through good luck and timing (Ben).
The boys grew up to believe that all their father had told them, Happy followed his footsteps as a salesman. Biff, after catching his father with a woman begins to question these values. He realises that for him at least, these values are not applicable and he is not too concerned if he doesn’t come out on top. He just wants to be able to say he knows who he is. The aptly named happy continues to believe in these ideals even after his father’s death and decides that the Loman name will succeed.
As the play progresses, one begins to feel sorry for Willy and his predicament, but also angry and frustrated with the character for his foolish pride. It is this trait the prevents him from accepting a steady job with Charley, perhaps something that could have saved his life. However, it is this false pride that has sparked the family flame for years, the notion that the Logan name was well-liked. The family lie even amongst themselves about their position as is revealed during the climax of the play:
BIFF: “We never told the truth for ten minutes in this house!”
HAPPY: “We always told the truth!”
BIFF: “You big blow, are you the assistant buyer? You’re one of two assistants to the assistant aren’t you?”
Another example is the way in which Willy led Biff that he has a salesman for Oliver, which in the end left Biff bitterly disappointed. The cause for this extrapolation of the truth may be part of Willy’s paranoid psyche that he has not raised his boys ‘right’.
The upbringing of the boys and the treatment of his wife, Linda, is the main reason Willy is such an unpleasant character. He is a failure. It is extremely difficult to sympathise with him. His ideals, values and the general treatment of his family are undoubtedly responsible for the deterioration of the household.
Happy says of Willy “He’s never so happy as when he’s looking forward to something.” This is highly significant during the play. Willy’s spirit wanes when he has nothing to look forward to, and when his spirit is down, he goes into a flashback. It is as though he is dying and his life is replaying before his eyes. This itself is an inability to see reality. A good example of this is when he goes to see Howard and Biff is going to see Oliver, Willy is invigorated and in the realms of sanity for the first time in the play.
Once he gets fired, however, he goes into a tailspin, reliving incidents from the past until he reaches Charley. The next scene is the restaurant, where he is expecting big news from Biff; he is presented sane and relatively happy, awaiting news that will fulfil his dream. Once Biff begins to explain his point of view to Willy, and break it to him gently, Willy realises something is wrong and starts another flashback. This time to the woman; he feels a lot of guilt about his affair and relives this event at this moment because he believes that is the reason that Biff is unsuccessful. Miller’s use of flashbacks is very important. They show how Willy cannot cope with life and feels he must escape from his current state of mind.
Miller presents Willy as an angry man at times. He is very frustrated and is unable to realise the way in which he treats his family. His inability to do this encourages the audience to feel anger towards him. However it also shows how desperate the man is to make his boys proud of their father and proud of themselves. He really is a determined man, hoping to provide a good standard of living for his family. As Willy is so wrapped up in his ideals and believes he is right when we can clearly see he is wrong, it is necessary to show some sympathy towards him.
Willy gradually realises that his selling career is washed up, and foolishly believes it is below his dignity to work any other job. Miller cleverly invites sympathy for Willy by ensuring he doesn’t truly realise he is a failure until the end of the play. All his efforts and hard work, travelling for hours through the night, end up meaning nothing. In what he believes is the best interest of the family, he commits suicide, so that his family may get the life insurance. It is very hard not to feel sorry for Willy at this stage, as he finally finds a solution which will financially help his family. He does not consider that his family love him, but prefers to look at what is the best business move. He believes that his final solution will give the family a chance financially as well as recover lost dignity. Willy says to Charley “Funny you know? After all the highways, and the trains, and the appointments, and the years, you end up worth more dead than alive.” “Charlie, always the voice of reality tells Willy, "A man isn't worth anything dead."This statement is a sad reflection on the state of mind that Willy is in due to the unfortunate combination of his ideals and the change which has occurred within society.
Willy is a multi-faceted character which Miller has portrayed a deep problem with sociological and psychological causes and done so with disturbing reality. In another time or place Willy might have been successful and kept his sanity, but as he grew up, society’s values changed and he was left out in the cold. His foolish pride, bad judgement and his disloyalty are also at fault for his tragic end and the fact the fact he did not die the death of a salesman. Willy has lost at trying to live the American Dream and the play can be viewed as commentary about society. Willy was a man who was worked all his life by the machinery of Democracy and Free Enterprise and was then spat mercilessly out, spent like a "piece of fruit."
