Death_of_a_Salesman

Death of a Salesman Death of a Salesman Willy Loman - A Character Sketch In a sense there are two Willy Lomans in this play. There is the present broken, exhausted man in his sixties, soon to end his life. And there is the more confident, vigorous Willy of some fifteen years before, who appears in the flashbacks. One actor portrays both, readily shifting from one representation to the other. To some extent, of course, the personality remains constant. The younger Willy, although given to boastful blustering, does admit misgivings to Linda and loneliness to Biff. And the shattered older man, in turn, occasionally reverts to his former manner of jaunty optimism. Yet the changes are great and significant. The earlier Willy could never have been the idol of his teen-aged sons had he behaved in the perverse, distracted fashion of his older self. Willy's agitation during his last day’s stems from a twofold sense of failure. He has not been able to launch successfully in the world his beloved son Biff, and he no longer can meet the demands of his own selling job. Although not altogether ignoring Linda and Happy, he is primarily concerned about the once magnificent young football star that at thirty-four death, salesman, biff, willy, one, toward, job, even, although, own, man, linda, biff's, been, yet, years, work, willy's, way, success, sense, over, once, happy, great, fortune, failure, end, charley, world, view, upon, two, son, seems, really, personality, personal, older, old, off, obviously, never, much, making, make, magnificent, little, life, last, however, house, help