Death_of_a_Salesman_Willy_as_a_Tragic_Figure

Willy Loman as an American Tragic Figure Willy Loman in Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman is an American tragic figure because his delusional, excessive pride leads to his failure in securing his sense of dignity and ultimately, his death. His idea of what helps a person become successful does not match up with reality, so Willy is constantly trying to distinguish between what is real and what is fantasy. Many opportunities come for Willy to stray from the inevitable path of self-destruction, but his false ego gets the best of him and leads him to reject his chances at achieving a better American Dream. Willy’s inability to hold on to his self-worth causes tensions in his business life, social life, as well as family life. A man who tries to have the best intentions in his actions, Willy sets his mind on wrong ideas for wealth and worth that eventually cause him to be stripped of his dignity. Refusing to look like a failure in society, Willy tries to keep his dignity intact by lying to everyone around him and giving bad advice. His desire for pride leads him to advise Biff and Happy that “the man who makes an appearance in the business world, the man who creates personal interest, is the man who gets ahead. Be liked and you will never want” (Miller 21). Willy believes that success in business comes from being well-liked, not from working hard for it. Although Willy tries to have the best intentions for his family, he gives bad advice to his children because he does not want to appear worthless. Looking like a letdown in the eyes of his family would strip him of his pride. Therefore, he conceals the truth that he is not worth as much as he thinks he is. He admits to the Woman that “I get so lonely—especially when business is bad and there’s nobody to talk to. I get the feeling that I’ll never sell anything again, that I won’t make a living for you, or a business, a business for the boys” (25). Willy is afraid of disappointing the people who love him, and while he tries to take care of them, he does not embrace it well. His effort to secure his sense of self-worth is so great that he is willing to hide the truth about his affair, business life, and salary because he does not want to appear unsuccessful. His exaggerated sense of pride implies his underlying insecurities and desperate concern over meeting his own expectations. The excessive false pride and desire to be well-liked makes Willy unable to realize that he does not have good salesmanship. After knowing that the well-liked Dave Singleman made a living and died the death of a salesman, Willy felt that “selling was the greatest career a man could want” (61). Willy idolizes Singleman’s death because to Willy, being widely recognized and mourned is verification of a successful life. To him, a grand funeral with many attendees is the greatest achievement a person can have. Willy has more concern about what people think of his actions rather than what he achieves himself. He does not realize that as a salesman, he is selling his personality, the most important product a salesman can sell, but he has made no impact in his career whatsoever. When Howard fires Willy for his unnecessary behavior, Willy tells him that “you can’t eat the orange and throw the peel away—a man is not a piece of fruit” (61). Willy believes that there must be responsibility taken for the employees and that because he gave his youth to the company, the company must take care of him, not dispose of him. He does not realize that his senile age and mentality has gotten him off-track and has put him to no good use. After being left at the restaurant alone, Willy anxiously says, “I’ve got to get some seeds. I’ve got to get some seeds, right away. Nothing’s planted. I don’t have a thing in the ground” (96). Willy realizes that his whole career has built up to nothing. He has worked for decades but has nothing to show for it. The seeds represent Willy’s opportunity to prove his worth as a salesman and father. His attempt to plant the seeds symbolizes his shame at not being able to provide for his family. Even when Charley tries to be a good friend and tells Willy, “I’ll give you a job because—just for the hell of it, put it that way” (75), Willy rejects the offer because it will go against his pride and all of his beliefs. He resents Charley because Charley’s success flies in this face of his own advice. Willy’s irrational sense of pride prevents him from accepting the job and keeps him determined to pretend like he does not need help when he is really asking for it. Willy is stripped of his dignity and led to the end of his downfall after Biff tells him the truth about their existence. Biff comes to the realization that he and Willy have made nothing of their lives when he says, “Pop! I’m a dime a dozen, and so are you! … I am not a leader of men, Willy, and neither are you” (105). Although Biff realizes the reality of their worthless lives, Willy continues to live an illusion. As he fails to plant the seeds in the garden, Willy fails to absorb the truth. Willy follows this delusion so his death, eventually committing suicide because he thought that he would finally be able to provide for his wife and sons. Before his death, Willy tells Ben that “a man can’t go out the way he came in, Ben, a man has got to add up to something. You can’t, you can’t—You gotta consider now… Remember, it’s a guaranteed twenty-thousand-dollar proposition” (99). Willy realizes that he has lived his life in vain because he has not amounted to anything. Therefore, he thinks that killing himself would secure his dignity and give him a chance to give to his family the happiness and money they deserve. But Willy ends up killing himself in vain because insurance policies do not cover suicides. It is evident that, because not many people bothered to show up at his funeral, Willy did not die the death of a salesman, the one he so longed for. Death of a Salesman’s Willy Loman is a tragic man who struggles to hold onto what dignity he has left in a changing society that no longer values the ideals he grew up to believe in, but teaches the audience the harsher side of life. While much of his misfortune can be blamed on society, the blame is equally put on Willy himself because of his bad judgment and foolish pride. Willy firmly believes in the “American Dream,” in which any man can rise to greatness by selling his charisma, and being well-liked is the most important asset anyone can have. He does not realize that the only way someone can become wealthy is through work or through luck and good timing, all of which Willy missed to catch. His sons grow up to believe all that he has taught them when it is ultimately Biff, who realizes that those values are not pertinent. Willy gradually comes to the realization that his career has deteriorated, but he still holds on to the belief that it is below his dignity to work another job. He believes that his final solution to commit suicide will give the family a chance financially as well as to recover lost dignity, something in which everyone deserves a bit of. Willy portrays the psychological problems with reality because the values in society never stop changing. Life is a balance between self-worth and frustrations, and it is matter of how one deals with the hardships that determine one’s success.