‘Death of a Salesman’ CHARACTER NOTES - Key Points about Willy Loman 1. Willy is exhausted by his years as a travelling salesman: ‘I’m tired to the death’ Willy is admitting that he is exhausted and he’s ready to give up life. “The gist of this is I haven’t got a story left in my head…don’t give me a lecture about facts and suspects” “Well he had – imagine, a man doesn’t see him 10. 12 years and gives him that kind of welcome” Willy is in a mental crisis: all the illusions he had are falling away because Biff isn’t successful and neither is he as he has been fired as a salesman. At the same time he goes back into a delusion to hide his failures. So he invents what happened to Biff, which illustrates his continued fragmentation of his mind as he becomes less logical and less coherent as the play progresses. 2. He has unrealistic ambitions: “Someday I’ll have my own business and I’ll never have to leave home anymore…I’ll be bigger than Uncle Charley”. At that point in the play Linda is calculating that Willy can barely bring in enough money to support the family. He is never going to be a success because he is not a good salesman but he refuses to recognise the truth of the situation. Willy always believed he could achieve his ambitions and get rich, though the audience can see this completely unrealistic because he missed all his real chances. “You can’t feel it with your hand like timber but it’s there… there’s a new continent on you doorstep William, you could walk out rich. Rich!” He thinks that he can become wealthy in the City through selling, when we can see that Ben’s offer of a job, which suits his talents, is his best route to wealth. 3. He boasts: “I have friends. I can park my car in any street in New England and the cops protect it like one of their own”
He boasts to compensate for his lack of success and desperately wants his family to admire him. This indicates that he is insecure about himself. 4. He is often quick tempered: ”Why do you get American when I like Swiss?” Willy is often under pressure and stress because he is failing to make sales. The temper is a symptom of stress. “You didn’t see him did you … you insult him or something!” It’s a symptom of his disordered mental state. Every topic is sensitive because of his worries and especially Biff 5. His ideas & thoughts are inconsistent: “Biff is a lazy bum!… There’s one thing about Biff he’s not lazy.” This tells of the confusion Willy feels: about Biff and many other things eg. won’t work for Charley but takes money from him. “Maybe I did something to him…’ contrasted with ‘what are you trying to do, blame it on me.” Willy obsesses over Biff but doesn’t want to face up to his responsibilities., showing a continued contrast and lack of logic. 6. He has sudden impulses & is also easily discouraged: “Smell the stink from that apartment house! And another one on the other side… How can they whip cheese?” Previously he had had a temper tantrum about whipped cheese.Willy is easily distracted and his thoughts jump from one topic to another without any obvious link. This is also a symptom of his exhausted mental state. 7. He is dishonest, with himself as well as others: “I’m vital in New England” He’s been taken off salary. To make him seem more important to himself & his family, to improve his self-esteem, he exaggerates and lies. “Biff is a lazy bum!” “There’s one thing about Biff…he’s not lazy” He contradicts himself showing his moral dishonesty. It is a comfort to him to think Biff is upstanding. Willy is always trying to blame something else but it is really his
fault although he doesn’t want to admit it. He hasn’t been a good role model to his sons eg. when Biff stole the ball and Willy praised him for his ‘ initiative. ‘ Willy’s pride and inner illusions make him dishonest to others against his own interests. “I offered you a job…” “I’ve got a job” Willy doesn’t have a job because he just got fired, and he can’t admit this to Charley. Possibly he doesn’t believe it himself because he doesn’t want to puncture this myth that he is a great salesman and that he’s very well liked. 8. He idolises his son Biff: “Like a young God… a star like that , magnificent can never really fade away!” “ Wait till Oliver gets a look at him… greatest thing in the world for him was to bum around” Willy has believed that Biff was exceptional without much evidence because he thinks that Biff has charisma which will take him through any situation. He still holds on to this idea in the face of prior evidence. The word choice shows the exaggeration of Willy’s belief. Willy can’t accept the view that Biff isn’t extraordinary, so he rationalises Biff’s lack of success as Biff hating him and deliberately being unsuccessful: “ You cut down your life for spite” “Pop, I’m nothing!” “He cried!… that boy is going to be magnificent!” Willy still cannot see reality and cannot let go of his most cherished illusion, that Biff (and to a lesser extent himself) is extraordinary and sure to succeed. The only way Willy can rationalise Biff’s failure is hatred of him, and when he finds out that Biff doesn’t hate him, the illusion comes back in full force. At this point he has lost his little remaining contact with reality. Willy’s motive for suicide by the end of the play is to provide Biff with the finance to make his illusion a reality. We see that Willy has learned nothing about his son in the course of the play as he refuses to let go of his dream of Biff’s success. He believes success comes from being ‘well-liked’: “being well liked and you will never want” Willy defines well liked as having charisma. He thinks you can use your charm to influence people. He forgets that you need substance to back it up.
9. He is a hypocrite: initiative”.
“Coach’ll probably congratulate you on your
He is congratulating Biff on stealing the basketball, condoning theft to his son. “I never in my life told him anything but decent things,” He denies that he ever allowed his son to steal. Use of ‘Shut up!’ to shut out his guilt as he remembers the past. 10. He is in emotional crisis: “Where are you guys…the woods are burning .I can’t drive a car!. The metaphor “the woods are burning” is comparing his emotional breakdown to an out of control fire. He is pleading for his sons’ help. He says this in Act One and again in Act Two. These two occasions are the main times he admits his difficulty. 11. He lacks self-awareness (doesn’t understand himself): “ I feel kind of temporary about myself” He’s not sure what’s happening to him: he knows he doesn’t achieve in life yet he lies to make people think otherwise. So he doesn’t really know who he is, showing his lack of self-awareness. He doesn’t know what he is lacking in life and he isn’t successful in business. Has a faulty understanding of his strengths. 12. He doesn’t appreciate his skills: “Even your grandfather was better than a carpenter” This shows that being a manual worker is not good enough for Willy or his children, even though the only thing that he is good at is the only thing that he will never do to become successful. Irony. 13. He admires success: “Ben, how should I teach them?’ ”I want them to know the kind of stock they spring from”. This shows that he wants his children to follow Ben’s philosophy and be successful. ”When I was 17 I walked into the Jungle and when I walked out --- I was rich. By God I was rich’.
Some Questions to Consider: •
Does Willy ruin his life by trying to live up to a mistaken image of what success is?
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Is Willy Loman a tragic figure or just pathetic?
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How far do you have sympathy for Willy Loman?