Arthur Miller’s “Death of a Salesman” Essay

Throughout Arthur Millers Death of a Salesman, Willy Loman tended to nobble virtu everyy every wholeness he came in contact with. He hurt opposites perpetually throughout this play for a variety of different reasons. One of his key tar disturbs was his married woman Linda. From verbal to finical, Willy Loman exclaimd his wife Linda. His son poke was also a prime target of his abuse. His abuse towards his son was subtle at times, and not so subtle others. Biff wasnt the only son to encounter abuse his pal Happy was also a target. Happy was abused not by any action, scarcely by lack of. To further expand on the aforementioned, Happy was ignored by his father causing much detriment. A uncouth occurrence among abusers is that their dupeization seems be focused internally (family) or externally (everyone else) just rarely both. Willy Loman was an anomaly as farthermost the previously philosophy was relate Willy short-changed everyone he came in contact with.From his finically supportive friend, Charley, to the last person youd expect, a child. Though, that isnt to say that Willy was in turn unharmed he was also a dupe. Those who are victimized often feel that they are justified in their diatribe against all others, no matter how untrue. His boss Howard would victimize Willy Loman, stating his lack of importance to business. Which could be perceived as a severe act against ones ego, and this wasnt the most prevalent perpetrator of harassment. The quintessential worst enemy of Willy was his mental illness yet more than specifically his frequent delusional tangents. Throughout Arthur Millers Masterpiece, Death of a Salesman, Willy Loman was both a victim and a victimiser as Ill soon make spare in the text below.The most evident victim of Willy Loman was his dearest wife Linda. There were many angles in which she was abused but none more apparent than verbally. Willy Loman didnt abuse his wife in the conventional use of the word he didnt go on verbal t irade, it was much more passive. For example a scrip analysis from Death of a Salesman featuring an unrestrained minute of arc between Willy Biff and Linda from pages one hundred and twenty-s steady to one hundred and thirty, Willy had twenty-eight lines, Biff had twenty-five lines and Linda a mere four. This clearly trys that whenever Linda was portion ofthe conversation that wasnt one-on-one she was severely neglected. When Willy and Linda would talk one-on-one she couldnt say a thing without being contradicted or having her opinion belitt lead LINDA Willy, dear. utter to them again. Theres no reason why you squirtt work in new-make York. WILLY They dont need me in New York. Im the New England man. Im vital in New England. (Death of a Salesman, page 14)This shows utter denigration just for the sake of flexing his superiority, and ironically enough, he later attempts exactly what his wife suggests. What this shows is that Linda was absolutely right and Willy chose to victimi ze her over admitting that his wife was right. In this scene Willy defames his wife by establishing her inability to do simple processes correct, WILLY Why do you get American when I like Swiss? LINDA I just thought youd like a change- WILLY I dont want a change I want Swiss. Why am I always being contradicted? (Page 17) Maybe this seems harmless but imagine how you would feel youre looking out for some ones best interests and made to feel incompetent in the process. There is no doubt in my mind that this was detrimental to Lindas ego. other way Willy victimized Linda was a way only Biff and he were privy to events in Boston that whitethorn ca-ca cost him a place in heaven. Willy chose to break sanctity of marriage by cheating on his wife with a woman from Boston, but this begs the question is someone a victim if they dont know they were victimized? The second definition on Dictionary.com states that a victim as a person who is deceived or cheated, as by his or her own emotions or ignorance, by the dishonesty of others, or by some impersonal agency. Ostensibly, what makes a victim isnt the harm it is the deceitfulness behind the action. To apply logic if Linda were to find out she would in turn be hurt. With the application of this definition all supposition ends, and Linda clearly can be labeled a victim.The last dynamic to Linda-Willy using is the more subtle finical difficulty caused by Willys incompetence. Willy had a commission based caper and as a result had very unstable salary. In the later years of Willys life he seemed to have lost his knack for selling and as a result his income. This clearly created an uncomfortable vivification environment for the Linda. For one, not having working appliances would make her life fabulously moredifficult and in turn would cause her stress. Secondly, not lettered if they would be able to afford their insurance premiums was also a problem. Not knowing if your world could come to a crashing end at any moment wo uld create an enormous amount of insecurity in Linda. I am utterly aware that this wasnt Willys intend by any means it was a topic of Willys concern as much as it was Lindas. As of such, Im sure youre curious how this could be interpreted as victimisation how could being unable to provide a healthy living environment for your family be victimization? It lies in Willys passivity and ego. Willy had an opportunity to receive a job from his friend and finical confidante Charles, and by refusing it he effectively threw Linda into a poor finical situation.Another character Willy victimized was his own son Biff. Much like Linda, in that respect was a few facets to Willys abuse as Ill soon demonstrate. The first on the docket was the verbal abuse. To keep this from convolution I pbegrudge the following, Biff is a lazy swinger (Page 16) This demonstrates verbal abuse towards Biff that caused a great amount of distress in his son as Biff perceives in rebuttal to like-comments, Why does s oda water mock me all the time? (Page 21) This just brings a pinch of tangibility and support the true power of Willys abusive comments. There was also a less visible approach to Willys abusive nature, and that was in how he spoke to Biff. Im sure youre plausibly encountered similar situations, by chance when meeting the judgmental mother-in-law.To get straight to the point, they state seemingly standard question or comments laced in condescension and attitude. Willy had a perpetual trickle of attitude when he would confront Biff and I use the word confronting because the seemed less like conversations and more like an inter escort. It would be extremely difficult to demonstrate this, so instead I present a quote from his wife Linda who also recognizes his confrontational attitude. LINDA You mustnt recidivate your temper with him. WILLY When the hell did I lose my temper? I simply asked him if we making any money (Page 15) As you can see, Linda has recognized what I did, Willys subtle criticism of his son Biff via seemingly harmless questions.Though Willys verbal assaults were extremely hurtful they didnt even scratch the surface relative his other mode of victimization the belief ofhis sons greatness. Most would consider thinking your son is great to a fantastic attribute for both son and father, but in that respect is a level of moderation that was completely disregarded. Hoping the best for your son and being utterly divorced from reality are two completely different things and alas Willy was the latter. By constantly putting Biff on a pedestal he put him in a very uncomfortable situation. He made Biff feel that if he didnt achieve the level of his expectations he was a failure. This ultimately led to his breakdown and the elimination any doubts of the pain Willy induced. too the previously mentioned moments of abuse, Willy was a less than satisfactory parent. In order for people to become competent adults they require a strong upbringing. The reason Biff didnt have a strong upbringing was because of Willys ego. Willy thought he was had fantastic genes and his son would be fantastic by default. For starters, his father ignored all warning sides that Biff was failing math, even after literal warning from his sons friend Bernard BERNARD I heard Mr. Birnbaum say that if you dont start studyin math hes gonna flunk you WILLY Dont be a pest, Bernard (Page 32) Willys belief in Biffs infallibility led him to completely disregard the warning signs of his failure. Some might think this is Biffs responsibility, but I beg to differ. Willy is his father, and his son was at a authoritative age in life, one where the easiest choice isnt the best. This was a very important time for Willy to take hold and push him to succeed and unfortunately he didnt. By not giving him a proper foundation he put his son in a predicament he could never escape, one that presented years of disappointment frustration and anger.Willys abuse of his son Happy wasnt o f an unconventional nature. He didnt insult Happy, nor did he criticize him. What he did could be interpreted as even worse, he didnt acknowledge his existence. The only time he entered into mind was while Biff was the focal point. It was evident that this constant ignorance deeply bothered Happy. As a child Happy was constantly pretentious trying to grasp any ounce of attention he could get his hands on. This is a sheer sign of someone who was attention strip. He wouldnt have had to constantly draw attention to himself if he was get itanyways, in a manner a good father would provide. In his later life, Happy suffers from numerous characteristic of a person who was an attention deprived child. For one he perpetually lies to making him seem like something worth admiring as demonstrated at the Chop House, Excuse me, miss, do you mind? I sell champagne and Id like you to try my brand. Bring her a champagne, Stanley. (Page 101)In this scene Happy boldly lies to woe a women he has just met he was not a champagne sales person, he in fact worked an unsatisfying job as the assistant to the assistant buyer. Another sign of his victimization as child was evident in the way he treated his father. I speculate as the years past, Happy started to resent his fathers. This is evident by the apathy he demonstrated towards his father at the Chop House LETTA Dont you want to tell your father- HAPPY No, thats not my father. Hes just a guy. Come on (Page 115) There is an expression, the apple doesnt fall from the tree. I think this moment brings this expression to life as Willys choice to ignore his son comes full circle as Happy does the same, leaving him high and dry.Willy didnt rent his victimization to the Loman family members alone, he chose to victimize people outside his family as healthful. He was relentless when it came to his neighbor and good friend Charley. Charley was a great friend of his who would patron him finically at every turn of the way. Even when Willy l ost his job and was indebt Charley put his best foot forward to correct this unfortunate circumstance by crack the obviously useless Willy a job. Willy seemed to overlook this steadfast friendship to criticize Charley for relatively irrelevant reasons WIILY Where are the rest of your pants? CHARLEY My wife bought them. WILLY Now all you need is a golf club (Page 51)This is just one of the numerous examples of Willy ruthlessly criticizing his loyal friend. Insulting someone when they are around could be construed as friendly banter if Willy didnt insult Charley only in person. This is demonstrated when Willy s uses his loyal friend as a model of someone who isnt well-liked. HAPPY Like Uncle Charley, heh? WILLY Bigger than Uncle Charley Because Charley is not-liked. Hes liked, but hes not-well liked. (Page 30) The most troublesome portion of this moment in Death of a Salesman is the level of candor. Willy throws his friend to the dogs as if hes was a piece of meat.The victimization d idnt pertain to Charley alone it also carried over to his son Bernard. Willy view Charleys son Bernard as weak because of his lack of athletic prowess. For this reasons Willy felt it necessary to victimize Bernard as exemplified in the following, You want him to be a worm like Bernard? (Page 40) In this quote Willy refers to his sons friend Bernard as a worm during a conversation with his wife Linda. The most unfortunately founder of this is that Bernard, much like his father has a caring nature, and constantly tries to help the Lomans. Once again, Willy just brushes off any attempted assistances and chooses to do the exact reversal and victimize.Victimization as far as Willy Loman was concerned wasnt a one way street the sword of victimization was double-edged. Howard, Mr.Lomans boss was probably his biggest adversary. He was a very business oriented individual who didnt see faces but instead dollar signs. This is best exhibited when an emotionally tattered Willy invite a desk job in the New York office. I appreciate that, Willy, but there just is no plot of land here for you. If I had a spot Id slam you right in, but I just dont have a single solitary spot. (Page 80) Upon first contemplate this might seem as if Howard is a caring individual whose hands are tied, but that is just a business persona exhibited and taught universally.If that seems like to far of a stretch you only need to inspect Howards actions that later came HOWARD Willy, you cant go to Boston for us. WILLY Why cant I go? HOWARD I dont want you to represent us (Page 83) Willys purpose upon visiting Howard was to request an advance to protect his family arrives only to get the proverbial boot. Howard did mention business is business and we are all aware that the business world is cut throat and if you arent effectively doing youre job you dont deserve to have one but this doesnt excuse the tactfulness of Howards actions. Willys loyalty was completely disregarded, he wasnt given any chanc e or warning and for that reason this by whom Willy was most victimized.Besides Howard, only one character could touch the level of victimization he achieved, and his name was Willy Loman bar-none, his own worst enemy. Oneof the crucial problems with Willy was his need to be better than everyone else. He constantly compared his achievement to his brother Ben as well as his good friend Charley. He viewed anything less than their success as simply not good enough. This in turn caused Willy an enormous amount of anxiety. canvas yourself with your peers isnt necessarily a bad thing, its only bad when your point of comparison is insurmountable and you wont settle for anything less his brother Ben had a mammoth size fortune, and good friend Charley was a wealthy business owner with an, even wealthier Lawyer son. If that wasnt enough, like most parents, Willy began to break his life through his son Biff. Biff being a total failure this resulted in even more suffering for Willy. Willys ho pe began to fall apart and decay until it was unrecognizable, leaving him with only one option left.Willys only option left was suicide. A series of culminating events in Willys eyes, denied him any other option. He was starting to subconsciously recognize his failure as a father and more importantly a man. I couldnt imagine a more cold cut victimization of one self. Many people when in a depressed state commit heinous acts, but there is no more heinous than committing suicide. Suicide is the grand puma as far as self-deprecation goes and Willy was a culprit of it. The mode of his suicide was even more appalling a forced car accident. There are many sure ways to kill yourself hanging, or shooting, jumping off something really high, but it takes a significant amount of self victimization to commit suicide via motor vehicle. This is because the chances of sustaining permanent injury are extremely high versus the chances of death. For this reason, I can concur that all victimization o f Willys were only overcome by the victimization of himself.This play was riff in the victimization and concurrent victims. Linda was victimized in enumerable fashions by her husband Willy. Willys victimization also carried over to his two sons Biff and Happy who where both victimized but in two different fashions one by neglect the other by high expectations. The victimization by Willy Loman didnt cease at the doors of the Loman household, it even was carried over to his loyal friend and neighbor Charley and son Bernard. Willy was in turn victimized by hisboss Howard who made him feel inferior to the company, striking a serious blow to his ego, as well as putting him in a horrible finical situation.This diatribe aside Willy was in fact the biggest abuser of himself. One unanswered question seems to resound through this play, and that is why did Willy feel the need to criticize those around him? Was it his upbringing? I am under the picture it was due to mental illness. Willy seems to have many of the characteristics of one who is depressed persistently sad, anxious, feelings of helplessness, difficulty making decisions, irrational thoughts and at the top of that list, suicide. Willy was without a doubt the biggest victimizer in Death of a Salesman but his victimization of others was only superseded by the victimization of himself.