So, after 3 Semesters of doing British Literature, we finally dawned upon the American Literature. We're doing a variety of texts but this play annoys me to some extent than the other texts. Perhaps it's because of its resemblance to the play that we did semester, John Osborne's Look Back In Anger and Shakespeare's Hamlet. These plays, to my belief, have no action until the very end, when the actual excitement actually beings. But however, by the time I reach the end, the interest [mine, just to make sure, as I can't comment on others] has actually fizzled. Jimmy reconciles with Allison after much anger, Hamlet finally lashes out at his uncle and Willy's action is left pretty much to the readers' imagination, although a few versions do include a funeral scene, which states that he crashed the car and died. The title itself, Death of a Salesman, somewhat prefigures the impending death of Willy in a literal manner, although we can look at the title in different ways.
Willy's character is so embedded into the whole notion of lies and delusion that he has been living in because of his profession - a salesman - it is quite hard to figure out who Willy really is. Having lived in deceived world of lies and being tied down by the past, Willy has found it difficult to cope up with the present reality as it is too harsh for him. When he does catch up with the present reality, the way he sees himself - he would probably see himself as a 'failure' because his sons, Biff and Happy have failed to find success and be well liked - acquires the readers' sympathy as they are able to understand the mental strain that the financial struggles and the personal failures (especially's Biff's loss of fame when he got older, not being well liked and the impact of the extra-marital affair on Biff) have put on him.
Willy's day to day struggle with daily life and work, makes him a more empathetic character and I feel that it is much easier to feel the loss of Willy than that of Hamlet, Crown Prince of Denmark and Jimmy Porter. Although they face personal loss at varying degrees, it is Willy's loss that is more tragic and more realistic that those of Jimmy's and Hamlet. I could say it is probably because of the closeness that one feels with Willy because we may have been in a similar boat or probably because it is something a common man, who has a large amount of debt against his name and the inability to have anything, including his own house, to call his own because of the debt.
By chasing the American Dream, Willy has brought his downfall, the onslaught of the guilt after Biff found him cheating on Linda and the later mental degradation because he was too caught up in the past. Linda fails to help him because she finds easier to lie to his face than break his illusion, especially after he tried to kill himself. By telling herself that everything will be alright, including to Willy, especially when it's not, the situation becomes rather 'sticky'. When Linda states the attempted suicide by Willy, Biff regrets being harsh on Willy and tries to help him albeit unsuccessfully as Willy would rather be independent and feels that asking or agreeing for help would degrade his status.
By focusing on Willy, Miller has brought out this enigmatic character who is too wound up in his past to focus on the present and trying to move on. By making Willy a salesman, Miller is able to explore the various aspects of daily life, especially when most of Willy's daily life is spent on the road. By leaving the ending open-ended (in some versions there is a funeral scene, which may as well allude to the title), he is able to focus on the challenges that Willy had to face, especially when one is unable to let go of the past. The reason for this is simple: the guilt of his affair and the disappointment that Biff had when he found out made it difficult for Willy to move on and thus retreated into his mind to get solace from the harsh reality. Therefore this father-son relationship [Willy - Biff] has failed in many ways because Willy failed to live up to the Biff's expectations and let him down because Biff regarded him as his role model and cheating on Linda was the most 'idiotic' thing to do. Linda is nice woman, and Biff feels that Willy's affair is a disgrace as it denounces her position as a wife. Willy's actions therefore, inadvertently affects everyone around him.
I may not like plays with procrastinating characters (Hamlet) and characters who just rant and vent out their feelings and do nothing about it (Jimmy Porter; although his frustration did start the movement known as the Angry Young Men) but Willy is the character to look out for. The Modern Era has created so much confusion that even we may get lost and get stuck in the past and try connecting them with the present even though it makes no sense. I would like to think that Willy has found his peace somewhere, even though his fate may or may not be mentioned.
That's what I think. It might be an annoying play as there is not much action in terms of physical movement but there is so much action and excitement in Willy's mind that it makes the play more interesting.
* I have not covered everything the play is about. Rather I have focused on Willy as a character and what I have come to realize about him, especially after doing this play as a detailed study in my Literature Course this semester. In general, I did not find the play that exciting or very interesting while studying it or when I read it. I have made comparisons to Hamlet and Jimmy Porter because of all the characters that I have come across in Literature, these are the two most annoying characters that have ever been created for their lack of action and to some extent are similar to Willy. This is just my reading and understanding. After all, Literature is all about interpretations and re-readings. And there is no wrong answer; everyone is right in their way.
NOTE:
So, feel free to leave constructive comments and not anything blasphemous and please don't border on slander or libel as I will remove it and block you from commenting. Thanks.
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