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Critical Analysis of Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman

Critical Analysis of "Death of a Salesman"

A Greek tragedy is a story, which involves a character with a tragic flaw that leads to his or her downfall. In the American tragedy Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller, Willy Loman displays many traits, which lead to his downfall. Willy Loman displays a great deal of stubbornness and a warped sense of success as well as a lack of parenting skills. Throughout the play, Willy reveals many bizarre and uncommon characteristics that in the end contribute to his suicide. Willy’s stubbornness and pride plays a major role throughout the play in major scenes.

The pride and stubbornness, which Willy possesses, hinders him throughout the play. One of the most prominent scenes in which Willy’s pride gets to him is when Charley offers him a job. Willy’s response to Charley’s first push to get Willy to take the job is, “I – I just can’t work for you, Charley.”(97) After Willy turns down the first offer, Charley again tries to get Willy to take the job and Willy responds by saying, “I can’t work for you, that’s all, don’t ask me why.”(98) Even though Willy lost his job and cannot afford anything, he still refuses a job offer from Charley. Willy has too much pride to accept anything from anyone. Another prominent example of Willy’s excessive stubbornness is when he sees Linda mending her stockings. When Willy sees her mending stockings, he tells her to throw them out with the idea that he will just buy new ones. Willy is too stubborn to realize that he cannot afford to buy new stockings and the only way to keep the stockings in wearable condition is to mend them. Linda realizes what their economic situation is but Willy cannot swallow his pride and accept the fact that he cannot afford anything. Willy also demonstrates excessive stubbornness and pride while talking to Bernard. When Bernard asks what Biff is involved in, Willy responds by telling him he is working on something very big. Willy will not admit that Biff is not really working on any thing at all and even though he is trying to get a business set up he will most likely never amount to anything big. Willy simply has too much pride to admit that his life...

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Category:   Plays

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