Personal failure in Arthur Miller's "Death of a Salesman"

Abstract or Introduction

Arthur Miller's play "Death of a Salesman" is a realistic drama consisting of two Acts and a Requiem. It was written in 1949. The play brightly depicts the main character Willie Loman as a person having a wide-spread unreachable “American dream” – the idea that dominates in people’s minds as a symbol of success and happiness.

Miller said: “…a lot of people give a lot of their lives to a company or even the government, and when they are no longer needed, when they are used up, they’re tossed aside…Willie Loman’s situation is even more common now than it was then [1949]. A lot of people are eliminated earlier from the productive life in this society than they used to be” (Mays, 2010, p. 1736).

Willie represents the one who tried to fulfill this dream to be a salesman and failed being “eliminated from productive life”. Even being old and having wife Linda and two adult sons Biff and Happy, Willie willfully continues going against himself. The plot combines present actions and flashbacks – as a reality and illusion, which is one of the main themes of "Death of a Salesman". Willie betrayed his real wishes and life path, and, although he is responsible for failing his self-realization in life, his environment as well as his wife's and sons’ influence contributed to the elimination of real dreams to the same extend as he himself did.