Other thoughts of Death of a Salesman.....

"Nobody dast blame this man. You don't understand: Willy was a salesman. And for a salesman, there is no rock bottom to the life. He don't put a bolt to a nut, he don't tell you the law or give you medicine. He's a man way out there in the blue, riding on a smile and a shoeshine." (Requiem, 1629).

I find it incredibly ironic that Willy said that everyone would come to his funeral. In reality, only Charley and Willy's family came. Charley truly did not like Willy, but he still came. Willy's family basically only attended because they felt obligated to do so. How sad. How very, very sad. I feel as if Willy has some very admirable traits, as much as everyone hates him. For instance, Willy cares deeply for his sons and establishes dreams into their minds as to how they can attain success. Although Willy is a poor example for his kids, he lives and breathes off of the success of his sons. They make him proud. I feel as if Willy is the protagonist of this story because it is told by his own point of view and talks about his own flashbacks. Characters change throughout the course of the play. They do this in many ways. Happy doesn't really change because he stays in his same egotistical ways. However, Biff does change. He talks to his father in the end and stands up for himself. He admits his failure. Willy changes in the sense that he tries to see life from other people's eyes. He tries to reach out to his kids in the end. He doesn't show them resentment. Also, he tells Charley that Charley is his only friend. Willy is too caught up in his own pride to admit failure to accept money from Charley. Still, Willy tries to be his own person and make money on his own.

Foil Characters in Death of a Salesman

"Oh Ben, I always knew one awy or another we were gonna make it, Biff and I!.... Now when you kick off, boy, I want a seventy-yard boot, and get right down the field under the ball, and when you hit, hit low and hit hard, because it's important, boy. There's all kinds of important people in the stands, and the first thing you know.... Ben! Ben, where do I... ? Ben how do I... ?"  (II, page 1628).

Ben and Willy are most definitely foil characters in this play. Arthur Miller constantly juxtaposes the characters. For instance, Willy is a character that thinks that his success comes from luck. He believes that the reason he is unsuccessful is based on other people's problems. Willy never takes responsibility for his actions. On the other hand, Ben is a very successful character. His luck has apparently been thrust upon him. Ben appears to be a character who looks at hard work as success, but earned success merely by luck. Willy is a character who refuses to work hard for success, and does not earn success by his luck. On top of this, Willy drowns in his misery instead of doing anthing about becoming successful on his own. Ben has more of a positive outlook on life. I'm not really sure if Ben is real or not, but I feel as if Ben is a figment of Willy's imagination as to how success should be......

Dramatic Irony in Death of a Salesman

"Willy I made the last payment on the house today. Today, dear. And there'll be nobody home.. We're free and clear... We're free. We're free... We're free....." (II, p.1630).

In this blog, I am going to speak of the constant reminders of dramatic irony in this play. First off, this play is filled with dramatic irony. The quote above definitely displays this as well. For example, Willy spent his entire life trying to be successful, but he always viewed himself as a failure. However, at the end of the play, they had all of their house payments paid off. He actually WAS successful and did not know it. If he would have just opened his eyes up to the actual wonders of his life instead of blaming everyone else for his failures, he would have witnessed the good things in his life. He wuld have realized how much he had going for him. Also, Happy is the most ungrateful person out of all the characters. This is ironic because his name is Happy. Another example is the fact that if the woman that Willy was having an affair with would not have laughed, Biff would not have heard her. If Biff would not have heard her, he would have been successful. Finally, Willy says that everytime he pays something off, he can no longer use it. He pays off his house at the end and can no longer use it because he dies. Woah! Irony.