Topic: Reader Response Approach - Drama Analysis (Essay Sample)

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Willy Loman’s Character Flaw and its Cathartic Effect in Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman
Having gone through the first act of Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman, I’m gripped by strong interest and curiosity to find out how Willy Loman’s obsession for success affects him and his family in the end. In particular, my interest is pricked by the fact that Willy is a salesman, but the author does not specify what it is he actually sells. As I realize later, Willy is trying to sell to his sons the philosophy that one can be successful if he is “well-liked” by others. What makes this assumption curious is the idea that he thinks that although his neighbor’s son Bernard is smart in school, he will not be successful because he is not well-liked. To me, this belief in being well-liked, together with his obsession with the American Dream, is the tragic flaws that foreshadow Will’s destruction. Like Oedipus, Willy is obsessed with proving something about himself. Just as Oedipus wanted to show the people of Thebes that he can help them avoid a crisis by solving the murder of their late king, Willy Loman wants to prove to his sons, especially the critical Biff, that he is a successful salesman. His deception, however, is clearly evident because he is not the faithful husband or successful salesman he wants everyone to believe he is. He is only slightly successful, but he doesn’t want to accept the reality that he is a failure.
The cathartic effect of Willy’s fate results from the fact that like any ambitious person, I can identify with his dreams and frustrations after failing to achieve them. One can easily sympathize with Willy not just because of his failures and tragic end (he commits suicide eventually) (Sinclair and Miller 64), but more so because he is a victim of the same kind of world we are all struggling to find success in; cut-throat competitive capitalism. While Willy believed that being well-liked is enough to earn a person success in life, we are also driven by the same motivation in the popular belief that getting a good education can open doors to career success. But is it enough? Just as being well-liked is not enough to earn Willy’s sons success, it is possible that earning a Harvard degree may not be enough to earn one success. Soon I’m going to graduate, and naturally, I dream of landing a big job, buying a fancy car, marrying well, raising a lovely family, and living happily ever after. But will I? Like Willy, I long for the good life; I want to live the American Dream. While this longing and ambition is certainly not a tragic character flaw on my part, Willy’s obsession with something as unreliable as being well-liked compared to getting a good education certainly portrays his character flaw. Realizing from the play’s beginning that Willy is headed for self-destruction because of his belief on something unreliable for success, the reader cannot help but have pity on him. He so passionately beliefs that being well-liked is the key to success. He believes in that philosophy whole heartedly and tries to sell it to Biff and Happy. The audience’s sympathy for Willy is therefore partly inspired by the realization that his believes in his philosophy and has his family’s best interests in heart.
However, the audience’s sympathy for Willy is also diluted by the knowledge that he is an unfaithful husband and he chooses to distort reality to suit his day-dreaming and ambitions about his sons’ success. He has a secret affair with The Woman in the play, which makes the audience’s sympathy to shift to his wife Linda, who remains loyal to him until his death. Similarly, he intentionally chooses to think about the good things about his life, such as when he was a successful salesman. Biff, his eldest son, draws the audience’s attention to Willy’s dark side by revealing that his father is a “phony little fake” after finding him with his secret lover in a Boton hotel (Act II, 121). This revelation shows that Willy is not totally a victim of circumstances, but also partly responsible for his failures. Biff calls him he is a fake because he (Will) is trying to portray an image of success while he is a failure. I can practically identify with Willy’s conscious attempt to project a positive side about his life. Like most people, I care what people think about me. I want people to find me likeable and think that I’m head...