Death Of A Salesman

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The Death of a Salesman –Essay RE-DRAFT By: María José Gothe "Death of a Salesman" is a play by Arthur Miller, the well-known American writer and Pulitzer Prize winner who conveys the tragedy in the common man. During act 2, Linda exclaims, "Attention must be paid to him" referring to old Willy who is exhausted. However, Miller presents the reader to different points of view and complex characters, which make the audience, agree with Linda’s statement to a certain degree. Willy can be considered a victim of modern capitalist society, yet he is partly to blame for his family's disgraces as well as his owns. Miller indicates this from the beginning using subtle symbolism for characters names. The name choice for Miller's characters is definitely not random. Their names convey their main personalities or flaws. For example, our tragic hero, "Willy Loman"; his surname depicts the idea that he is condemned to fail and to be unsuccessful from the start, dragging his family to misery with him. Furthermore, we have "Dave Singleman", Willy's idealized role model. Despite we know little about him, we know he died alone in a train at the age of eighty-four, as his last name conveys. Willy has mythicized idea of Singleman. In his mind the old Dave is a successful and “well-liked” salesman who all of his acquaintances came to its funeral, and not the working elder who died alone in a train. These lead us into the idea that Willy is a victim of modern capitalist society and the overrated “American dream” and therefore “attention must be paid to him”. On the other hand, we are introduced to a “laughing woman” thought act one. This ironical woman laughing foreshadows Willy’s later to be revealed affaire; and the cause of his sudden troubled relationship with his son Biff. The affair is the main reason why young Biff’s admired paternal figure starts to crumble. Biff will never
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