Death of a Salesman by Essay

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When the past no longer serves as an adequate escape, Willy resorts to complete fantasy in the form of Ben.

For Willy, his long lost brother represents the ultimate realization of the American Dream. Ben left his family to find fortune in Alaska. He represents the adventurer who makes a success through entrepreneurialism and audacity (Krasner 46). Miller however indicates that this success is decidedly uncertain; pointing out the wishful fantasy that has completely overridden Willy's ability to handle reality. Throughout the play, this juxtaposition of fantasy and reality serves as symbol of Willy's inner turmoil. Willy's fantasy is his own material success as a salesman, and the hope represented by his family. The fantasy culminates in the success of his brother Ben, and in Willy's regular references to himself as being "well liked" (Miller 30).

This illusion of being "well liked" is the contact point between Willy's true past and the one he likes to boast about. It is the point where his reality and fantasy fuse and become the same thing.

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Willy is not well liked. This is clear in the contempt of a boss who is his junior by many years. When he finally realizes that he cannot "add up to something," as he desperately tells his phantom brother that he should (Miller 125), he ironically sees suicide as the only way to make a "success" of his life in material terms with the insurance money they would gain.

According to Lois Tyson (140), the juxtapositions in the play create dramatic tension between Willy's fantasy and his reality. While the elements of fantasy and reality are equally strong in the protagonist's mind, the tension remains stable. However, once Willy begins to let reality override fantasy, he cannot handle the effect, and creates the final balance with his death.

The tragedy lies in the fact that both Willy and his family fail to recognize the many aspects of the American Dream that they lose because of their pursuit of material success.

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