Willy Flashcards
How is it suggested that Willy is defined by his role as a salesman?
The title of the play being ‘Death of a Salesman’, though ironically we don’t actually see him working in the play
How is Willy introduced in the play and why/
His first introduction is of him in his role as a husband, which establishes the inequality in his marriage early on
What role does Willy have relating to gender?
Willy is the family patriarch which can be shown through Linda’s exaggerated deference to him:
“She loves him as though his tempers served only as sharp reminders of the turbulent longings within him”
How does Willy behave towards Linda in his happier memories?
He expresses devotion and appears to rely on Linda: “You’re the best there is Linda”
This dependence isn’t there in the present, shown when he shouts at her for buying the wrong cheese
What is the affect of Willy’s affair with The Woman?
He is haunted and feels guilty, he tries to justify it by telling Linda, “I get so lonely”
There is a greater betrayal in his suicide as he believes he is “worth more dead than alive” though this leaves Linda with loneliness
What is Willy’s most significant role in the play?
His role as a father
What is the influence of Willy’s role as a father?
His experience as a son, the only memory he has of is father is that he was “a man with a big beard” which left Willy feeling “kind of temporary about myself”
In Willy’s role as a father, what does he feel most anxious about?
Whether he is bringing Biff and Happy up correctly
How do Linda’s and Ben’s views of Willy as a father differ?
Ben assures Willy that he is being “first rate with your boys”
Whereas, Linda describes them as a “pair of animals”
What does Miller suggest is the cause of Biff and Happy being “a pair of animals”?
They are fed the wrong dreams by their father, shown through the mottos that he uses:
“Be liked and you will never want”
“Everybody likes a kidder, but nobody lends him money”
How does Willy’s failure as a father and Willy’s failure as a salesman contrast?
His failure as a father is more destructive, his suicide confirms that he “loved his sons better than life”
What is ironic about Ben criticising Willy’s achievements?
Ben is a figure of Willy’s imagination, so Willy choses to recall these memories, maybe its an act of self consciousness
In what ways do Ben and Willy differentiate?
- Financially
- Lifestyle
- Personality
How does Ben describe Willy’s plan to kill himself, gaining the insurance money for Biff?
“A perfect proposition all around”
How is Willy presented as a neighbour?
Ungrateful due to his jealousy of Charley:
“You’ve been jealous of me all your life, you damned fool”, Charley says this as he counts out the $110 that Willy needs for his Insurance
