Death of Salesman by Arthur Miller Essay -- Death Salesman Arthur Mill

Death of Salesman by Arthur Miller The Requiem seems to simply conclude the play at the funeral and let us see the other character's view of events with some retrospect. However, with closer scrutiny, we see that old issues and resentments are still very prevalent. The Requiem can be split into two halves. The first half sees Charley, Biff, Linda and Happy over Willy's grave. Each character is unique in their perspective at this point, reflecting Willy's own change of perspective towards the end of play and reminding us of several themes in the text. Happy still clings to the memory of Willy Loman as the successful salesman and general good man. Indeed, he holds this view with some ferocity. He tries to stop Biff being negative about his father (the stage directions include 'almost ready to fight Biff infuriated') and his last words are ones of defiance: 'I'm gonna show you and everybody else that Willy Loman did not die in vein this is where I'm gonna win it for him' This seems rather absurd to the reader as it is clear now that the American Dream for the Loman family is just that- a dream. The spectacular failure of his father and the collapse of the family show that the dogmatic pursuit of success is fruitless and even dangerous. 'Happy' is a very apt name for the son who tries to be happy and show a brave face even when things have collapsed around him. Other examples of this include Happy rallying Biff both when they talk about setting up business together and when Happy tries to make Biff attract women at the restaurant in Scene 2. Happy also represents the side of Willy that he was most used to (Happy, unlike Biff, lived with Willy day to day and so was more indoctrinated to the lies and... ...wife. Instead of seeing the inevitable, as Charley does, or being somehow released like Biff, she can only see things in terms of money and time, like Willy used to obsess over- 'He even finished with the dentist'. The second half of the Requiem is dedicated to Linda. It is quite hard to understand. She says that she 'can't cry' but then seconds later she is 'sobbing more fully'. Why is this? Maybe telling her true feelings to Willy instead of suppressing them like when he was alive releases her, but she keeps repeating 'we're free'. As she whispers this she seems to be on a higher plane and connecting with Willy. This, however, is open to interpretation and all we can safely say is that the Requiem releases the pressure that was mounting in the Loman household in possibly the only way it could; with the realisation of the failure of the American Dream.