Additionally, Biff was, in the past, everything that Willy wanted to be- a gifted athlete, brilliant student and popular friend to many. Willy has no power to either free Linda from her personal plight or to advance her to the world in which she has always striven to live.īiff Loman, the oldest son of Willy and Linda, is also in his own respects ironic for all of his father’s lectures about the merits of the white collar world, Biff finds contentment in manual labor, the type that requires one to work with his hands. Irony is also seen in the characters of the play Willy’s wife, Linda, ironically sees the true American Dream as freedom from debt, as well as the obtaining of all of the material goods that the world has to offer, while she is relegated to a life where there never seems to be enough cash to go around, and occurrences like the malfunctioning of the washing machine are everyday occurrences. An initial sampling of irony comes in the overall plot- based on the fact that Willy Loman, who sees himself as a legendary salesman, is conflicted to the point where has spent years trying to sell himself on the image of himself as the ideal family man, a role model to his children, a perfect husband and merit to the sales profession, but alas, he has not been able to accept this “sales pitch” within his own mind to the point where Willy, as his name indicates, is truly the “low-man” in all aspects of his life (Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman).
Willy Loman, the protagonist of the play, has spent his career, and as such a significant portion of his life, in the role of a salesman- an individual who is supposed to be able to demonstrate the value of something to the point where a prospective customer buys it. First, a consideration of irony in “Salesman’s” plot. The introduction to this essay made a point that will shape the remainder of the research- understanding irony in “Salesman” is to understand how it exists in the plot and individual characters. Irony in Characters/Plot of “Death of a Salesman” This essay will focus on the use of irony in “Salesman” through the discussion of irony and its impact not only on the overall plot of Miller’s play, as well as the characters in it, the true intensity and value of this play will be understood and much better appreciated.
Undoubtedly, one of the most intense character studies in this sense of the 20th century is Arthur Miller’s “Death of a Salesman”, and within that play, one of the most powerful literary devices used is that of irony. Analysis of “Death of a Salesman” by Arthur MillerĪt the heart of many dramas are the raw human emotions of the characters as they interact with both other characters and their own inner demons.
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