The leading characters

Conflict

The leading character in Death of a Salesman, Willy Loman wanted to attain the American Dream, success, love and respect from everyone. In King Lear, the King himself wanted the love of all three of his daughters.

The main obstacle for both characters was his own tragic personality flaw; flattery in King Lear’s case and a misconstrued vision of how to attain wealth and respect in the case of Willy Loman. There were, however, secondary obstacles such as their families and companions. The environment played hardly any hindrance in King Lear, whilst in Death of a Salesman it seemed to negatively affect Willy’s frame of mind when he was constantly met each day with the reminder of his dismal circumstances. Willy’s family, comprising of his wife Linda and two sons, Biff and Happy indirectly helped to send Willy over the edge completely. While he was teetering they didn’t realize the importance of their pulling him back, Linda more so than the sons. For King Lear, his eldest daughters and their allies (along with his own folly) set the stage for his ultimate demise. These two drama texts are tragic in that they illustrate the tragic flaws of their main characters as the cause of their deaths thus ending the plays.

The high point in the Shakespearean play, King Lear is when both of Lear’s elder daughters showed their true colours and their covetousness and attempted to destroy their father. In the American play, Death of a Salesman the events leading up to Willy’s untimely demise created suspence until it reached a climax.

Character Analysis

The characters of both plays are “true to life”; the protagonists especially. In the American play Willy can be seen as a static character –unchanging; whilst in Shakespeare’s play Lear is dynamic, he changes due to various conflict and circumstance that he encounters.

The character of Willy Loman is revealed mainly throughout his flashbacks and how he speaks to his counterparts. King Lear’s character is revealed earlier than Willy’s when he has gathered his children together to divide the kingdom amongst them.

The driving force behind of Willy Loman is his misconception of the ‘American Dream’ and even his wife, Linda. For King Lear it is a mixture of the passion within his personality and the anger and hurt that he feels because of his children’s behaviour towards him.

Only King Lear’s character changed. How it came about and the results are very convincing thus making it “true to life”. His realization and then change from one stage to the other is genuine and happens in reality, it is not an unrealistic or impossible.

Setting

Yes, the sets are appropriate as they capture the era of the plot and emphasize what is occurring at the time.

Many of these sets are unattractive, however, they fulfill their purpose to illustrate what is occurring throughout the plot.

No, not all of the settings are authentic. Some of them look very phony as they aim to replicate the original.

Critical standards useful for drama, novel, motion pictures

The chief emphasis is on the characters; the atmosphere and environment play a secondary part to both plays.

The purpose is to entertain the audience.

These two plays capture real life in most aspects and so can be deemed as realistic, there is no romance found anywhere within the two.

Life is registered in both its real sense and in a distorted manner throughout the Shakespearean play and the American play.

In both plays there are many problems with human relationships present. In Death of a Salesman, for instance, there is conflict between the protagonist, Willy and his family, neighbour, employer. These actually occur in life, nothing is perfect, however, it is possible that these perspectives were a bit over-exaggerated. In King Lear Lear had relationship problems with his eldest daughters, those daughters had problems with their little sister and their husbands; Gloucester's sons had issues among themselves. Yet there were characters who did have optimistic relationships, which could still be called realistic.

Neither of the two plays present a glamorized life or a happy ending that can be called artificial, for there is no happy ending.

The theme of hurt in 'Clear Light of Day'

In the novel, Clear Light of Day, hurt is the underlying theme and issue everyone seems to revolve around yet try to hide or ignore. According to C. S. Lewis, "those who speak about one's miseries usually hurt, those who keep silence hurt more".

In this novel there is physical hurt as well as psychological hurt. These two differ in contrast. The psychological hurt is more detrimental to the human being than the physical, and goes through a longer process in healing. With hurt comes resentment, pain and bitterness towards the cause of pain, and even other innocent people. The protagonist, Bim is the sole victim of (psychological) hurt and so is seemingly bitter and is resentful towards her brother, Raja. However, she takes out this anger and frustration on other people who just happen to be in her 'line of fire'. Tara, also suffers from silent hurting, but not as explosive as Bim's. Along with the hurt, Tara feels guilt.

Almost every character in this novel had gotten their own dose of hurt: the Das mother, felt hurt when she had to have insulin injected into her blood daily; Bim when she was "betrayed" by Raja; Raja in the instance when his father ignored and refused to understand him and his requests, when he was ill and when the Hyder Alis had left without notice; Tara, when she could not fit in with her older siblings and was mocked and tricked; Aunt Mira felt hurt when her husband died, when she was mistreated and when everyone "abandoned" her.

Baba's place in 'Clear Light of Day'

Baba, the fourth and last child of the Das family, little brother to the protagonist, is a peculiar and estranged child when compared to his family. He, when born went from the object of amazement and attention to the object of disappointment and a burden to his parents, mainly his mother, who had to "suffer" by babysitting him and in turn missed her card games and going out. He wasn't a disappointment in physical terms, only how long his period of development took -in other, he was a "slow" baby.

With his classic white hair and smooth, pink-turned-pale complexion, Baba was set apart fom his entire family it seems in not only his complexion but his demeanor as well. He seemed to grow physically but mentally remained a child. If not for Aunt Mira's help, love and attention he might have been worse off than he was, (thus bringing disgrace to the Das family, especially the mother). ForAunt Mira is the one, who moved him from milk sops and spoon to small pieces of bread which she allowed him to put into his mouth himself, much to everyone's amazement. She taught him how to button his shirt and she and his siblings would congratulate him when he succeeded in this feat.

As he got older he still posed a problem with regards to speech. Only upon occassion would he utter a word or two, but never a complete sentence or phrase and could not be pressed to say more. Eventually his family seemed to accept him for who he was, and soon no longer noticed his silence, "his manner of communication seemed full and rich enough to them".

Playing with his collection of smooth worn pebbles was a personal delight to him it seems. It is possible that because this was the first game he learned to play he had grown an attachment to it. Aunt Mira had taught him this and even the game of marbles when he was a child so that he could learn to use his hands. He also, liked to listen to his records on the gramophone, for his own listening pleasure no doubt. However this same listening pleasure of his seemed to be an annoyance to everyone else in the household.

Baba can be said to be quiet, thoughtfully passive and curious. There was an instance when Baba actually ventured pass the walls of his home. Various sights he viewed at this time included the dirty, almost dry river, the dusty road, whose dust blinded him momentarily and few people and trees. After his little adventure he came to the conclusion that the world outside his home was a dangerous one indeed and very active. Although he did not have as many adventures as his older siblings nor was as active he seemed content to be left alone and enjoyed his own company; whilst Raja and Bim were the other's companion and Tara found company in Aunt Mira.

"I'm a dime a dozen"

In this video clip on Death of a Salesman, the character of Willy is attacked verbally and manhandled by Biff, who is like a raving, estranged caged animal, as he tries to make Willy understand that they are both only, "a dime a dozen".

Biff has had the blinding wool of the unrealistic American Dream removed from his eyes and is trying to tell his father that he has realized what was the cause of his failure and that his father needs to open his eyes also and face reality before someone is hurt. This is ironic because soon after Willy ends up dead.

Biff not only tries to open his father's eyes verbally, but also lays it all out before him, literally, when he puts the hose down on the table. Come to think of it the unknown amounts of carbon monoxide that he(Willy) was inhaling might also have been a contributor to his apparent brain damage. It also indicates that Biff was the only one in the family with a spine. Why didn't Linda as soon as she'd found out what Willy was doing take off the hose? Was it because she wanted Willy to be 'man' enough to remove it himself? This reason would have been ludacris because she would have been helping him kill himself (abetting and aiding).

And what is Happy's excuse? He was in his mind protecting his father from the rage of his brother, but in essence he was protecting Willy from the harsh truth. He and Linda were treating Willy as a child when really he needed to face the facts, no matter how harsh and cruel they seemed. They would have done him more good than evil.

Willy's family is the cause of his demise!

The question whether Willy Loman's family was the cause of his demise can be answered in the affirmative. They each contributed to this in one way or other, with Linda probably being the most likely contributor. Linda, though very supportive of Willy always encouraged him. This might appear completely harmless at one point until one realizes that it fed his over-sized yet unstable ego. Linda's words of encouragement were meant for good, but really ended up defeating their purpose. Willy who was already unstable due to guilt, fear,insecurity and not being able to support his family was someone who hung unto every good word of praise he received; and by getting lots of praise and encouragement from Linda, he was not able to see who he really was nor reflect on his actions -actions of an unsuccessful character.

Linda constantly "bigged him up" by saying things like, "You're the handsomest man in the world Willy" and these words like poison slowly intoxicated his mind, until (with one more little push from Ben) he snapped.

Benjamin or "Uncle Ben" as he is known in the play is Willy's big brother and appears only in Willy's flashbacks, otherwise he is a ghost or figment of Willy's vivid estranged imagination. Ben seems to play the guilt trip on Willy in one flashback where he implores upon Willy to join him on his journeys as he enriches himself. Linda, (the irritable miserable woman) however, interrupted and so persuaded Willy to stay put, assuring him they will " make good" and are quite content with where they were.

As a result of Linda's interference, Willy gave up on one aspect of his American Dream. It is probably because of this very same reason why he now shuts her up whenever she interjects in his conversations. Additionally, it is "Ben" who convinces Willy to "go" so that Biff would have money and have a chance in life, to become "successful".

Biff and Happy, don't really do ,much to lead to their father's death, aside from the pressure they placed on him. Happy's contribution was that he did not help his family enough financially, according to Linda. Biff now was an emotional and mental case for Willy; emotional because Willy still bore the guilt of the affair he knows that Biff witnessed, and mental because Biff did not become the superstar success that Willy wanted him to be.

Tragic hero or just tragic character?

A man with outstanding quality, whose own destruction is for a greater cause or purpose is known as a tragic hero. According to Aristotle, the hero's misfortune is not wholly deserved. The punishment exceeds the crime. The fall [of the hero] is not pure loss; there is some increase in awareness, some gain of self-knowledge, some discovery on the part of the tragic hero.

In the American play, Death of a Salesman, the protagonist, Willy Loman can be seen as a tragic hero. He is clearly misunderstood and his own delusional flaws lead to his own demise. The Shakespearean play King Lear also has a tragic hero, the king himself. King Lear may not be misunderstood, only underhanded, but he is the cause of the plots against him. This is so because of his own delusions on flattery which he made his two elder daughters use against him. Lear in himself was not a bad person, only prone to harsh and passionate reasoning and conclusions. Both Willy and Lear were blinded by their flawed perspectives and became victimized by those flaws and the other characters around them.

Referring to the definition noted earlier, Willy left Biff a large sum of money which will end up helping his whole family for quite a long time. This could be an advantage of Willy's suicidal act. Nonetheless, does this act make him a hero to his son or even more of a fool? Lear is looked at as someone who has suffered greatly, moving from being kicked out and mistreated by his two elder daughters, to losing his sanity, to losing his beloved daughter and his life. He only looks like a tragic character because there is no one to reap from his great feat. All his daughters are dead and he has no heir, everything basically falls to one of his son in laws. However with Lear being who the story is about he is a tragic hero, even when he has done nothing heroic.

Comparison between characters Willy Loman and King Lear

The character Willy Loman is the protagonist of the American play, Death of a Salesman and the character King Lear is the protagonist of the Shakespearean play King Lear. Both characters have flaws that they suffer from and others around them are affected by. In Death of a Salesman, Willy's tragic flaw of ignorance and stubbornness leads to his end and his wife's heartbreak and misunderstanding. Whilst, in King Lear Lear's tragic flaw of a love for flattery results primarily, in the death of his favourite child. There are many similarities between the two books. First and foremost they are both characters who have false ideals and perspectives on life. Secondly, they both have a favourite child, who loves them equally if not more. Finally, they both died leaving behind great wealth, but how each died is different to the other. One,(Willy) gave up on life and committed suicide, and the other King Lear died because life gave up on him, (he had finished his fight).

Willy Loman's perspective on life was to live the "American Dream", which he perceived as getting rich quick and easy to become successful. Lear, on the other hand had the false perspective that more flattery meant more love. Both of these characters suffered great consequences because of their misconstrued beliefs. Those they loved also had to suffer either by poverty, death or guilt.

The second similarity would be that Willy and Lear both had favourite children, who loved them a great deal, and both were blinded by how much that child loved and cherished them. As a result of both parents ignorance and deceptive ideologies they drove their children from them, but because of the children's great love they returned to help them.

Finally, the deaths of these tragic characters may have been different but they both left great fortunes behind. Willy, in Death of a Salesman kept repeating twenty thousand dollars as he went on his way to commit suicide. The ghost of Ben had told Willy that Biff would go far and become successful if he had that kind of money behind him and that spurred Willy on to kill himself so that his son could get his insurance money. In King Lear, Lear died after the tragic loss of his beloved daughter, Cordelia. He was overwhelmed to the point of actually dying.

Character Sketch on the prominent characters in "Death of a Salesman"

In the play, "Death of a Salesman" there are several prominent characters who bring the play to an amazingly accurate performance and presentation of the "American Dream". The protagonist, Willy Loman, whose full name is "William". His wife, Linda and sons Biff and Happy. His neighbour, Charley and his son, Bernard, display a contrast to the main family. There is also, the character of the Woman whose presence is not so prominent in the play, but still plays an important part in the change. Last, but not least is Benjamin or Uncle Ben, Willy's brother.

Willy Loman, a confused and disturbed soul-a paradox in itself. Willy exhibits the blind man going after a misconstrued image of the American Dream. He is idolized by his boys, Biff and Happy and even his wife, who stands by him through everything, whether he is right or wrong. Willy believes that by being well liked and good looking helps one to become successful in life. He signifies a confused person who is suffering from their own foolish mistakes. Such characters usually end up hurting themselves and those around them. However, he had to live through this ill perceived notion and so did his unfortunate family, especially his sons, who he wanted to "succeed" better than him. The only one in his whole family who seemed to have broken free from this false ideology was his favourite son, Biff.Willy is significant for the many people who do this and are not aware of it. Linda Loman, the faithful, loving wife of the protagonist, is a quiet and tolerant person. She is very soft and takes the verbal abuse that Willy gives her without a second thought, because her love for him is so great. Linda has very low self esteem, but in comparison to Willy's it is stronger. Nonetheless, she exemplifies perfectly the role of a loyal, loving wife.

Biff Loman, age thirty four and the older and more favourite child of Willy Loman. Young Biff, as seen in the flashbacks had idolized his father to perfection which greatly contrasts with the current Biff, who resents his father for what he did to his mother and the family. Biff is lost and does not know who he is or what he wants, because when he was younger his ideals all stood on the false image portrayed by his father and after that image crumbled so did he. However, he is the only person who had a turnabout in the play when he realized what his problem was. He even tried to set things straight for everyone, but did not succeed. Although he has now figured out everything he does not know how to go about solving things, especially in his situation. It is very important how Biff made his turnabout, he is one of the significant characters in the play.

Happy Loman, whose real name is Harold Loman, is thirty two and is basically on the same deceptive, self destructive route as his father, just more confident and self-justified. He does not know the flaws that his father has, which only Biff is conscious of. Happy has changed a great deal from the youthful Happy, who was insecure and yearned for the attention of his father. Now, he is confident and arrogant, a business shark among his associates. Happy is also a womanizer and is on and off on the topic of love and marriage. According to him, how can he only have one when there are so many beauties? Really, he may end up worse than his father.

Charley (also known as "Uncle Charley"), is a father and is the neighbour and good friend (if not the only) of Willy Loman. He supports Willy in more than one way, such as giving him $50 a week and providing words of advice, which usually falls on deaf ears. In the Requiem of the play, he defends Willy by stating, "A salesman is got to dream, boy." Indicating that Willy was only a victim of his profession. The emulation of a faithful friend, the kind of person who sees beyond the surface and tries to understand the person for who they are.

The Woman, is who Willy is caught having an affair with. She appears once in a while in the play, in Willy's flashbacks. She is the major cause of Biff's breakdown and the break in the relationship between father and son. Willy knowing what he is doing justifies it (like Happy) by stating he is "lonely". However, he feels guilty (unlike Happy) about what he is doing to Linda. His guilt is apparent when he sees Linda mending stockings, and he tells her to throw them away. This woman, very likely knows that Willy is a married man and yet does not mind the fornication. She is significant to the cause for many family and marriage break ups. The Woman, is the real thing that caused the trouble throughout the play even though she appeared very few times; to an extent it all revolved around her. If there wasn't a Woman, things would be a bit better, there would be more money circulating through the family, the father-son relationship between Willy and Biff would still be there and Willy would not treat Linda as he did because of his guilt.

Benjamin, also known as "Uncle Ben" in the play. He also majors in the flashbacks that Willy has. Additionally, his ghost visits Willy on occasion and gives insightful advice which he never really explains because he "has to go". Willy looks up to his big brother especially because he(Ben) got rich at an early age: "at age seventeen he walked into the jungle and at age twenty-one he walked out" rich!" according to the disillusioned Willy. Benjamin it seems is Willy's idol, which is significant because Willy is Biff's and Happy's idol.

The dramatic significance of these characters in this play, refer to how the actions of each impact the actions of the other. Ben influenced Willy's view of the American Dream and so ended up influencing the lives of Biff and Happy. This illustrates the need for individuality and self awareness.

The cause of relationship breakdown between sons and father in 'Death of a Salesman'

The protagonist, in the American play, "Death of a Salesman" written by Arthur Miller, Willy (William) Loman a salesman residing in Brooklyn, New York with his wife, Linda and two sons, Biff and Happy. Mr Loman was once the idol of his two sons in their younger years, however, a drift has formed between them, moreso Willy and Biff.

First and foremost, Biff once idolized his father to perfection and thought him completely wonderful and not likely to do anything wrong. This ideology soon disintregrated when he went to visit his father at his hotel room and discovered his father was having an affair. Biff's shock was so great it not only changed his perspective of his father and made him think Willy to be a "fake", but also made him lose respect for himself and how he used to view things, especialy in the working world. He no longer wished to live like his father wished he would nor follow in his father's footsteps.

Happy, on the other hand, has no idea of his father's affair or his brother's knowledge thereof. He as a youngster was always trying to get the attention of his father, and because his relationship was not as close as that of Willy and Biff he did not seem to notice the drift that had formed between the father and son relationship over the years. Also he did not value Willy as much as Biff had, neither was he carrying Biff's burden, which made Biff now resent his father. Happy, now was a man, he was living by himself and only visited the family home upon occasion, which made him even more aloof. However he did know about his father's situation. Willy occasionally speaks to himself and an imaginary "Biff ", which worries Linda more and more.

Additionally, Biff, oblivious to the fact his father had his own problems, secretly blames his father for his poor disposition. It is his father who gave him the false ideology that to succeed one must be well-liked and have personal attractiveness, which only left him feeling lost, useless and hopeless. He also despises the way in which his father speaks to Linda and treats her without the amount of love and respect she deserves. An example would be in the latter parts of Act 1, in the scene where Biff states that he would be going to see Mr Bill Oliver in hope of receiving a job. This excites Willy and also Linda, and as they all plan out how to go about it all (with Willy shouting out instructions), Linda would interject once in a while how happy and proud she feels, and what a great idea it is, only to be shushed and silenced by an over-excited Willy. This annoys Biff and he finally shouts out, "Don't yell at her Pop!" Thus starting another argument between the two. Happy, not understanding why Biff and their father are always arguing tries to soothe everything by changing the subject, which soon leads to yet another dispute, and overwhelmed and guilty departure of the father.

Finally, the slow realization that his father might be losing his mind, makes Biff all the more disgusted by him. He possibly thinks his father's "dirty" past is haunting him. The older Biff shows how little he cares for his father. He states that his father has " no character ... spewing out that vomit from his mind." Nonetheless, he still promises to make amends and help out just to please and soothe his mom, who he addresses lovingly as "pal".

All in all, the fact that his father had an affair, gave him the wrong perception on life and ill treats their mother has set a dent in the once close relationship of father and son between Willy and Biff. The relationship between Happy and Willy suffers also, but not as badly, it must probably be because of the fact that he is so aloof and seeks a different lifestyle. Also, it seems as though Willy does not notice that there is a slight drift between himself and Happy, maybe Happy does not notice it either. However it is apparent to the reader and also Linda, who makes it even plainer to the eye of the reader.