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.
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