The Internal and External Conflicts of Willy Loman Essay

Individuals explore their responses to conditions of internal and external conflicts throughout literature. Going in depth to a character allows the reader to better understand that character’s internal and external conflicts. Arthur Miller uses this technique in several of his plays, including Death of a Salesman. Miller portrays the character of Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman through his internal and external conflicts. The internal conflict begins with Willy’s expectations for his sons and The Woman. Willy struggles throughout the play with having extremely high expectations for his sons, Happy and Biff. Happy and Willy get along well because they are most alike of the two sons. Happy has the same materialistic mindset as†¦show more content†¦The reader can see this when The Woman says, â€Å"I’ll put you right through to the buyers,† (Miller 39). Thus, Willy has multiple expectations for his sons and The Woman. The internal conflict continues with Willy’s dreams. The beginning of the play tells us that it is about dreams (Eisinger 2). Willy dreams of the American dream and family dreams. Willy characterizes the American dream as success, which creates conflict within himself. Willy longs for the dream so much that he focuses solely on achieving this goal that he loses desire for anything less. Willy interprets his desire for success when he defines Dave Singleton: And he was eighty-four years old and he’d drummed merchandise in thirty-one states. And old Dave he’d go up to his room, y’understand, put on his green velvet slippers – I’ll never forget – and pick up his phone and call the buyers, and without ever leaving his room at the age of eighty-four, he made his living. And when I saw that, I realized that selling was the greatest career a man could want. (Miller 81) Dave Singleton is a model for Willy because he shows that a salesman can be remembered, loved, and helped in many different places in the country (Eisinger 4). The success of Dave is the American dream that Willy desires. The American dream of having everything one wants. Because Willy wants this corrupt dream so much, he longs for his family to have the same dream. Happy does however,Show MoreRelated Willy Loman, Jay Gatsby, and the Pursuit of the American Dream798 Words   |  4 PagesWilly Loman, Jay Gatsby, and the Pursuit of the American Dream Scott Fitzgerald, author of The Great Gatsby, and Arthur Miller, author of Death of a Salesman, both tell the stories of men in the costly pursuit of the American dream. As a result of several conflicts, both external and internal, both characters experience an extinction of the one thing that they have set their sights on.... The American Dream. Jay Gatsby, a mysterious, young and very wealthyRead MoreCharacters Influenced by Traumatic Internal Events: Hamlet, and Death of a Salesman1018 Words   |  5 PagesDemonstrating a link between internal thoughts and external action, characters in both William Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman harness Aristotle’s philosophical ideology. In both plays, a main character becomes so overwhelmed by mental or psychological events that their actions become reflective of them. Although set in different time periods and involving entirely different circumstances, the fates of both Shakespeare’s Ophelia and Miller’s Willy Loman reach a climax in self-inflictedRead More Importance of Self-Image in the Loman Family1483 Words   |  6 Pages Published in 1949, Arthur Miller’s Death of Salesman is a post Second World War American drama that highlights the plight of isolation and desolation experienced by the common man, as symbolized by Willy. The play deals with the society, life’s absurdity, various internal and external conflicts, death and above all, the tragedy of existence. It is located in the industrial society of the twentieth century where the pressure to succeed and the financial difficulties seem insurmountable. The playRead MoreArthur Miller s Death Of A Salesman And The Crucible2615 Words   |  11 PagesSince the beginning of the human race, struggles and conflicts have been a constant. As individual people and as a world, there have never been perfect times. Arthur Miller’s writing style focuses on how his characters deal with external and internal problems and how their reactions to these problems reflect their characterization. Arthur Miller uses external conflict, internal conflict , and indirect characterization, in Death of a Salesman and The Crucible, to show how ideas of society do not alwaysRead More The Presentation of Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller2049 Words   |  9 PagesThe Presentation of Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller Willy Loman is presented as both a tragic hero and an unconscious victim in Death of a Salesman. Death of a Salesman is very much based upon the American Dream, and whether we are slaves or conquerors of this dream. This is an idea that the playwright Arthur Miller has very passionately pursued both through Willys own eyes, and through his interaction with the different characters in the play. Read MoreAnalysis Of The Play Death Of A Salesman By Arthur Miller1612 Words   |  7 Pagesplay follows the Lomans, a lower-middle class family, who are struggling throughout the end of the 1940s. There are vital relationships within the story, as the audience notices the main character, Willy, longs to live vicariously through his eldest son in particular, Biff. The protagonist, Willy supports his family by being a travelling salesman. In any era, this is a very difficult way to make a living. This struggle is felt throughout the play through the tension between Willy and his wife, LindaRead More The Character of Uncle Ben in Death of a Salesman Essay2550 Words   |  11 PagesArthur Millers Death of A Salesman serves a complex dramatic function.   He is Willy Lomans real brother, the idealized memory of that brother, and an aspect of Willys own personality, and these distinct functions are sometimes simultaneous.à ‚   Through his aggressive actions and vibrant speech, the audience is given a strong contrast to Willys self-doubt and self-contradiction.   In addition, the encounters between Ben and Willy serve as an extended examination of professional and familial morality.   Finally