Curiously, most critics seem to accept at face value the assumption that at the conclusion of Arthur Miller's classic drama Death of a Salesman, Willy Loman determines to commit suicide
Trang 1Curiously, most critics seem to accept at face value the assumption that at the conclusion of Arthur Miller's classic drama
Death of a Salesman, Willy Loman determines to commit suicide because his older son Biff has at last openly and
unequivocally declared his 'love' for his father (e.g., Aarnes 104; Bigsby 123; Hynes 286; Dukore 39) Yet a close
examination of this crucial scene and the subsequent Requiem reveals a far greater degree of ambiguity than has been
acknowledged
Though Willy has obviously contemplated suicide for a long time, he only makes his final, irrevocable decision after the play
has reached its undoubted emotional climax, Biff's dramatic declaration to his fathers 'Pop, I'm nothing! I'm nothing, Pop
Can't you understand that? There's no spite in it anymore I'm just what I am, that's all ' Following this outburst, Biff
physically collapses in his father' s arms, and Miller carefully comments in his stage direction: 'Biff' s fury has spent itself, and
he breaks down, sobbing, holding on to Willy, who dumbly fumbles for Biff's face.' The son's final words to his father in the
play are simply: 'I'll go in the morning Put him put him to bed' (133)
At best, this statement can only be regarded as a tepid and ambiguous expression of concern Yet Willy's immediate reaction
to it is to conclude: 'Biff he likes me!' To which Linda and Happy quickly respond with
enthusiastic reinforcement: 'He
loves you, Willy!' and 'Always did, Pop' (133) Their reaction suggests that Biff's feelings are obvious However, Linda and
Happy are repeatedly shown to be among the most deluded, obtuse, and mendacious characters in the play Earlier, each
had made equally enthusiastic and reinforcing but dangerously inaccurate comments on the supposed affection of Bill
Oliver, Biff' s former boss, for his departed employee When Biff outlined his plan to persuade Oliver to 'stake' him to a
business venture, he insisted: 'He did like me Always liked me.' Linda immediately exclaimed: 'He loved you' (64) Earlier,
Happy had responded to the plan in a similar fashion: 'I bet he'd back you 'Cause he thought highly of you, Biff' (26) Yet
Oliver, when Biff finally sees him in his office, doesn' t 'remember who [Biff] was or anything' (104)
Even the choice of words of Linda's and Happy's comments in the scene with Willy seems
deliberately to echo their earlier
remarks, as if Miller is intentionally undermining their credibility in this scene And if their reactions are as erroneous as they
had been earlier with Oliver, it casts Willy's subsequent suicide into a new light For it is primarily due to their insistence on
Biff's love for his father, not to any explicit comment by his son, that Willy decides to take his own life to provide Biff with
insurance money for a fresh start
If Biff does indeed not love his father, Willy's suicide must be regarded as just the last in the series
of futile, misguided
gestures that made up his life Biff's awareness of this fact, then, would go far to explain his puzzling tension and bitterness at
the Requiem, where he argues sullenly with Happy, Charley, and Linda For perhaps he realizes
Trang 2that to make plain the sad
futility of Willy's act would be to rob the ceremony of what little dignity it possesses Therefore,
he remains virtually silent as
the other mourners express their eloquent, if contradictory, judgments on Willy's life, insisting only that his father 'had the
wrong dreams' and 'never knew who he was' (138) If the belief that Biff 'loves' Willy is only the final, most tragic false
perception in a play permeated by such uncertainty, the son' s silence on this critical point is both understandable and
justified
WORKS CITED
Aarnes, William 'Tragic Form and the Possibility of Meaning in Death of a Salesman.' Arthur Miller's Death of a
Salesman: Modern Critical Interpretations Ed Harold Bloom New York: Chelsea House, 1988 84-110
Bigsby, C W E 'Death of a Salesman: In Memoriam.' Modern Critical Interpretations Ed Harold Bloom 113-128
Dukore, Bernard F Death of a Salesman and The Crucible Atlantic Highlands, N.J.: Humanities Press International, 1989
Hynes, Joseph A ''Attention Must be Paid '' Death of a Salesman: Text and Criticism Ed Gerald Weales New York:
Viking, 1967 280- 289
Miller, Arthur Death of a Salesman New York: Viking Compass Edition, 1958