But there are among us today...those who act against the scheme of things that degrades
them, and in the process of action everything we have accepted....is shaken before us and
examined, and from this total onslaught by an individual against the seemingly stable
cosmos...-from this total examination of the "unchangeable" environment-comes the
terror and the fear that is classically associated with ....And such a process is not beyond the
common man [who] has demonstrated again and again this inner dynamic of all tragedy.
-Tragedy and the Common Man, A. Miller
Indeed, both Willy Loman and Blanche du Bois are tragic figures who suffer from the
"terror and fear" of self-delusion in their struggles against society which
"degrades them." So, perhaps rather than focusing on the American Dream as a
theme--which certainly exists for Willy--there may be more commonality with the characters in
the theme of Individual vs. Self:
- Both characters deceive
themselves about their appearances.
By placing shades over the
lights and only dating Mitch in the evening, Blanche creates the illusion of youthfulness in her
appearance; further, she dresses as though she were yet the Southern belle and she is
flirtatious and proud of her girlish figure:
You know I
havent put on one ounce in ten years, Stella? I weigh what I weighed the summer you left Belle
Reve. The summer Dad died and you left us€¦ (Act 1)
Similarly, Willy believes that he can be more successful if he regains his youthful
look:
I gotta overcome it....Im not dressing to advantage,
maybe. (Act 1)
- Both believe that they can
attain happiness outside themselves.
Willy Loman and Blanche
DuBois seek false and shallow promises of happiness; Willy perceives material wealth as the
keystone to success and contentment, while Blanche seeks attention and romance as a delight and
marriage as security.
"Always dependent upon the
kindness of strangers," Blanche delights in attention and romantic flirtation as a
diversion from reality as well as a bolster for her diminishing self-esteem and as
escape.
In Act 2, for instance, Stella instructs her
husband Stanley to compliment Blanche,
And admire her
dress and tell her shes looking wonderful. Thats important with Blanche. Her little
weakness!
Further, Blanche hopes to attract Mitch enough
to get him to propose and, thus, bring her some contentment and financial security since Belle
Reve has been sold to pay debts.
In Death of a Salesman,
Willy feels that happiness is attained through personal success and material wealth,
....I realized that selling was the greatest career a man could
want. Cause what could be more satisfying than to be able to go... into twenty or thirty
different cities, and pick up a phone, and be remembered and loved and helped by so many
different people? (Act 2)
Like Blanche, he looks
elsewhere for contentment. In Act I, for instance, Happy tells Biff, who complains that Willy
mocks him, "He just wants you to make good, that's all." Even his act of suicide is
intended to give his son's some financial security and himself some respect. He imagines a
conversation with his brother about his funeral,
All the
old timers with the strange license-that boy will be thunderstruck, Ben, because he never
realizedI am known!I am known...and hell see it with his eyes once and for all. Hell see what I
am, Ben!(Act 2)
- Present and Past blur for
both
Blanche and Willy retreat to memories and illusions of
success.
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