death of a salesman by arthur miller

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 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
that 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.