Willy Loman's Sympathy

In Arthur Miller’s play Death of a Salesman, the most complex character in the play is the titular salesman, Willy Loman. Willy sole view of the measure of a person is their success, and their success is determined by how well liked they are. Willy also has an exaggerated opinion of his sons, specifically Biff. These exaggerated opinions and his fractured view of success lead him to become a depressed, and crazed man. Despite how he is painted as a despicable person, many audiences still have empathy for Willy. Because of Willy’s interactions with other characters, and because of the modern societal standards, Willy Loman is empathized with by many audiences. One of the reasons why Willy Loman is sympathized with at the end of the book may be due to how Willy is treated by others in the play. The characters way of dealing with Willy usually works to elicit some feeling of sympathy for Willy. For instance, when Linda talks with Happy and Biff about Willy, she berates them for showing a lack of caring for whom she sees as an overworked and under recognized man. Moreover Willy being fired gives a feeling of loss, and …show more content…
To many modern audiences Willy represents failure. A typical person in modern society sees failure as what happened to Willy Loman. Willy ends the play jobless and unremembered. Success in society generally now seen as to make money and friends, Willy does neither. Consequently, Willy is interpreted as a what no one wants to be, a failure, generating sympathy for his character. Willy/s extreme need to be liked also resonates in modern society as well. With the advent of social media, becoming liked is now seen as a necessity to many people, much as it is seen as a necessity to Willy. This almost compulsive need also serves to generate sympathy for Willy as he is barely even tolerated. There social standards of modern times give a different view of Willy’s character than predicted by Arthur