Willy Loman is the main character of the play “Death of a Salesman”. It is a helpful note for BA English Students. Just an example of how to write a character sketch for your exam paper. It is a very important question for Semester 3 at BBMKU University.
Character sketch of Willy Loman
Willy Loman is the central character of Arthur Miller’s famous play “Death of a Salesman”. It was an American tragic play published in 1949. “Death of a Salesman” is one of the most famous dramas by American writer Arthur Miller. This drama is incomplete without Willy Loman.
Although there are many characters in this Play, Willy Loman is the central character. The whole story revolves around him. Willy Loman was a 63 years old salesman who did not get a salary but a commission as he was an old salesman, so he could not travel all the time, so once, he requested his boss Wagner to give him a settled job in New York, but it was refused. Willy’s s life was full of struggles. He had a house on instalments, and Willy was unable to pay instalments. He had life insurance, so he had tried many times to suicide so that the Loman family could pay the instalments using the insurance money. But all his attempts to commit suicide were unsuccessful, but his last attempt was successful.
As far as Willy’s family background is concerned, there were four members in the Loman family, including Willy Loman. He had a wife, Linda, and two sons, Biff and Happy. There was one more member in their family, Uncle Ben, but he only existed in Willy’s imagination. Willy considers him his brother. Once, Uncle Ben had offered him a job in Alaska, but he refused. Apart from all these, though Willy was married and had a beautiful wife, Linda, he still had love affairs with another woman. And Biff, his elder son, knew about his father’s affair with the other lady, so they often had controversy between father and son. Willy wanted his sons to be settled in life, as every father wants. Willy Loman always remains angry with Biff because he earns less.
A point to be noted about Willy Loman is that he often falls into hallucinations. In act one, he falls into hallucinations two times: first, when he is in the kitchen, and second, while playing cards with Charlie, a neighbour of Willy and a friend also. Though Willy and Charlie are friends, Willy is Jealous of Charlie because Charlie is reacher than Willy. Willy believes in practical knowledge rather than books, and Charlie’s mindset is just opposite to Willy’s because he believes more in the book. Willy often faces economic problems, so he always asks for financial help from Charlie, and Charlie helps him too. Charlie had offered Willy a job in his office, but Willy dismissed it because he found it shameful to work under Charlie.
Willy and his two sons had decided to start a new business, so they all went to their boss to ask for money, but they did not get help; in fact, Willy Loman was fired by his boss Wagner. Thus they could have been more successful in their mission. At the end of the play, the protagonist of this play, Willy Loman, commits suicide. Now all the instalments of the house were paid, but Willy Loman died.
Overall we can say that Willy Loman was a good father and worker who sacrificed his life for the sake of his family. But he was not a good husband because he had cheated on his wife, Linda.