LINDA: Forgive me, dear. I can’t cry. I don’t know what it is, but I can’t cry. I don’t understand it. Why did you ever do that? Help me, Willy, I can’t cry. It seems to me that you’re just on another trip. I keep expecting you. Willy, dear, I can’t cry. Why did you do it? I search and search and I search and I can’t understand it, Willy. I made the last payment on the house today. Today, dear. And they’ll be nobody home. [A sob rises in her throat]. We’re free and clear. [Sobbing more fully, released] We’re free. [Biff comes slowly toward her.] We’re free… We’re free…
Though Willy's life is falling apart, and he is delusional, it's hard to feel a lot of sympathy for him because he is the one that got himself into all that trouble. His pride kept him from actually succeeding in anything. However the person I feel truly sorry for is Linda. She stayed by Willy's side even when he was depressed or going insane. She tries to comfort him and sticks up for him. She could possibly be the only person who truly believed in Willy all the way until the end. Even though she was a great wife, she still suffered the consequences of Willy's pride. She had to worry about the bills and payments that they couldn't pay because Willy lost his job. Also it couldn't have been easy to be seen as the wife of a crazy man. What frustrates me the most is that no one in the play appreciates what she does and what she puts up with. No one ever notices how strong she is to stay faithful to her insane husband or all the hard work she puts in to try to actually make their household run well. Willy should be so grateful to have such a supportive wife, but how does he repay her? By cheating on her with some random idiot woman. His scandal is in fact the whole reason Biff doesn't go to summer school which causes him to be a failure later in life. This ruins any chance of Biff being able to help his mother out as well. Linda has to deal with all the negative consequences of her husband's actions but never really complains that much. She's the one I feel really sorry for.
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
Inception Style Play That's Just As Confusing and Intriguing: Style of DOAS
WILLY [turning to Ben]: Business is bad, it’s murderous. But not for me, of course. (Act 1)
Because this play is told through the memories and delusions of Willy it can be kind of hard to follow. He will be talking to what we believe to his son or his neighbor then in walks his brother who we believe to be dead. He will continue to have a conversation with this dead brother but only when his kids try to get him to stop talking to himself do you actually see that it's all in Willy's mind. As if his flashes between reality and delusions and the present and the past weren't confusing enough, sometimes other flashbacks begin to mix in with the others. He will be recalling a memory from the boy's adolescence and then the Woman's laugh with ring out in the memory. If not read carefully (and maybe a couple of times) it can be hard to decipher what scenes belong in which part of Willy's life or if they aren't even real. These confusing scenes though both help to understand how Willy got to this failing stage in his life, and they also show just how much Willy's life is falling apart. At first I wasn't sure if his illusions were causing his life to break down, or if his life breaking down caused the illusions. Then it seemed like it was a never-ending cycle that left Willy trapped in a broken world. It's hard to feel sorry for Willy because of his pride but it seems heartless to look at a depressed, crazy older man and not feel some sympathy for him, no matter how he got this way.
Because this play is told through the memories and delusions of Willy it can be kind of hard to follow. He will be talking to what we believe to his son or his neighbor then in walks his brother who we believe to be dead. He will continue to have a conversation with this dead brother but only when his kids try to get him to stop talking to himself do you actually see that it's all in Willy's mind. As if his flashes between reality and delusions and the present and the past weren't confusing enough, sometimes other flashbacks begin to mix in with the others. He will be recalling a memory from the boy's adolescence and then the Woman's laugh with ring out in the memory. If not read carefully (and maybe a couple of times) it can be hard to decipher what scenes belong in which part of Willy's life or if they aren't even real. These confusing scenes though both help to understand how Willy got to this failing stage in his life, and they also show just how much Willy's life is falling apart. At first I wasn't sure if his illusions were causing his life to break down, or if his life breaking down caused the illusions. Then it seemed like it was a never-ending cycle that left Willy trapped in a broken world. It's hard to feel sorry for Willy because of his pride but it seems heartless to look at a depressed, crazy older man and not feel some sympathy for him, no matter how he got this way.
Too Prideful To Take a Handout: Willy's Tragic Flaw
CHARLEY: You want a job?
WILLY: I got a job, I told you that. [After a slight pause] What the hell are you offering me a job for?
CHARLEY: Don’t get insulted.
WILLY: Don’t insult me. (Act 1)
In this play it is kind of hard to distinguish what is reality and what is a delusion, but one thing that is certain is that Willy is a prideful man. He wants people to view him as being an important, successful figure in society and will do just about anything to convince people of this. However Willy's pride is exactly the thing that hinders him when things start to fall apart. He has cared so much about appearance and the way people view him that he has forgotten to actually be the person everyone views him to be. It becomes apparent to more and more people that his life is falling apart, but Willy will not let the illusion fall apart. He snaps at the people trying to help him and refuses to take a handout. He thinks he is protecting him image when in reality he is ruining his life. He's not only ruining his life though, because he has a family who depends on him. Charely even tries to give him a job but he just pushes him away. If Willy had just accepted the help and worked hard at it, people would have really viewed him as a hardworking man because that's really what he would be. But because his pride blinded him from seeing the value of humility, his life fell apart.
WILLY: I got a job, I told you that. [After a slight pause] What the hell are you offering me a job for?
CHARLEY: Don’t get insulted.
WILLY: Don’t insult me. (Act 1)
In this play it is kind of hard to distinguish what is reality and what is a delusion, but one thing that is certain is that Willy is a prideful man. He wants people to view him as being an important, successful figure in society and will do just about anything to convince people of this. However Willy's pride is exactly the thing that hinders him when things start to fall apart. He has cared so much about appearance and the way people view him that he has forgotten to actually be the person everyone views him to be. It becomes apparent to more and more people that his life is falling apart, but Willy will not let the illusion fall apart. He snaps at the people trying to help him and refuses to take a handout. He thinks he is protecting him image when in reality he is ruining his life. He's not only ruining his life though, because he has a family who depends on him. Charely even tries to give him a job but he just pushes him away. If Willy had just accepted the help and worked hard at it, people would have really viewed him as a hardworking man because that's really what he would be. But because his pride blinded him from seeing the value of humility, his life fell apart.
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