Death of a Salesman - Character of Ben
The character of Ben in Arthur Miller's Death Of A Salesman functions towards the development of his main character, Willy. Miller uses him as the guiding light for Willie's character; he provides the backbone for what Willy strives for throughout life. Ben functions as Willies idol, and through exploration into which Ben is, we see who Willy is. By viewing Ben's morals, and actions, we are able to see what Willy himself wishes for and believes in. By allowing for our understanding of who Willy is, Ben is also used to contribute to our understanding of the theme of the novel, that you can't allow yourself to get lost in the "American dream." Ben appears but three times throughout, first in a flashback, second in a quasi-flashback where Willy has inserted him into a scenario that actually happened, and finally in a complete hallucination. Through the comparison and understanding of each of these occurrences, we are able to gain a vast wealth of knowledge of who Willy Loman actually was. For this is Miller's purpose for Ben in this novel, as a device to allow us to understand what is actually going on inside Willy Loman's head.The first time Ben appears is in a flashback within Willies mind. Miller uses this flashback to interrupt
Ben is essentially Willie's role model throughout the play, and acts as someone who has achieved the true essence, in Willies mind, of the "American dream" someone who came out of a jungle rich at 21. Ben is also used in a large part to contribute to the overall theme of the novel. Biff states at the end, at his father's funeral "he had all the wrong dreams." And perhaps this is true of Willy Loman. He was so caught up in achieving this American Dream, in achieving Ben's life, that he was unable to see that the dream was different for everyone. He was unable to see who he was, and to choose realistic goals for himself. Ben was used by Miller to provide the guiding light for Willy throughout the entire play, and through exploration into which Ben is, we are able to answer questions as to who Willy is. We can see that had Ben never been present, Willies life might have ended different. He would not have idolized this foreign man, perhaps choosing more realistic goals and dreams for him. For that seems to be the theme, that one should not be caught up in the "American Dream." Ben is used to further the plot to demonstrate this to us, and is used as a bad influence on Willy. The second quasi-flashback has Ben placed into a scene in Willies mind, when he was never there. Miller leads us to believe before the original flashback that Ben actually only came just once, as evidenced in Charlie's line "You never heard from him again, heh? Since that time?" However, suddenly he is appearing in another scene, appearing the same as before. This is a demonstration to us as to the way that Willies mind works, how he envisions things as they might have happened, and then comes to actually believe them until forced not to. For example, when he was telling Linda how much he sold, he actually believed that he sold more then he did. In his mind, if certain different things had happened, he would have actually sold that much. However, when forced to confront the truth, he backtracks and realizes the truth. Ben is used in Willies mind again as an out for him. He has just been fired, and Willy cannot deal with the truth. He "remembers" a flashback that never actually happened, and is in fact talking to Ben as he might if Ben were actually there in the present. "Oh Ben, how did you do it? What is the answer?" We can see that Willy is looking towards his brother for help, for advice on how to make it in life. He is feeling desperate with his current situation, supposedly in the past, as he is remembering this, yet it makes sense that this conversation with Ben actually be in the present, in his mind
Some common words found in the essay are:
Ben Willy, Obviously Ben, Willy Loman's, Willy Linda, Arthur Miller, Willy Ben, Ben Willies, Oh Ben, Miller Ben, Willy Miller, willies mind, american dream, ben appears, ben actually, character ben, ben willies, willy believes, american dream ben, complete hallucination, willy loman, mind ben, willies mind miller, willies mind willy, ben willies mind, willy believes ben,
Approximate Word count = 1748
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)
|
