Willy is a complex character. A man of great pride, Willy
strives to realize a goal that is beyond his ability to reach. Willy's brother Ben
stands as an example of the type of success that Willy has no chance to
achieve.
Despite his limits, Willy is a person of some
talent. He is a gifted carpenter and a hard worker. Despite these positive traits, Willy
is also unfaithful to his wife. He is too weak to overcome his deficiencies and to weak
to directly admit to his faults.
If his story is a
tragedy, it becomes one because Willy:
...cannot face the reality that he has
misdirected his energies and talents chasing a dream that never had any chance of
materializing.
On a deep and
fundamental level, Willy is delusional. He hallucinates and in this manifests
conversations with this brother Ben. He is "twisting in the wind" of his own mind,
unable to accept his flaws and unable to maintain a firm grip on reality. Willy seems to
be driven to this mental state by the stress of age, job trouble and basic but
deep-seated disappointment.
Though he has paid off his
house and raised two childre, Willy fails to see any success in his life. His dream, so
bright and impressive, overshadows the moderate successes he has actually
achieved.
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