Analysis of Billy Lowman in Death of a Salesman

It's an analysis of the protagonist Billy Lowman in Death of a Sales Man

Billy Loman belongs to the American Proletariat. He is a failed idol of the great American dream for which every American aspires. The American dream wants only success figures. Willy Lowman starts his career as a successful sales man. But as he becomes older his career dwindles. His state of mind also deteriorates into psychological neurosis. His behavior and personality becomes erratic and prone to sudden and impulsive thinking. Billy Lowman sets Herculean aspirations for his sons, Biff and Happy and sad to say, believes that they will accomplish the great American Dream. But it’s a tragic irony that both his sons have become social misfits. As a personality type Billy Lowman is a cultural archetype of satyriasis. He remains unfaithful to his wife and has a string of affairs with other women. But yet, there is noble humanism in Billy Lowman. Though his behavior is contradictory, yet he dotes on his wife and is compassionate and caring towards her. The play begins by portraying Billy Man undergoing an extreme state of mental angst. Billy Lowman is apparently talking to himself. He is very distraught about his son’s who have reached nowhere. Billy Lowman is also suicidal by nature.  Billy Lowman succumbs to the tragic irony of the American working class who ironically are mistreated and neglected by the Capitalist class, the bourgeoisie. When Billy Lowman confronts his boss for asking a higher wage and a transfer to the neighborhood, he is belittled with cruel sarcasm and is given the curt reply that his services are no longer needed. The fate of Billy Lowman can be equated with Albert Camus’ novel the myth of the Sisyphus. Billy Lowman is a tragic existential hero who carries the burden of his work and the concerns of his sons and like Sisyphus he carries these boulders uphill. But fate again pushes him downhill. Another thing that should be noted is that Billy Lowman’s job offers no employee compensation which shows the dastardly face American capitalism. In spite of the negativity of Billy Lowman he can be compared to Don Quixote who is legendary as a social humanist. Even while committing suicide, Billy Lowman is concerned about his family. Billy Lowman is a tragic existential hero whose work ethics and professionalism have been marginalized as deconstructions by the cruel tentacles of American Capitalism.