Crisis in Father-Son Relationship in Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman

Abstract

Arthur Miller’s Death of a Sales Man is about the contrasting son-father relationship. This relationship is studied under psychological threat. The protagonist of the play, Willy Loman is failure in his career as he is confident to drive the car. He understands that he is sacked from the job. However, he thinks that his sons do not help him. He is more worried about his sons’ failure in their job than his own. Consequently, he loses his sense and scolds his sons. Moreover, he is morally corrupt as he has relationship with other girl when his sons meet him in a restaurant with a girl. This is only his way of displacing his troublesome life to other people. The main reason of killing himself is the lack of harmony between real and imaginative life. He fails to understand that life is not what people expect; rather it is what they experience.

The thesis deals with the psychoanalytic study of the characters. It focuses on the conflicting relationship between the son and the father on the one hand and the expression of sorrow and depression on the other. 'Oedipal complex' the term use by Sigmund Freud to refer to the conflicting relationship between a child and a parent of same sex while having sexual attachment with the opposite sex. According to Freud, destructiveness comes from the unconscious desire of a person who is not happy with the present situation. It is another theme of the research work. As Willy cannot control his anger and he is driven by 'Thanatos' the death drive, he chooses death. He decides that death is ultimate solution of the problem. Willy’s older son, Happy has conflicting relationship with his father while he is attached to his mother. Willy cannot tolerate such things and decides to end his life. Apparently, he kills himself for money but the real cause is psychological as he feels lonely and helpless due to the lack of love of his wife.