Narcissism: The Key to The Downfall of Willy Loman

There are a variety of reasons that may lead to a characters collapse. For example, Willy Loman has dreams of having a successful fortunate life, but unfortunately he is unsuccessful working as a travelling salesman his whole life. The psychoanalytic theory is noticeable in Willy’s behaviour. It is evident that Willy’s life is nonchalantly falling apart overtime, nonetheless Willy is blind sighted by this.

The blame for the downfall of the character Willy in The Death of a Salesman can be placed on Willy himself. It is his own actions such as a lack of liability, creating a facade of himself to appear superior, and his pride that lead to his lack of success and eventual suicide. Some things such as past trauma that he experienced from the lack of a father figure, are external factors that he cannot control that lead to his destruction. It is more evident, however, that it is brought upon himself.

Willy takes no personal accountability in his actions and always tries to criticize on some factors outside his control. He often succumbs to violent tendencies as a method of seeking inner affirmation and pleasure or pride. Even though Willy’s evident failure to meet his life goals of succeeding, he clings to the belief of the American Dream and the promise that anyone attractive and cherished will make it far. His life is full of self deception and trying to live through his unwilling son Biff. This is shown when Biff unearths Willy’s lies when he finds out that he has been cheating on Linda. Willy chose to alienate his son, rather than face reality and stand up for his actions:

WILLY: Don’t you want to be anything?

BIFF: Pop, how can I go back?

WILLY: You don’t want to be anything, is that what’s behind it?

WILLY: Are you spitting me?

BIFF: Don’t take it that way! Goddamnit!

WILLY [strikes Biff and falters away from the table]: You rotten little louse! Are you spitting me?

Willy recognizes Biff's business failure as a personal betrayal, an attempt to discipline him for his earlier love affair. The Psychoanalytic theory can be applied here through Willy's guilt over his affair which lead him to make lots of irrational and damaging decisions, affecting his son. Willy starts to doubt himself as the “wonder child” and starts to assume that this is what his lying father made him believe. Their relationship becomes dysfunctional and they both act like strangers and Biff does not go to his father for reconciliation to move on.

Throughout the novel, it is evident that Willy creates a veneer of himself to seem superior to those around him. For example, at times, Willy attempts to persuade others to believe he makes more money than he genuinely does. Furthermore, when Willy is speaking to Linda upon his financial situation he states, “Well, I— I did — about a hundred and eighty gross in Providence. Well, no - it came to — roughly two hundred gross on the whole trip” (Miller 35). Moreover, this quote divulges how Willy creates an impression of himself to make Linda believe that he is more than what he sets himself out to be due to the fact that in reality, he does not make as much money as he says he did, which goes to show him attempting to create a facade around himself. The reason why Willy lies about his earnings is because he wants to be known as a superior successful man and better than his neighbor, Charley.

This makes Willy feel more comfortable and at ease. Additionally, it is evident that Willy is lying in this specific quote because he seems very skeptical, and agitated by making pauses when speaking upon his financial state. It is shown that Willy tends to make others identify him as superior, more specifically around his financial state due to the fact that his contradictions reveal his inability to accept the truth about himself and the reality he is facing. It is shown that he is unsatisfied with his earnings, so he tends to exaggerate his sales to Linda by denying reality and reinventing his success. His wife, Linda, is desperate and anxious. Linda perceives that Willy is lying about his financial situation and that he is borrowing money from Charley, she decides to play along with Willy’s fantasies just to not lose him. Throughout the story, Willy’s pride can be seen many times manipulating his actions, some of them leading to his downfall. For example:

“LINDA: Willy, dear. Talk to them again. There’s no reason why you can’t work in New York.

WILLY: They don’t need me in New York. I’m the New England man. I’m vital in New England,” (Miller 14).

In this situation, the reader knows that Willy has been struggling in his salesman role. He no longer works on a fixed salary and is instead earning his money through commission. Willy maliciously insists that he is a critical player in his business in order to reinforce his sense of self-worth. Although his sales have not been good for a while, he argues that he is a really important man. Willy’s narcissistic pride causes him to become unable to see that his techniques are not working and that he needs to change. Instead, he views himself as one of the most important salesmen. This excess pride and inability to change leads to Willy getting fired, leading to his downfall. In reality it is the company that is vital to him and his feelings and self esteem. When he learns that he is not imperative anywhere, his worldview deteriorates. This is due to the fact that he discovers he is not the center of everyone’s attention and that he is not as important as he set himself out to be. Willy’s pride is not only seen affecting his job, it also affects his state of mind. His financial situation also leads to his downfall, this is sent when:

WILLY [sitting down at the kitchen table]: Huh! Why did she have to wax the floors herself? Every time she waxes the floors she keels over. She knows that! (Miller 32)

Willy's disgust at Linda waxing the floors herself suggests his false pride about their economic status. They evidently cannot afford to hire someone to wax their floor, yet he steadily wants to pretend that this is not so. This denial shown by Willy to accept his financial situation causes Willy live in his own delusional world, leading to his downfall.

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. (Miller 27)

Willy has always tried to act like he is better than Charley. But in reality, he's always been jealous of his neighbor. When Charley offers Willy a job, it hurts Willy's self esteem because he took it as an insult. If people knew that he works for Charley, then there will be no denying the fact that Charley has done better in life—and Willy's ego will not allow that. Willy finds it uncomplicated to borrow money from Charley, ' If you can manage it - I need a hundred and ten dollars.'(Miller 96).

But when Charley offers him a job, the pride kicks in and prevents him from further accomplishment. ' I offered you a job. You can make fifty dollars a week. And I won't send you on the road.'(Miller 96). Willy turns down the offer and still waits for Howards call that will never come. In his mind he is a very significant part of his business but to Howard and the rest of the business world he is worthless. As a result, Willy continues to hold onto false hope, which when faced with reality, lead to his downfall.

In conclusion, it is evident that the blame for Willy’s downfall is caused by his own actions such as his irresponsibility of standing up to his actions, creating a fake perception of himself to appear more successful, and his self pride that leads to his failure in life and eventual suicide. Finally, some things such as past trauma with his father affected Willy.