Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman (cited) Essay

Willy and Nora Tragic Heroes or Home-wreckers? No unmatchable has a undefilight-emitting diode brio. Despite what Aaron Spelling and his friends in the media might project to beau monde today, no ones behavior is perfect. Everyone has conflicts that they must face sooner or later. The looks in which people deal with these conflicts can be entirely as varied as the people themselves. Some procrastinate and trend their problems as long as they can, patch others attack problems to get them verboten of the way as soon as possible. The Lowman and Helmer families have a add together of problems that they deal with in varied ways, which proves their similarities and differences. Both Willy Loman, the jock of Arthur Millers Death of a Salesman and Nora Helmer, protagonist of Henrik Ibsens A Dolls House experience an epiphany where they unclutter that they were non the person the thought they were while Willys catharsis brings about his death, Noras brings her to a new life he rs. Both characters flaws bring about their departure from their single families as well. They are both overly concerned with the bearings they and their families present to society as a result they both project false images to others.From their appearance, both seem to be involved in persistent marriages and appear to be deviation vexs. Willys job as a traveling salesman seems stable (although we never know what it is he sells) when he tells his family that he knocked em frosty in Providence, slaughtered em in Boston (Miller 1228). It is not until Willys wife, Linda tells us that he drives 700 miles and when he gets there, no one knows him any more, no one welcomes him (Miller 1241). If thats not enough to convince readers of his failure on the job, the feature that he gets fired after working for the same company for 36 years cements his incompetency in the business world to readers. While Nora does not work in the business world, (few woman, if any did over 120 years ago ) her failure to take care of her responsibilities becomes quite evident as well. protrude more citing an es ordinateWhen the exercise opens and Nora enters with a Christmas tree and presents for the children, she gives off the pic of a good mother set abouting hard to prepare a great Christmas for her family. Upon further analysis we see that Noras duties, in general, are restricted to caring for the children, doing signwork, and working on her needlepoint. Nora cannot complete these duties even with the regular help of Anne Marie, a housekeeper who cleans up after Nora just as some(prenominal) as the children. When Nora and Kristine are having a discussion towardsthe start of the play, Nora informs her friend that, Im so happy and relieved with my marriage. I must say its lovely to have plenty of money and not have to worry. Isnt it? (Ibsen 1119). The rosy picture she painted of her family and marriage are in plain contrast to the stranger of a man (Ibsen 1168) she refers t o her husband as. We corporealize that she had not been living her life at all rather the life that her husband cute her to live. While both Willy and Nora succeed in giving of the appearance of being competent, efficient and helpful family members who contribute to the well being of their single families, they prove otherwise as the plays progress.While the two plays take place nearly 100 years apart, are set on different continents and each have completely different family members, both engage in lies and deceit that hurt their families after which each protagonist take outs their family. Not precisely if does Willy lie about his performance on the job, he lies about his haywire car as well. He tells his family that the Studebaker keeps malfunctioning when in reality we let on out through Linda that he has been deliberately trying to kill himself. The biggest way in which Loman deceives his family is by cheating on his wife while past for work in Boston. When his eldest son discovers his fathers unfaithfulness, he loses all trust for his father, and Biffs life pretty very much goes d accepthill from there. Willy Lomans lies, deceit, unfaithfulness have resulted in huge problems for his family. Nora likewise starts trouble in her household through lies and deceit. Noras crime of forgery is not even a crime in her mind she does not realize that the law does not take into account peoples motivations behind their actions. While she knows that Krogstad has been associated with shady law practices, she does not realize that his crime was on the same level, if not less illegal than the one that she has committed.When Tourvald opens the letter and finds out about her crime, he goes ballistic, and cannot believe that his own wife could be capable of much(prenominal) a crime. This is ultimately the reason / situation that helps Nora realize that she must distribute her family in order to begin to live her own life. But Nora even lies about the little th ings in life such as the eating of macaroons (Ibsen 1126). Her husband forbade her from eating them on account that they bequeath rot her teeth, and when she is seen eating them in her house, she says that they are a gift from Kristine, which is a lie. Both Willy and Noras lies and deceitfulness frustrate their families to thepoint where each protagonist much leave their family although Willys departure is his death, Noras is the start of her real life. Both main characters also use an escape mechanism to leave reality when they realize that their lives are on the wrong path. When Loman starts to realize that his insolence and joy in life, Biff, is a lazy bum (Miller 1218) he begins to colloquy to himself (Miller 1221). These moral lapses bring Loman to a happier place and time, when his kids were young and innocent and he thought that the best part of his life lay still ahead. This acts just about as a defense mechanism against the pains of reality for Willy.In the final scene , after Biff tells his father that he is a dime a dozen and that the Loman name really doesnt mean much, Willy engages in the ultimate escape mechanism suicide. Although it may appear on the come forth to be a selfish and coldhearted move to spite his family, he actually did it so that his family may live a better life with money he thinks they will receive from his life insurance policy. When face with the harsh pains of reality, Nora also uses defense / escape mechanisms to ignore the problems at hand first, then to conquer them in the end. She believes that she has through nothing wrong, and that if what she has done is illegal, that her good intentions will nullify the illegality of her forgery. When Krogstad informs her otherwise, tells her the possible repercussions of her act, and ultimately gives her an ultimatum, this is her first touch of reality outside of the dolls house that she lives in. To cope with the bad weather outside of this dolls house, she immediately ret reats back inside and attempts to unhinge herself with Christmas decorations (Ibsen 1133).She uses the tree and presents to distract her from her problems, and tells the nursemaid Anne Marie that shes to a fault busy to play with her kids who want to see her because she must try to distance her mind from the present at hand. Here she is only making the problem worse by not dealing with it. When she finally realizes that her main duty is to herself (Ibsen 1166), and that she has been living life according to what her father and husband have wanted rather than what she has wanted, Noras epiphany is complete. She knows that the only possible solution that can work for her is to leave dependable away. Willy and Nora both escape their problems first by drifting away with mental distractions, then when they fully realize their problems, they both must physically leave their families.For Willy this means death, for Nora, thestart of (a new) life. Willy and Nora share a fatal flaw they try to make others happy before making themselves happy. All that Willy ever wanted in life was to be well-liked and for his sons to follow in his footsteps. Their lives focused too much on fulfilling others rather than themselves, and in the end this flaw led to their departure from each of their respective families. When Charley asks Willie when the hell are you ever going to surface up? and Biff declares that we never told the truth in this house for 10 minutes (Miller 1280) we realize that Willy will never grow up and that he must leave his family because he will never grow up and that nearly his whole life has been a fill. Similarly, when Nora tells her husband that the only way he (and her) can only change if Tourvald has his doll taken away (Ibsen 1168) we realize that Noras life too has been a farce and that she must leave in order to begin her own life.