Character Sketch on the characters in Death of a Salesman

There are many characters within the drama, Death of a Salesman, where different character traits are found. Some of these characters and their traits include:

Willy- This is the main character within the play who seems to be losing his mind and tends to contradict himself quite a lot. For example, when he first says that his son Biff is a lazy bum, and a couple minutes later, he contradicts that statement by saying that one thing about his son Biff is he's not lazy. It is also evident in the book that Willy starts having dillusions and is not able to focus well. He is always distracted by remembering passed events or saying things that he expected or wished to happen, that in the end never really happened as how he pictured it. Above other things, Willy Loman is a man if big dreams, or more specifically, the "American Dream". He wants the finer things in life and believed that for him to gain great opportunities and move up the ladder of success, he had to be liked and known by the big shots in society. Willy is slowly losing himself, when in the end he kills himself because he doesn't want to go through anymore of the stress.
This character is very significant within the book because he seems to depict what some persons believe the "American Dream" is, which would be the perfect family and job and to be liked and known by many persons. Willy's character seems to show how a person suffers as they fail to realise the reality and understand that anything one gets in life has to be achieved especially if you are a poor person, as the name " Loman" suggests, making his name symbolic since it shows that he is poor.


Linda - She is Willy's loving and devoted wife who seems to be an easy going woman that just goes with the flow and tries to calm down Willy whenever he gets upset. Even though she is a loyal and loving wife, Linda seems to take a lot of yelling and bad treatment from Willy at times. For example in the book where Linda would say something and Willy would automatically stop her from talking and tell her to be quiet. One might argue that she does not get upset with him for doing so because she loves him and realises that he is slowly breaking down emotionally, or she might be afraid of Willy and this does not answer back when he interrupts her speech.
Linda seems to have a significant role within the book because she seems to represent some what of an emotional core in the Loman family. This is because Linda is the one who always seems to try to keep everyone together in the family and avoids conflict. She is also more realistic and levelheaded than the others in the family where she keeps her emotional life in tact and tries to reason situations out.


Charley- This is Willy's bestfriend, next door neighbour and rather successful business man. He has a son named Bernard that Willy and his sons Happy and Biff tend to make fun of from time to time since he is always in his school books and is not well liked. Despite Willy making fun of Charlie and his son all the time, Charlie shows that he is a true friend by helping Willy out when he has financial problems later down in the book and even offers Willy a job that he refuses on numerous occasions.
Charley is significant within the drama because he seems to represent hard work and achievement as a result of that hard work. Willy envies and is jealous of Charley's success but fails to realise that Charley achieved such a position by working hard for it and not just being well liked. Charley's character seems to show success that is achieved.

Ben- This is Willy's wealthy older brother who lived in Africa for a couple years and after searching for a long time found diamonds and treasures. Even though Ben is now dead, he appears in Willy's "day dreams" where Willy speaks to him freely as though he was really there.
Ben seems to be significant within the drama because he represents riches and wealth as well as the dream that Willy is trying to achieve. He is the opposite to Willy when it comes to wealth and success and Willy is desperately craving what his brother has achieved for both himself and his sons.


The Woman- This character only comes up a few times within the book and seems to be a girl Willy has an affair with while still married to Linda. This is made evident on pages 91-94 where Willy is seen with her in a hotel room and Biff intrudes and see's them in their frolic.
She is significant within Death of a Salesman because she seems to represent both confidence and loss of faith. In Willy's eyes, she is someone who boosts his ego by telling him sweet things and giving him a lot of attention which as a result excites him and builds up his ego. When Biff see's her on the other hand, he is crushed and loses all faith in his dad and what he says, as well as losing faith in himself and passing math which kills his enthusiasm for attending a college.

Biff- This is Willy's favorite son who seems to be frustrated and pressured by the high expectations of his father. Biff, in his younger years, was a great football player who had scholarship prospects and was well liked, so he had good male friends and many female admirers. His life started to go down hill when he failed math and was unable to graduate this leaving him without any grades to attend the college of his dreams- University of Virginia.
Biff is very significant within Death of a Salesman because he represents the truth about life and is the exact opposite of his brother Happy and his father. For they believe in being well liked and lying to get their way into and out of everything but Biff realises after a while that lying and stealing won't get him anywhere and tries to change as a result. This happens after he visits Billy Oliver's office where he now tries to break awa from all the lies and wants to come to realistic terms with himself and his life. Biff acknowledges his failures and tries to confront them instead of lying about them and making situations worse. He wants to make something out of himself and unlike his brother and father who WILLfully and HAPpily delude themselves Biff realises self- deception.


Happy- This is Willy Loman's younger son who has lived in Biff's shadow all of his life. He is not as pressured as Biff is to succeed since Willy does not seem to be too concerned with his whereabouts. This is made evident in the book where Happy mentions on several occasions that he is going to get married to Willy but Willy just brushes it off as though he did not hear a word Happy said. In his older years, he is an assistant to an assistant buyer in a department store and a very big flirt with the ladies who lies about quite a number of things and does not seem to think doing so is wrong. He is one who seems to enjoy himself no matter what atmosphere he's in or the manner in which he is having his fun.
This character in Death of a Salesman is significant because Biff represents Willy's sense of importance, ambition and blind servitude to societies expectations which thus makes him trapped in Willy's worst character traits. He is static throughout the entire book and as a result remains trapped in an unrealistic world where he believes, like his father, that being liked will get him far, as well as lying through his teeth about everything will make things better in the end.