Essay

The climax of Death of a Salesman was driven by the unstable relationship between Willy, the father, and Biff, and his son. The conflict came from a past full of false hopes and a present reality with tragic events.
Willy would have gone to Alaska with his brother in hopes of a bright future, but then he met Dave Singleman. Singleman was a loved and respected salesman; he was well like in twenty of thirty different cities. When Singleman died, hundreds of people attended his funeral. From idolized Singleman and decided to be a salesman himself. He also thought of himself as a man who could be easily liked. He thought he could die and have a funeral just like Singleman. In truth, Willy’s arrogance of thinking he was well liked made him blind to the fact that he was not liked at all. He filled Biff with the same hot air he filled himself with. He told Biff that he was very well liked and that he would be successful because of it. Biff believed in him and lived up to the idea of being liked would get him far. He did well in the football team, he loved Willy, and was good student.
The conflict between Willy and Biff started the day when Biff found out that Willy had an affair. Biff said that no one would listen to a phony liar and ran off. He no longer meets the expectation Willy had for him. Biff no longer say his father as an idol. Their relationship was broken from then on.
The conflict between the father and son fuels the climax of the play. Willy and his sons were supposed to meet at a restaurant to supposedly celebrate Biff’s loan and Willy’s new job. Neither got what they wanted. Willy was hoping that his brilliant son got the loan to keep his own hopes up. Biff’s failure made Willy enter into a delusional daydream which caused Biff to abandon him. The relationship between father and son was now worse than is has ever been. Biff confronts Willy in the fruitless garden and informs him that his leaving forever. Willy is heartbroken thus making him attempt suicide on the end of the play.
A past of such bright promises caused Biff to have dislike or even hate Willy for all the hot air he filled him with. Biff lived in a reality were he did not make enough money and blamed it on Willy. Willy could not handle the responsibility of ruining him nor the fact that he was not successful. All this lead to his final attempt to take his life.