Did Willy Loman's family lead to his demise?

It is an agreeable and acknowledged fact that Willy Loman, in the modern drama 'Death of a Sailsman', is egotistical, unstable and consumed by riches all throughout his life. In the close of the drama, he dies a tragic death; committing suicide. His demise, however, or its cause is a bit harder to pin point. Though a challenge presents itself in seeking a source to blame, an in depth analysis has resulted in a perspective that his demise was caused by his own family.

The question as to whether the family he made lead to his demise caused many questions to arise. The statement can be backed up with evidence from the text and plot. Instances such as having to beg Charley for money, or having to work even in old age as well as his constant delusions and relationship with Ben and the past can be traced to his family situation being the cause. As stated before, he is consumed by riches. Yet he had to give up his only dream and ambition of getting rich because he had the desire to stay with his family. His flashback to the scene where Ben invited him to Africa to pursue the dream signifies that it had some significance, and the relationship he maintained with Ben as a ghost and the way Willy respected him and imagined him as a well kept and 'real' man shows his longing. He tells his brother Ben in the flashback that he'll make his riches right where he is in America, but it evidently eats him out that his opportunity to become this dream seems to not re-present itself. Working for the upkeep of his family at a low wages causes does press his mind and after all of this, he is having to resort to a degrading alternative of begging for money.

Another characteristic of Willy Loman was 'egotistical'. In the author's presentation of Willy Loman, he can be viewed as a man who has struggled with identity. Linda, his wife has a lot of love for him, but she has confined herself to a clingy character, who was always there for Willy and sat on the back bench so that she would give him the opportunity of feeling like he was a man of power. When he slipped up, or made mistakes she was always quick to stand up for him and protect him from the hard truth. It was she who filled his head with the compliments and statements which were never completely honest so as to spare him all the embarrassment she knew he was facing inside. He took advantage of this, becoming egotistical and wanting so badly to believe he was as Linda saw him. ally, this ties into another point.

Finally, Another characteristic mentioned is 'unstable'. His having to work in old age and then beg for money, his bitterness and resulting instability were in response to his family situation. His sons were not making any money or valuable contribution to the up-keeping of the household which, in itself, forced Willy to have to keep working, being the only souce of revenue. The work he was doing was tiring for an old man, but he had no choice to persist. Biff, his favourite child has an immense amount of rebellion and resentment towards him, and his life was spoiled because of it. This must have been dismal for Willy, after coming from nothing yet putting his all into Biff, his first son. Both his sons had a lack of ambition, creating another aspect which weighed on Willy's mind evidently, seeming to search through his past constantly, for where he became a failure as a parent, or what he did wrong as a father, this would have been particularly depressing since he grew up without a father and he passed up the opportunity to be like the one man he truly respected and considered prototype, Ben. A strong argument is that his official, successful attempt at suicide came after Biff confronted him.

All of these characteristics were worsened by his family and ended up driving him 'up the wall' in layman terms. All of the actions which made him delusional and even his resulting attempt at suicide had a basic element relating to his family. Though Willy is, no doubt at fault for his own demise, his family was a major element in pushing him over the edge. Willy Loman is a tragic character, what's even more tragic, is his end, and all the causes of his demise, particularly his family.