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The Importance of Ben

THE IMPORTANCE OF BEN

Ben Loman may not be the central character in ARthur MIller’s Death of a Salesman, but he belongs to the heart of the story. It is tempting to disregard his character as just another creation of Willy’s delusional mind because he is encountered only in Willy Loman’s hallucinations of the past. However, Ben is much more than that. His character, representative of Willy’s unreallistic dreams and the reality of his life appears when Willy is feeling most low and suicidal.

Ben is first encountered by the audience while Willy is playing cards with Charlie as he expresses exhaustion after coming home from working. Here Arthur Miller uses Ben to inform the audience of Willy’s past relationship with his father and brother, providing background for Willy’s misguidedness and insecurities - Ben left to look for their father in Alaska when Willy was only three years and eleven months old(47). Ben speaks of their father in the same manner as Wil...

Posted by: Rebecca Wyant

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