iveenthusiasm and sudden discouragement. The many contradictions in hischaracter reveal a man who doesn't know himself at all. For instance, he willborrow money from his neighbor Charley but refuses to take a job working for him. He'd rather die than work for a man he sees as inferior. Until theday he dies Willy never stops dreaming up ways to better his life. He is fullof imagination, even to the point of committing suicide in a scheme to make$20,000 on his insurance policy. Willy's struggle was long and finally tragic.Linda says, "A small man can be just as exhausted as a great man." Millerwrites, "...this man is actually a very brave spirit who cannot settle for half but must pursue his dream of himself to the end. Willy was soabsorbed with being number one, so thats all that mattered. And when hefinally realizes that his son loves him and in a way holds him as number one,then he is content and can be at rest. By examining both Hamlet in William Shakespeares Hamlet andWilly Loman in Arthur Millers Death of a Salesman, you see that they arenot completely mad but maybe disillusioned. There are times when they can be fine and times when the madness overtakes them. So in determiningwhether or not they are mad would be a difficult task. Although the causesof their madness differs, the end of both are the same....
