Death of a Salesman is centred on the relationships within the Loman family as they realise the cruel nature of the consumerist world of late 1940s America, where the American dream was a lost hope for many.
Biff’s love of his father is physically manifested in the action of crying towards the end of the play. When Biff ‘breaks down, sobbing’ it is clear that his epiphany has made him realise his love for his father, but he does not want to continue the delusion that the whole family subscribe to. It is maybe more telling that the stage directions then suggest a ‘long pause, astonished, elevated’ reaction from Willy, showing that the love between this father and son is not explicit and thus Willy did not know it before. Miller’s use of ‘remarkable’ in Willy’s speech imply that Willy genuinely does not think that his sons love him until this point in the play and thus had he known this sooner, his intentions may have been different. This reaction is continued when he is ‘choking with his love’, meaning that it is as if he feels he has never been loved before and so doesn’t really know how to cope with it. His failure to recognise the love his family have given him throughout the novel, but especially in the climax of the play, could be seen to confirm his self delusion as it boosts his confidence once again that he has done something right in his role as father. This boost leads to his delusion once again as he overestimates his ability to sell and thus, ironically, facilitates his final sale – his life. Therefore Miller uses the love between Willy and Biff to propel Willy’s decision to commit suicide for the perverse benefits his sons will receive. It is out of love that Willy Loman commits suicide to ensure that Biff has enough money, through the insurance claims, to help him set up a business and achieve the American Dream, which Willy failed to achieve. Consequently the implicit love that Willy has for Biff is shown more through his actions rather than his...