Death of a Salesman & M Butterfly Comparison

The Dilution of Men

Literature has always provided readers with adventurous tales of acts of valor & heroic deeds, but it is the stories that demonstrate the human flaws and the weakness’ of men that truly allow readers to make a personal connection with what they are reading. In the plays Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller and David Henry Hwang's M. Butterfly, the two leading men find themselves caught up in unsettling situations because they have allusions of grandeur. The allusions that Rene and Willy find themselves caught up in, take control of their lives and ultimately lead to their demise. Although the examples set forth Willy Loman and Rene Gallimard are extreme examples of being delusional, there are still lessons to be learned from their behavior.

Death of a Salesman tells the story of a dysfunctional family in a poverty stricken area of 1950’s post war America. The father of this struggling family is Willy Loman. After serving his company as one of its leading salesmen for over two decades, Willy finds himself being replaced by younger & more productive employees with less experience. With his salary taken away and no sales to produce a commission, Willy can no longer provide for his family. The graveness of the situation is only compounded by the lack of maturity and little success that his two meandering adult sons remind him of on a daily basis. As Willy is reduced to borrowing money from his friend Charlie to pay his family’s bills, his mind begins to flex under the stress and anxiety of the situation. This sends the washed up salesman spiraling into a mental state of uncertainty where past memories of better times replace current realities of bleakness. As a once successful father and salesman, Willy now subconsciously blames himself for the failure of his career and of his two sons.

Outwardly Willy denies the failure of his career and the mediocrity of his two children with adamant false optimism. Willy becomes delusional when confronted with the stress of life and the reality that both he and his sons have accomplished very little in the scheme of the capitalist “American Dream”. Ultimately, it will be this unquenchable desire for financial success, coupled with the harshness of reality that will drive Willy Loman to kill himself. Finally, through death and beneficiaries Willy accomplishes his life long goal. In taking his own life, he insures that his two sons have the capital to start their own business. Willy’s suicide although not necessary, is an act of selflessness.

The play of M. Butterfly is based on a bizarre but somehow true story of a French diplomat named Rene Gallimard. Gallimard, is a man who is neither good looking or the brightest and has little success with women throughout his life. Somehow, he manages to carry on a multi-decade affair with a Chinese actor and opera singer (Song), whom he thinks is a woman,