Willy from Death of a Salesman, and Hickey from The Iceman Cometh - Essay Example

Willy becomes entrenched in a quagmire of lies, delusions and self-deception, which ultimately leads him to commit suicide. Theodore Hickman (Hickey), the principal character in Eugene O’Neill’s “The Iceman Cometh” is a smooth-talking salesman. He comes to Harry Hope’s saloon preaching the gospel of salvation, exhorting his drunken friends to divest themselves of their “pipe dreams” of tomorrow and make peace with themselves. Hickey’s murder of the tomorrow dreams will bring ruin to the bar, thus Hickey’s advent is the advent of the “Iceman” or Death.

We learn later that Hickey has brought death to his own house, murdering his wife. When he confesses to the murder, Hickey’s gospel of salvation reveals itself as its own pipe dream, a delusion that lets him evade his guilt over his crime. While both characters are salesmen, they differ in temperament and outlook. Willy Loman is an insecure, self-deluded salesman who desperately believes in the American Dream but never achieves it. The fact that he uses gardening as a metaphor for success and failure indicates that he subconsciously acknowledges that his chosen profession is a poor choice, given his natural inclinations (Willy tells Stanley in Act II: “Nothing’s planted.

I don’t have a thing in the ground.”). Here, the garden functions as a substitute for his failed career and his son Biff’s wayward career. Willy Loman is a dreamer, dreaming of a better life as promised by the American Dream. He dreams about being a super salesman like his hero Dave Singleman, a mythic salesman who achieved great fame and popularity. Willy visualizes having people remember and love him, considering it the ultimate satisfaction (Willy tells Howard Wagner in Act II: “And when I saw that, I realized that selling was the greatest career a man could want.

‘Cause what could be more satisfying than to be able to go, at the age of