Вилли Ломан: Трагедия проигравшего коммивояжера

Fictional character from Death of a Salesman

William "Willy" Loman is a fictional character and the protagonist of Arthur Miller's play Death of a Salesman, which debuted on Broadway with Lee J. Cobb playing Loman at the Morosco Theatre on February 10, 1949. Loman is a 63 year old travelling salesman from Brooklyn with 34 years of experience with the same company who endures a pay cut and a firing during the play. He has difficulty dealing with his current state and has created a fantasy world to cope with his situation. This does not keep him from multiple suicide attempts.

Willy Loman is an aging Brooklyn, New York salesman whose less than spectacular career is on the decline. He has lost the youthful verve of his past and his camaraderie has faded away. His business acumen is still at its peak, but he is no longer able to leverage his personality to get by. Time has caught up with him. Loman is a symbolic representation of millions of white collar employees who outlived their corporate usefulness. The play begins with the 63 year old Loman dealing with a recent pay cut after 34 years on the job at a time when he is having difficulty meeting his financial responsibilities. In the second act, he deals with being fired. He is fired by the son of the man who had hired him 36 years prior. In the play, Loman reveals his past in scenes from his memory that the audience is challenged to judge for accuracy. Loman had succeeded in large part due to his ability to ingratiate himself with his bosses and appeal to his potential clients; thus, he continually impresses upon his sons the importance of popularity. the February 10, 1949 Broadway opening is considered the debut and on February 11, Brooks Atkinson of The New York Times said the following: "Mr. Cobb's tragic portrait of the defeated salesman is acting of the first rank. Although it is familiar and folksy in the details, it has something of the grand manner in the big size and the deep tone." While reviewing a touring production of Death of a Salesman, Los Angeles Times critic Laurie Winer described Loman as " the saddest, self centeredest soul in American drama, a character who will continue to haunt the landscape as long as there are fathers and sons." United Press International critic Rick Du Brow described Loman as " the aging failure of a salesman who has wasted his life by living in a world of delusions and shallow values " Willy is described as a "suffering. . middle aged man at the end of his emotional rope". Lowry described the production as depicting "the end of a man when his dream world is shattered". The part was originally written for a physically small man, with Willy at one point saying to his wife, "I'm short. I'm very foolish to look at." When Cobb was cast, the line was changed to "I'm fat. I'm very foolish to look at," and a reference to Willy being called a "shrimp" was changed to a "walrus." Subsequent productions used whichever version was appropriate to the actor playing Willy; Dustin Hoffman, for example, used the original. In 1950, Miller described Loman as a man who upon hearing society's "thundering command to succeed" found himself staring at a failure in the mirror. The Huffington Posts theater critic, Wilborn Hampton, describes the role as "one of the most complicated characters in dramatic literature". The play is a statement on the idea that a man is valued by his position in life. Biff and Willy love each other, but do not get along; Biff resents Willy for insisting he pursue a life he doesn't want, while Willy thinks Biff has failed on purpose to spite him. Their relationship is the emotional lynchpin of the production. Brian Dennehy won Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play at the 53rd Tony Awards in 1999, while Philip Seymour Hoffman was nominated for the same award at the 66th Tony Awards in 2012 and George C. Scott was nominated for the award at the 30th Tony Awards in 1976. Dennehy also won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film at the 58th Golden Globe Awards in 2001 and the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie at the 7th Screen Actors Guild Awards in 2001 and was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie at the 52nd Primetime Emmy Awards in 2000.<! Hoffman also won both the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film at the 43rd Golden Globe Awards in 1986 and Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie at the 38th Primetime Emmy Awards in 1986. Warren Mitchell earned the Laurence Olivier Award for Actor of the Year in a Revival in 1979 for his West End theatre performance of the role. Dennehy earned a Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor in 2006 for his reprisal of the role in the West End.

Time described Scott's performance as " a performance of staggering impact When his head is bowed, it is not in resignation but rather like that of a bull bloodied by the picador yet ready to charge again." Philip Seymour Hoffman's performance came at a time when the Occupy Wall Street movement echoed the play while its actors could not afford the $120 ticket price.

Miller noted that although he wrote the play in 1947 and 1948, the play grew out of his life experiences, that included his father losing everything in the 1929 stock market crash. Dustin Hoffman says that the play was the first one he ever read and predated his interest in becoming an actor. He noted that the play resonated with him because his father was a travelling salesman and he had an older brother. The show's director Ulu Grosbard suggested to Miller that Hoffman had the potential to make a great Willy Loman. Miller was unimpressed and later wrote that "My estimate of Grosbard all but collapsed as, observing Dustin Hoffman's awkwardness and his big nose that never seemed to get unstuffy, I wondered how the poor fellow imagined himself a candidate for any kind of acting career."