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The majority of critics agree that, as Bates (1968) says, “it is Willy's civilization … that truly destroys him” (p. 164). My premise in this paper is that, although the American dream has a destructive effect on Willy, the primary cause of his failure and suicide is his ego-ideal, which is pathologically narcissistic. Pathological narcissism is a personality disorder characterized by intense, excessive, and sometimes fatal devotion to the ego-ideal. In the normal person the ego is nourished by the ego-ideal, for it provides self-esteem and meaningfulness and supports a realistic moral sense. However, in pathological narcissism, aspirations and ideals become images of “perfection and omnipotence” (Jasovic-Gasic and Vesel, 1981, p. 371) that weaken the ego so that, in extreme cases such as Willy's, “one dies for one's ego-ideal rather than let it die” (Menaker, 1977, p. 259; emphasis added). This implacable and deadly allegiance to the ego-ideal is the core of Willy's psychology. Because the narcissist believes the ego-ideal to be more real and more powerful than the external world, the ego-ideal overwhelms the ego with its inordinate needs and demands.
The external outline of Willy's story, as recapitulated by John Gassner (1954), is simple:
Willy, a sixty-three-year old salesman who no longer trusts himself to drive his car, comes back to his Brooklyn home instead of going on his prescribed trip. His sons decide to go into business and the older and more errant one, Biff, intends to ask a former employer, Oliver, for a loan, while Willy resolves to ask Howard, his employer, for “an inside job.” Willy is fired instead as a superannuated employee and Biff does not get a loan, disappearing instead with Oliver's fountain pen because petty thievery has been engrained in him since boyhood. The
Page 391disappointed Willy goes home in a distracted condition and kills himself, (p. 372)
A crucial point that Gassner's summary omits is the fact that Willy has been, for