Death of a Salesman and The Price When people accept an ideal to live by it can be a glorious and noble thing unless they become so obsessed with the the ideal that it becomes a yolk and they are unable to realize their dream. This is especially true for two characters in Arthur Miller's plays Death of a Salesman and The Price. In these two plays Miller portays two lower-middle class men , Willie Loman …showed first 75 words of 972 total…

…showed last 75 words of 972 total…accomplish what they had intended, hurt the ones they love, and themselves. Willy's obsession with acquiring wealth and being a salesman made it impossible for him to do so. Victor's insistence on helping others made it impossibe for him to provide the life his wife wanted and deserved . Both men failed because the became so involved in living by impossible standards that they could never reach them and failure has harsh penaltis in both circumstances.