Willy and Linda's marriage is troubling to examine. In many ways, it reflects the stereotypical 1950s marriage, with Willy having a public life outside the home and the responsibility for earning money and supporting the family financially. Meanwhile, Linda's place is in the home and her job is to shoulder the emotional support by raising the kids and taking on Willy's emotional burdens. She is also expected to be completely loyal to her husband, a...
Willy and Linda's marriage is troubling to examine. In many ways, it reflects the stereotypical 1950s marriage, with Willy having a public life outside the home and the responsibility for earning money and supporting the family financially. Meanwhile, Linda's place is in the home and her job is to shoulder the emotional support by raising the kids and taking on Willy's emotional burdens. She is also expected to be completely loyal to her husband, a role she fulfills admirably.
In a way, Linda acts as a mother to Willy just as much as she does to Happy and Biff. When she throws their sons out of the house for upsetting Willy, the audience sees just how far she takes her responsibility to care for him. Ironically though, her focus on keeping Willy calm and not upsetting him helps to seal his doom: even though Linda is worried about his suicide attempts and hears her sons' anger and concerns, she fails to act for fear of upsetting Willy. She does nothing to prevent his eventual successful suicide and is in fact living in the same delusion that Willy has created for himself. This is most evident when she comments, surprised, at the low attendance of his funeral. Linda has been enabling Willy's delusion about his own success, because she has been living in it too.
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