Loves me…Always loved me. Isn’t that a remarkable thing? Ben, he’ll worship me for it!
– Arthur Miller
Death of a Salesman, Act 2. There is tragic irony in Willy’s realization that Biff really does love him and this provides him with another reason to commit suicide. Having already decided to take his life, Willy believes that Biff will love him even more when he shares in the twenty thousand dollar life insurance payout to the Lomans. Willy, blinded by a distorted view of reality and clinging to the materialistic values of capitalism, manages to transforms a moment of happiness at his estranged son loving him into something tragic. He is a deluded man who never learns from his actions. Willy remains misguided and deceives himself to the end, even in his final act of love. Biff is not interested in his father’s money, he simply wants to to enjoy an honest relationship with Willy that is based on the truth of who each of them really is. Willy’s immiment suicide is foreshadowed here.