Friends, there is something mythical about the way Biff and Hap's respective identities become solidified at the end of the play.

Hap is the son of Willie's salesman side, the back-slapping, self-promoting, propagandistic side. Biff is the son of Willie's utilitarian side, that is skilled at working with his hands and likes hard physical work.

Hap's biological grandfather is Willie's father, as it is for Biff, but his spiritual grandfather is Dave Singleman. Biff's spiritual, as well as biological grandfather, is Old Man Loman, Willie's father - for reasons we have exhaustively reviewed.

The mechanisms of identity revealed in Death of a Salesman reminds me of the Bible story of Jacob and Esau. Jacob "stole" Esau's blessing from their father. Jacob was a man of smooth skin, refined in features and manners, closer to his mother emotionally than his father.

Esau was a man of the wild outdoors, hairy, fond of hunting and that sort of thing. He was a bit more rough of manner than Jacob. He was closer emotionally to his father, who in turn, took him as his favorite.

Upon his death he choose to bestow a blessing upon Esau, making him the father of a great nation and so forth. On his death bed, and in a state in which he barely knew where he was, he asked for his son Esau to be brought to him.

Jacob learned of this and contrived to displace his brother and receive that blessing for himself. Jacob went to his father wearing an animal skin with which he could feign the hairy skin of his brother, Esau.

The father questioned the voice but when he felt his son's skin and felt its hairy texture (Jacob wearing the animal skin), he was satisfied. He gave the blessing to Jacob, thinking he was Esau and the rest, as they say, is history.

By the way, doesn't the story of Jacob and Esau also remind you of modern-day identity fraud, in which the thief steals the blessings of your highly favorable credit rating to unjustly procure cash and goods?

I'll finish this tomorrow.

wingedcentaur