The salesman's ultimate pitch

Though there are many interpretations on how Willy "selling himself" works as an active metaphor for the play on "Death of a Salesman", arguably the tragedy lies in the heart of the individual Willy attempts to sell himself to. Through the play, Willy seeks assurance from the individuals he reckons to embody success: Uncle Ben, Dave Singleman and Charley. However, his attempts to sell himself to convince them is in faith of convincing himself of his rightful status and place in the world, his world. In essence, the tragedy is that Willy tries to sell himself to himself. As Miller argues, Willy's continual assertion of his actions are employed to verify the genuinity of himself. Willy questions Ben whether he has been teaching his sons the right lessons, and consecutively draws strength from Ben's reassurances. However, Willy's image of himself begins to deteriorate as his earlier certainties are met with furthering uncertainties: his posited promotion never takes place, Biff fails to live up to his imagined standards, etc. His greatest challenge of a sales pitch turns eventually turns towards himself as he begins to question his failures, yet in that act of denial, refuses to accept his condition and finds desperate gestures and means to convince himself that success is lurking around the corner. Towards the end of the play after Biff and Willy's heightened confrontation (and partial reconciliation), Willy completely ignores his earlier statements of Biff's ineptitudes and Biff's vocal revelations about his limited self, blurts "that boy is going to be magnificent!", resonating with echoes of "I was right!" when Willy confides in Ben about his parental insecurities. Willy spirals into ridiculous obsession with his beliefs, belief that he is making the right decisions, belief that his actions will be carried forward by Biff, belief that by one act of sacrifice, he can put all his hopes and dreams into motion. His final sale pitch to himself is therefore not a sale in itself, but a barter. A life in exchange for the riches of eternal hope in the "dark jungle" where delusions and denial are irrelevant concepts.