Arthur Miller
is associated with trickery and illusion. He could not pursue a noble dream by doing something that is based in lying. His quest was cursed from the start and the fact that he lived the quest and not the dream made it worse.
Similarly in Miller's The Price the main character is a man who tries to live for an ideal and not the ideal itself. In the story Victor becomes so obsessed with sacrificing for others that he ultimately fails to please himself. By not caring for himself he hurts those he is trying to help, his family. Victor devoted his life to serving others at an early age. When he was younger he went to the police academy, a profession that is marked by self- sacrifice for others. He also put his brother through medical school even though Victor had more potential in the field. While his brother Walter was in school Victor cared for their aging father at a great expense to Victor economically and emotionally. During the time period the play Victor is still selfless, as he constantly calls trying to make arrangements to include his brother in the business deal to sell off their families’ estate. Although Walter does not return Victor's numerous phone calls Victor still refuses to take the whole amount of money for himself although no one would blame him for doing so. He has a greater need for that money and deserves it, for all his earlier sacrifices for Walter's sake, but he will not take it. With that entire sacrifice one would assume that Victor's family would be pleased however his sacrifices hurt them greatly. That is to say that his inability to please himself and to struggle to achieve his goals hurts his family. His wife Esther becomes disgusted by his inability to pursue medicine caused him to remain a part of the lower- middle working class. She felt that he had a better chance than his brother. As a result they both fail to 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 impossible for him to provide the life his wife wanted and deserved. Both men failed because they became so involved in living by impossible standards that they could never reach them and failure has harsh penalties in both circumstances.