Metaphor

• In both Death of a Salesman and Richard II, the garden becomes a key metaphor to represent the state of chaos and disorder overwhelming its central characters.
• As Willy moves closer to his own suicide, he is consumed by the need to plant seeds as “I don’t have a thing in the ground”.
• Here, the garden represents Willy’s anxieties around not providing for his family or leaving a legacy.
• Richard II

  In Richard II, the garden represents the kingdom of England.
• However, as the gardeners point out, under Richard’s reign the garden has become “full of weeds… choked up... ruin'd… disorder'd”.
• England suffers because of Richard’s mismanagement.