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Death of a Salesman
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Descripción: Death of a Salesman
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Descripción: Death of a Salesman, SparkNotes: Death of a Salesman is a 1949 play written by American playwright Arthur Miller. It was the recipient of the 1949 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and Tony Award for Best P...
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Descripción: The Tragedy in Arthur Miller's "Death of a Salesman"
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Death of a Salesman By Arthur Miller LITERARY ELEMENTS SETTING The play is told partly through the mind and memory of Willy Loman. The times of the play fluctuate between the year 1942 and 1928. Miller uses various techniques in setting to help distinguish when the actors are in the present time or in the past. Most of the play is set in one part of the Loman house. When the action of the play is in the present (1942), the characters observe all the physical boundaries such as doors and walls. But when the time shifts to the past, the characters ignore the walls and walk right through them. Also, when the time shifts to the past, there is joyous music that shows the happiness of the past. Blaring music becomes part of the setting during Willy Loman's affair in the hotel room. Willy, in the present time, walks with stooped shoulders and looks weary since he is old. In the flashbacks, however, he walks forcefully. Biff and Happy also change their clothes in the scenes of the past and dress as youngsters. The play is structured to show the pleasures and hopes of the past and how these aspects of the past contribute to the agonies of the present. The scenes of the past are shown as illusions of Willy Loman. There are some scenes where there is rapid transition to the past, pointing out that Loman is caught in his illusions and unable to distinguish them from reality. The play opens at a moment when Willy feels especially trapped by all the events of his past. The time of the present play is only twenty-four hours, but because of the flashbacks to the past, the play stretches over a longer period of time. CHARACTER LIST Major Characters Willy Loman A traveling salesman who has worked for the Wagner firm for thirty-four years. He is now sixty-one years old and has been cruelly taken off salary and put on straight commission. At the end of the play, he is fired from his job.
Linda Loman Willy Loman's wife, who truly loves her husband. She is a mother figure in the play, though more to her husband than to her sons. Biff Loman The eldest son of Willy Loman. He was a star football player in high school with several scholarships, but for the last fourteen years, he has been moving from one job to another "unable to find himself." He has just returned home. Willy Loman's hopes are centered on Biff.
Happy Loman The younger son of Willy Loman. He works in a department store and has his own apartment and car. Charley A life-long acquaintance of the Lomans. He is a sincere, hard worker and a good friend to Willy Loman. Bernard Charley's son who has become a very successful lawyer. He was a childhood friend of Biff. Ben Willy's dead brother who left home early and became tremendously rich. He appears only in Willy's dreams or illusions. Minor Characters Howard Wagner The son of the former owner of the Wagner Company. He now runs the company and is responsible for putting Willy on straight commission. Later he fires Willy from the job. Miss Frances The woman in Boston with whom Willy has an affair. Letta and Miss Forsythe The two women that Happy picks up in the restaurant. CONFLICT
Protagonist The protagonist of a story is the main character who traditionally undergoes some sort of change. Willy Loman is the protagonist. He is a traveling salesman, the low man of popular United States culture, who believes in the false promises of the American Dream. Antagonist The antagonist of a story is the force that provides an obstacle for the protagonist. The antagonist does not always have to be a single character or even a character at all. The antagonist is the false promise of the American Dream, which makes people believe that anyone in the United States can become rich through only hard work, perseverance, or personality. The dream also seems to say that the individual need not master any form of skill or profession to make it big. Unfortunately, Willy is overcome by his dreams and illusions during the course of the play. He is fired by the company that he believes will promote him; he is rejected by his sons, for whom he has worked and struggled; and he is forced to see that his life and his philosophies are lies. Climax The climax of a plot is the major turning point that allows the protagonist to resolve the conflict. Biff, Willy’s son, makes his father see that both he and Willy are failures, who will never obtain the American Dream. Biff makes his father realize the emptiness of their lives and the unimportance of being well liked. Willy Loman cannot face or accept this reality. Outcome The play ends in tragedy. Willy commits suicide in order to financially provide for his family, especially to safeguard Biff's future with the receipt of Willy’s twenty thousand dollar insurance policy. SHORT SUMMARY (Synopsis) Willy Loman has been a traveling salesman for the Wagner Company for thirty-four years. He likes to think of himself as being vital to the New England territory. As the play opens, Willy has just come back home after having left New England earlier that morning. He tells his wife Linda that he has returned unexpectedly because he cannot seem to keep his mind on driving anymore. Linda thinks that he needs a long rest. He asks about his sons, who are home for the first time in years. Willy has trouble understanding why Biff, his thirty-four year old son, cannot find a job and keep it. After all, Biff is attractive and was a star football player in high school with several scholarships; however, he could not finish his education, for he flunked math. When Biff went to Boston to find his father and explain the failure to
him, he found Willy in his hotel room having an affair with a strange woman. Afterwards, Biff held a grudge against his father, never trusting him again. Biff and his brother Happy try to think of some job that Biff could get that would allow him to settle down in New York. Biff thinks of a man named Bill Oliver, for whom he was worked; Biff believes he can get a loan of ten thousand dollars from Oliver in order to begin a business of his own. Biff and Happy tell Willy about their plans. Willy explains to his sons that the important things in life are to be well liked and to be attractive. Willy assures Biff that he is attractive and that Oliver has always liked him. The next day, Willy is to meet his sons for dinner at a restaurant to hear how Oliver has reacted to Biff’s request for a loan. Willy himself goes to young Howard Wagner, the present owner of the firm for which he works, and asks for a transfer to New York City. Howard tells him there is no room for him in New York and then explains to Willy that he cannot even represent the firm in New England any more. This news turns Willy's life upside-down. Suddenly unemployed, he feels frightened and worthless. He goes to Charley, an old friend, to borrow money to pay his insurance premium. After Charley lends him the money, Willy goes to the restaurant to meet his sons. Before Willy arrives, Biff tells Happy that Oliver did not even recognize him. He admits that he is tired of living a life filled with illusion and plans to tell his father not to expect anything from him anymore. When Willy arrives, he tells Biff and Happy that he has been fired. He also refuses to listen to Biff's story and simply believes that Biff will have another appointment the following day. Out of frustration, Biff leaves the restaurant. Happy, who has picked up two women, follows him, leaving Willy alone. Later that night, Biff comes home and finds Willy planting seeds in the backyard and "talking" to a long dead brother, Ben. Biff again tries to explain to Willy that he has no real skills and no leadership ability. In order to save his father from disappointment, he suggests that they never see one another again. Willy still refuses to listen to what Biff is saying; he tells Biff how great he is and how successful he can become. Biff is frustrated because Willy refuses to face the truth. In anger, Biff breaks down and sobs, telling Willy just to forget about him. Willy decides to kill himself, for Biff would get twenty thousand dollars of insurance money. Then Biff could start his own business and make it a decent living. At Willy’s funeral, no one is present. He dies a pathetic, neglected, and forgotten man. THEMES Major Theme
The falsity of the American Dream is the dominant theme of Arthur Miller's play. Willy Loman represents the primary target of this dream. Like most middle-class working men, he struggles to provide financial security for his family and dreams about making himself a huge financial success. After years of working as a traveling salesman, Willy Loman has only an old car, an empty house, and a defeated spirit. Miller chose the job of salesman carefully for his American Dreamer. A salesman does not make his/her own product, has not mastered a particular skill or a body of knowledge, and works on the empty substance of dreams and promises. Additionally, a salesman must sell his/her personality as much as his/her product. Willy Loman falsely believes he needs nothing more than to be well liked to make it big. Minor Theme The tragedy of the dysfunctional family, which helps to keep the American Dream alive, is a second important theme of Miller's play. Linda and Happy especially work very hard to keep the fantasy of the dream of success alive. In the dysfunctional Loman family, the wife is restricted to the role of housekeeping and bolstering her husband's sense of self-importance and purpose. A contradictory role given to her is that of the family's financial manager. In effect, Linda juggles the difficult realities of a working class family while making her husband believe that his income is better than adequate. Willy attempts to provide financial security and to guide his sons' future, neither of which he does very well. Unlike the myth of economic mobility in America, the vast majority of people in the working class stay in the working class generation after generation. However, the myth is what Willy Loman lives on. Unfortunately, his illusions do not fit his reality. Finally, the only solution to providing for his family is to kill himself so that they can collect on his life insurance.
MOOD The mood is uncomfortably false and depressing throughout the play. The audience is always aware of the family’s trying to keep the truth from one another. The failure of the American Dream is ever present and makes the audience question its own commitment to false dreams. Arthur Miller - BIOGRAPHY Arthur Miller was born in New York City on October 17, 1915. His father, Isadore Miller, was prosperous as a shop owner and a manufacturer of women’s coats; however, he lost his fortune in the stock market crash of 1929. The young Miller was forced to work a number of odd jobs to support himself, including being a farm hand. The years after the Depression were formative years for Miller, during which
the formerly indifferent student began reading on his own and developing a strong social conscience and sense of justice. He eventually entered the University of Michigan, where he began writing plays and worked on the college newspaper. After graduating in 1938, he moved back to New York, where he continued writing, primarily dramas.
Arthur Miller Arthur Miller’s plays met with great success. The Man Who Had All the Luck, produced in 1944, won a prize offered by New York City's Theatre Guild. His first major success, however, came in 1947 with All My Sons, which won a Drama Critics Circle Award and was made into a film the following year. Death of a Salesman, Miller's most famous work produced in 1949, won a Pulitzer Prize and was made into a film in 1952. Death of a Salesman casts a cold eye on the American Dream and the moral compromises necessary to achieve it. Its hero, the hapless salesman Willy Loman, is a man struggling to make sense of his place in a society that has chewed him up and is preparing to spit him out. The Crucible, a Tony Award winning play produced in 1953, is one of Miller’s finest works, which also shows the playwright’s strong social conscience. Set during the Salem witch trials at the end of the 17th century, it is written as a critique of the extremes and evils of McCarthyism. The play offers a vision of a society consumed by paranoia, in which the age-old problem of doing good in the face of evil becomes a matter of life and death. Miller's political activities in the 1950’s led him to be called before the House UnAmerican Activities Committee in 1956. Like Proctor, the protagonist of The Crucible, he refused to testify against his friends and associates. He was convicted of contempt, but this ruling was later overturned on appeal. After the investigation, Miller continued to be politically active. In 1965, he was elected president of PEN, an international organization of writers dedicated toward world peace and free expression.
Miller has been married three times. He married Mary Grace Slattery in 1940. They had two children, Robert and Jane, before their divorce in 1955. Miller next married Marilyn Monroe in 1956. They were divorced in 1961, following the filming of The Misfits, for which he wrote the screenplay and in which she starred. In 1962 he married the photographer Inge Morath. They have one child, Rebecca Miller, who is an actress. Miller's works are known for their strong commitment to social justice, their concern for the ordinary person, and their intricate explorations of the inner lives of their characters. Other plays by Miller include A View from the Bridge (1955), After the Fall (1964), Incident at Vichy (1964), The Price (1968), The American Clock (1980), and The Last Yankee (1993). He has also written several travel narratives and a novel. His autobiography, Timebends: A Life, was published in 1987. Miller continued to be active in the arts and to receive accolades. He won a Kennedy Center award for lifetime achievement in the arts in 1984, and in 1993 he received the National Medal of the Arts from President Clinton. Broken Glass, published in 1994 and written for his late father, received the 1995 Oliver award. On February 10, 2005, Miller died of congestive heart failure at his home in Roxbury, Connecticut at the age of 89. The date of his death happened to be the 56th anniversary of the Broadway opening of “Death of a Salesman”. HISTORICAL BACKGROUND As a dramatist, Miller has more in common with Ibsen, Shaw, Chekov, and Brecht than with his fellow American playwrights, Eugene O'Neil or Thornton Wilder. With Ibsen, Shaw, and Chekov, Miller shares in common the philosophy that the fate of a person is social and that the stage should be considered as a medium more important for ideas than for mere entertainment. As a dramatist, Miller is a moralist, and his plays have a serious intellectual purpose. The theater of twentieth century America took a long time to come of age. No American dramatist in the early 1900’s dared to experiment with subjects, ideas, or production techniques because theatre was regarded as business. Slowly, in response to the plays of European realistic dramatists, American theater began to change. The years between the end of World War I and the beginning of the Depression saw more frequent reflections of economic problems on the American stage. In 1922, Eugene O'Neill's Hairy Ape represented the psychological defeat of an uncouth proletarian struggling to adjust himself to a complex economic order which he could not understand. Maxwell Anderson's play What Price Glory (1924) dealt with the bitter realities of war and its aftermath. After World War II, the theatre of social protest fell into disrepute. Senator McCarthy succeeded in suppressing critical dissent and created a climate hostile to the free
expression of the artist. During this period, the American theater concentrated on light comedy and lush musicals. Arthur Miller, born in 1915, was a young adult at the time of the suppression of free thinking. He decided to fight McCarthyism and to work for the expression of free ideas in the theatre. He also decided to write plays of social protest. In Death of a Salesman (1949), Miller criticizes the falsity of the American Dream and the emphasis placed on financial success in the United States. ACT 1 Summary Willy Loman, a traveling salesman for the Wagner Company, comes on stage carrying his suitcase, which is described as “his burden”. Willy has suddenly come back home because he cannot keep his mind on driving. He tells Linda, his wife, that he was having strange dreams as he drove. She says that Willy needs a long rest. She also suggests that he talk to his manager about getting a transfer from the New England territory to someplace closer to New York. Willy, however, feels that he is vital to the New England territory. Willy asks Linda about his sons, who are home for the first time in years. He is particularly concerned about Biff, his thirty-four year old son who cannot find a job and keep it. He cannot understand Biff’s troubles since he is so attractive, a trait that is very important in Willy’s mind. Willy complains of being suffocated in the city, feeling "all boxed in." Linda suggests that they take a ride in the country on Sunday and open the windshield. Willy tells her that the windshields do not open on the new cars. He then thinks about his old 1928 Chevrolet. The scene next shifts to the bedroom of Biff and Happy, the two sons of Willy, who discuss their father. Happy tells Biff that he is worried that Willy's driver's license may be taken away from him. Biff complains about Willy constantly mocking him. He feels that he cannot establish a rapport with his father. Happy tells him that Willy talks about Biff all the time. Biff then begins to tell Happy about his life for the last fourteen years. He says he can never keep a job because when spring comes, he feels like moving on to another place. Biff remembers that he had once stolen a carton of basketballs from one of his coaches, Bill Oliver, and wonders whether Oliver still remembers him. Happy assures Biff that Oliver always thought highly of him because he was so well liked. Happy tells Biff that he has most of the things he ever wanted--his own apartment, a car, and relationships with women; in spite of these things, he still feels lonely. Biff thinks his brother should be working outside in the open air and should settle down with a nice steady woman, one like their mother. Their conversation is interrupted
by Willy, who is talking rather loudly to himself. Biff resents that his mother still tolerates Willy’s behavior. The scene next shifts to Willy, who is talking to himself and reflecting on a time in 1928 when he had come back from a trip. Young Biff and Happy come on the stage dressed as young boys, to indicate that Willy is thinking of the old days. The boys are excited about the punching bag that their father has bought for them. When Willy asks Biff about his new football, the boy tells him that he borrowed it from the locker room so he can practice. Happy remarks that Biff will get into trouble because he has stolen the football, but Willy thinks that the coach will probably congratulate him on his initiative. Willy tells the boys that he will have his own business some day and will not have to go on any more trips. Before then, he promises to take the boys with him on a trip up through New England. Bernard, a friend of Biff, arrives. He reminds Biff that they are supposed to study, stating that the math teacher has threatened to flunk Biff. Willy, however, thinks that it is unnecessary for a boy who has made a mark in athletics to study. When Biff does not respond, Bernard leaves. Biff then tells his father that Bernard is liked but not well liked. Willy says that good marks in school do not ensure success in life. What really matters is being well liked and being personally attractive. While Willy is conversing with young Biff and Happy, Linda enters the scene carrying a basket of wash. Willy tells her how great he was on the road and how much he has sold. Linda tells him how much debt they owe, and Willy realizes that they owe more than he has made. Later Willy says he is worried that people do not like him. Linda, who is mending some silk stockings, assures Willy that he is well liked. Willy worries whether he has lost his personal attractiveness, but Linda assures him that he is still a handsome man. The silk stockings trigger a flashback for Willy. Suddenly a woman appears in his thoughts. She is laughing while she gets dressed. She says that she picked Willy out because he is such a joker. As she leaves, she thanks Willy for the stockings he gave her. Willy returns to the present and tells Linda how lonesome he gets on the road. He also reassures her that things will get better and has her stop mending the stockings. Bernard then re-appears in Willy’s mind and reminds Biff to study. Willy now gets mad at Biff for not studying and threatens to whip him. He then changes his mind and says that he does not want Biff to be a worm like Bernard, for Biff has got spirit and personality. As the lights begin to return to indicate the present, Happy comes down to check on his father. He says that he is going to retire his dad, which Willy considers to be ridiculous. Willy then remembers his dead brother Ben and says that he should have gone to Alaska and become rich with him. At this point, Charley enters and sends Happy away. He sits with Willy to play cards and offers his friend a job; Willy, however, refuses. Charley tells Willy not to worry so much about Biff. As he and Charley are talking, Brother Ben appears to Willy in an illusion, but Ben is in a hurry. Back in the present, Willy insults Charley, who gets up and leaves.
Willy now turns his full attention to his illusion of Ben, who says that he went into the jungle when he was seventeen and came out rich at twenty-one. Willy asks Ben about their parents. Ben says that their father made flutes and then went about the country selling them. Biff and Happy appear as youngsters. Ben tells Biff to hit him in the stomach to show how tough he is. Before the boy can act, Ben trips Biff and tells him to never fight fair, especially with a stranger. Willy sends the boys to the neighboring construction project to steal lumber so as to show Ben how fearless they are. Ben says he must leave to tend to the stock exchange. Willy pleads with him to stay, to no avail. As Ben leaves, he assures Willy that his sons are "manly chaps." Linda comes downstairs to check on Willy, who is going for a walk even though he is wearing house slippers. Biff asks his mother what is wrong with his dad. Linda explains how his coming home affects his father; Biff’s presence seems to agitate him. Linda tells her son that he has to learn to respect Willy and pay attention to him. She also tells Biff that after thirty-four years of service, the company has put Willy back on straight commission. Biff says that the company is ungrateful. Linda tells him that the company is no worse than Biff and Happy. Biff refuses to take the blame and accuses his father of being a fake. Linda tells Biff that Willy is trying to commit suicide. Sometime back, when he was in a car wreck, the insurance company investigated whether it was a deliberate attempt. Another time Linda found a rubber hose attached to the gas pipe. She pleads with Biff, telling him that Willy's life is in his hands. Biff’s answer is that they should all be in jobs where they can work outside and whistle when they want. In the next scene, Willy re-enters. Happy tells Willy that Biff is going to see Bill Oliver. Willy is excited over the idea. Happy even suggests that they form two Loman brothers’ teams and compete against each other for publicity. Willy says that if they do so they could lick the world together. Willy then gives some pointers to Biff to make his appointments with Oliver a success. He tells him to wear a dark suit, to talk little, and to tell no jokes. Biff says that he will ask Oliver for ten thousand dollars, but Willy says that ten is too little and tells him to ask for fifteen thousand. His advice to Biff is "if you start out big, you end up big." He then decides that Biff should begin with a couple of jokes because "personality" always wins the day. When Linda tries to say something, Willy yells at her. Biff resents this, and he and Willy argue again. Willy leaves, and Biff thinks with ten thousand dollars he can really do great things. Linda follows Willy up to the bedroom and reminds him of the plumbing problem. He feels that suddenly everything is falling to pieces. Biff and Happy come in to the room to say good night. Willy gives more advice to Biff about what to do in the interview with Oliver and reminds him that he has greatness in him. Happy tells his parents that he is going to get married. Biff goes down to the kitchen and removes the rubber tubing.
PLOT SUMMARY WITH NOTES / ANALYSIS ACT 1 Notes In the first act, the reader is introduced to the Loman family. Willy lives most of his life in a world of illusion in which he romanticizes his past, and his family does nothing to stop him. Although his illusions have been with him all his life, the problem is that now, in his later years, Willy is having trouble distinguishing between past and present, appearance and reality. In the opening scene, Willy comes home and tells Linda he has been driving with the windshield open. When she suggests that they take a ride later with the windshield open, he says windshields are no longer made to open. He has earlier confused his present car with his old 1928 Chevy, in which the windshields did open. The period around 1928 seems to be the last happy time in Willy's life; it was the time when Biff was a high school senior and the captain and star of the football team. It quickly becomes apparent in this first act that Willy's personal philosophy of life deals entirely with superficial values; he is concerned with appearance rather than substance. He believes the most important things in the world, in both social and business environments, are to be well liked and attractive; unfortunately, he has also taught his sons these values, and they are seen espousing them as their own. Willy also feels nostalgic for the olden days, when everyone lived on a farm. In the city, he always complains of feeling "boxed in" and tells Linda that "nothing will grow here." As life begins to close in on Willy, this idea is symbolically portrayed in Willy's inability to get anything to grow in his back yard. The image of Willy trying to plant seeds that never spring to life is symbolic of the failure of the American Dream to come to fruition for Willy and most other working class people. Hard work and dedication do not bring Willy success; instead, he finds himself in old age to be poor, out of work, and dissatisfied with life. As he wanders in and out of illusions, Willy often contradicts himself. For instance, Willy says of Biff, "The trouble is he's lazy. Biff is a lazy bum!" Yet, later, he says, "There's one thing about Biff--he is not lazy." In a fleeting moment of reality, Willy truthfully criticizes Biff, but he returns to his illusions that "personal attractiveness" is all a man needs to succeed. In his illusory world, nothing is wrong with Biff. Happy and Biff also live in a world of illusion. Biff casually mentions to Happy that he stole some basketballs from Oliver, trying to insert reality into the world of the Loman fantasies. Happy tries to overlook the dishonesty and tells Biff that Oliver always thought highly of Biff. In a later flashback, Willy remembers Biff saying that he “borrowed” a football from the locker room; Happy states the reality that Biff has stolen the ball and is sure to get in trouble. Willy brushes off the dishonesty by saying the coach would probably be proud of Biff for taking the initiative to practice. Later, Willy actually sends his sons out to steal lumber, in order to impress Ben.
Willy’s lack of morality on the issue of honesty greatly affects Biff and his ability to hold a job. Like Willy, Happy also lies to himself about his work and about his appearance; he constantly tells his father that he is successfully losing weight, improving his attractiveness. He also erroneously believes that as soon as the merchandise manager dies, he will become the new manager. It is doubtful, however, that such a promotion would make Happy happy. He says that he already has everything he wants, an apartment, a car, and women, and he still feels lonely. Biff is obviously a lonely idealist as well. He believes that all the Loman problems can be fixed by simply working outdoors where they will have the freedom to whistle when they want. In Act 1, Miller explores the relationship between the son and the father. Biff feels that he can never communicate with Willy, and this feeling mounts until the climax of the play when Biff tries to force reality upon his dad. Biff has difficulty with the way that Willy treats his mother. He also has problems with Willy’s world of illusions. In truth, the fact that Willy has always excused his son for his behavior is a real problem for Biff, for he has developed no backbone. In later acts, it is revealed that Biff has lost every job because of stealing. In fact, Biff actually goes to jail for theft. In spite of Biff’s many problems, Willy is obviously very partial to him. Happy constantly stands in the shadow of his elder brother, unnoticed and craving the attention of his father. Willy is not realistic about his earnings. He brags to Linda that he made $1200 gross in Boston, but when Linda calculates the commission, he has to admit that he made only $200 gross on the entire trip. Even in his illusion, he cannot face the fact that he is not a good salesman. At times, Linda hints at the reality of their economic straits. She seems to be the one in the family most affected by the reality of their poverty. Yet, she is terribly guilty of allowing Willy to live in his world of illusion. At times when he tries to face reality, Linda places him squarely back into his fantasy world. When Willy tells Linda that people do not seem to like him and laugh at him for talking too much, Linda tells him that he is a wonderful man whom everyone likes. Perhaps Linda contributes to his illusions because she knows there is nothing else to the man. Willy's infidelities to Linda are revealed early in the play. In a flashback, Biff remembers the time he caught Willy in his hotel room with a strange woman; after the discovery, Biff never fully trusted his father again. As Willy stands before Linda as she mends the holes in her silk stockings, his guilt takes him years back when he stood in a hotel room and gave silk stockings to his lover. Willy responds to his guilt with empty promises, saying he is going to make it all up to Linda. Linda's character is developed in this first act. She is the traditional wife and mother, staying at home to care for her family. Linda accuses Biff and Happy of
being disrespectful to their father and begs them to pay Willy more attention. Though she loves her sons, her husband's interests are her primary concern. In fact, she asks Biff not to come home again unless he learns to respect his father. Linda’s speeches in the play often represent Miller's social conscience. Her words of advice to her sons are Miller’s words of advice to the younger generation to learn to respect the individual, no matter his or her status in life. It is also a plea for people not to be discarded in their old age . Part of the American Dream is to one day own one's own business, for the belief is that ownership will make one rich. It is part of the dream of rugged individualism as a means to success. It is not surprising that Willy dreams of owing his own business and has planted this dream in the minds of his sons. Biff wants to borrow the money from Oliver to start his own company and become successful. It is also not surprising that Willy judges his brother, Ben, to be the ideal, the symbol of the American Dream. After all, he walked into the jungle as a young man and emerged a rich gentleman four years later. Of course, Ben is dead and his been dead for a while, indicating that all was not perfect for Willy’s brother. When Willy questions Ben, in an illusion, about his secret for success, the answer is frightening. Ben clearly tells the young Biff that one must never fight fair, especially with a stranger; as a result, he cruelly trips a young, unsuspecting Biff. Willy tries to impress his brother by sending his sons to steal lumber in order to prove that Biff and Happy are fearless boys. The pathetic philosophies of Willy and Ben are probably due in part to their own father, who was a traveling salesman, peddling musical flutes that he made. Although Willy is a salesman like him, he must sell products that belong to others, a step below the salesmanship of his father. Willy has based his career as a salesman on being well liked. In sales, where a person does not have mastery of a body of knowledge, it is important to be able to please others, to gain their trust to buy a product. Through most of his sales life, Willy has felt successful, not because he has made much money, but because he feels like his customers in New England have liked him. Now he even questions this fact and complains about it to his wife. Reinforcing Willy’s world of illusions, Linda assures him that everyone likes Willy. The audience, however, knows this is not true. Biff does not really like his father, and even his friend Charley gets easily irritated with Willy. It becomes obvious that Willy is jealous of Charley, who is hard working, sincere, and practical. He is also successful in life; but Charley, ironically, is the exact opposite of what Willy believes a man needs to be successful. Charley has no personal attractiveness; he is not adventurous; and he is not well liked. Yet Charley has the financial security that Willy longs for. Out of subconscious, petty jealousy, Willy insults Charley in every scene where they are together; the jealousy also prevents Willy from accepting the job offer from Charley, even though he desperately needs to work.
In the later part of the scene, Bernard is introduced as the opposite of Biff, who is a practical boy and a good student. Not surprisingly, both Biff and Willy laugh at Bernard. Biff says that Bernard is liked but not well liked. Willy discourages Biff from befriending Bernard, for he thinks he is a “worm” and an unpopular, unattractive boy. Later in the play the unattractive Bernard is shown as a successful man, while the physically attractive Biff is a complete failure. The first act also foreshadows the suicide of the last act. Linda points out that Willy has already made a number of attempts at suicide. She even goes as far as to issue an admonition to Biff, stating that “his life is in your hands." At the end of the first act, Biff responds by taking the rubber hose from the hot water tank as a preventive measure. The irony is that Biff drives his father to suicide by making him realize the emptiness of his life. With further irony, Willy kills himself so that Biff will have a better chance in life. ACT II Summary When he gets up the next morning, Willy feels good because Biff has gone to see Oliver. He himself is filled with resolve, deciding to buy some seeds to plant in the backyard and to tell Howard that he needs a job in New York. As Willy is about to leave, Linda reminds him of the payments they owe; the car and the refrigerator both have repair bills. The last mortgage payment on the house also has to be paid. Linda finally reminds Willy that he is supposed to meet Biff and Happy for dinner. Linda is again mending stockings since she cannot afford new ones. When Willy notices it, he tells her to stop her mending. As Willy leaves, Linda telephones Biff and tells him how happy his father is this morning. The next scene is in Howard's office. Howard is listening to a tape-recording made by his family. He tells Willy about the advantages of owning a tape-recorder. Willy changes the subject and reminds Howard that he has been promised a job in New York, reminding him that he has been with the firm many years. Willy also tells Howard about Dave Singleman, who was a well-loved salesman. When he died at eighty-four, people from all over the country came to his funeral. Willy obviously wants to be like Singleman. Willy, confused by his illusions, tells Howard that he earned a hundred and seventy dollars a week in 1928, but Howard tells him that he has never made that much. At this Willy gets angry and loud; Howard responds by telling Willy to control himself and leaves the office. When Howard comes back, Willy volunteers to go back to Boston. Howard then tells Willy that he cannot represent the firm anymore and instructs him to bring back his sample cases. Before leaving the office again, Howard suggests that Willy get some help from his sons.
Left by himself, Ben appears to him in an illusion. Willy asks him the same questions about his success. This time Ben offers Willy a job in Alaska, but Linda reminds her husband that Wagner has promised him a partnership. Willy tells Ben that he is building something on his own because of his personality. Ben abruptly leaves as Willy tells him that he will conquer the world in New York. Willy next sees young Bernard rushing off to see a football game in which Biff is playing. Charley appears and wants to know where everyone is going. Willy is shocked to realize that his friend does not know that this is the day for Biff's great game. When Charley teases Willy about the game, Willy gets mad. Charley responds by asking, "When are you going to grow up?" This question infuriates Willy. Back in the present, Willy next walks towards Charley's office in hopes of borrowing some money from his friend. When he arrives, he stands outside, talking to himself. Bernard comes out to see Willy. Willy notices that Bernard is carrying a tennis racket, on his way to play on some private courts. Willy is obviously impressed by Bernard’s apparent success. He lies and tells Bernard that Biff is working on some big deal. Bernard tries to question Willy about Biff. He wants to know what has happened to him recently. The last things that Bernard can remember are Biff’s flunking math and going to Boston. He also remembers that he and Biff fought one another for a long time, for no apparent reason. Willy becomes very angry with Bernard and accuses him of trying to blame him for something. Charley comes in and sends Bernard off to the tennis courts. He tells Willy that Bernard is going to argue a case before the Supreme Court. Willy asks Charley for some more money to pay his insurance. Charley again offers Willy a job, but Willy at first insists that he has a good job and is well liked. Charley tells Willy that being well liked is not important. He also asks his friend, "When the hell are you going to grow up?" Willy then confesses that he has lost his job, but he explains that he simply cannot work for Charley. Feeling sorry for Willy, Charley gives him the needed money. Appreciatively, Willy tells him that he is his only friend. As Willy leaves, he tells Charley that a man ends up worth more dead then alive. Happy arrives at the restaurant. He orders a meal and begins flirting with a woman who has just walked in. When Biff arrives, Happy asks the woman to find another female to join them. When the woman leaves, Biff tells Happy that he had to wait all day to see Oliver, and then the man did not remember him. Biff now realizes that his whole life has been a ridiculous lie. Today he stole Oliver’s pen, just as he has stolen his basketballs in the past. Biff tells Happy that he wants to tell Willy the truth, to make him see that his oldest son is a failure and a cheat. Happy suggests that Biff tell Willy something nice rather than the truth.
Willy joins his sons in the restaurant and is anxious to hear about Biff's interview. Biff tries to tell Willy the truth, but Willy is not interested in the facts. He tells his boys that he wants to hear something good because he has just been fired. Willy imagines how Oliver must have given Biff a great welcome, throwing his arms around him. Unable to tolerate such fantasies any longer, Biff cries out that he cannot talk to Willy. Willy’s response is to drift into his fantasy world. Young Bernard again enters, calling for Biff to come and study math. Suddenly, back in the present, Willy angrily accuses Biff of flunking math. Biff is totally unable to relate to what Willy is talking about; he tries again to tell Willy what has actually happened at Oliver's, but Willy is again in his world of illusions, listening to Linda and Bernard discussing Biff's failure in math. Willy is suddenly jolted back to the present when he hears Biff say that he stole Oliver's fountain pen. Biff promises his father to find some kind of job. He then begs Willy, "Talk to me, Dad." Willy only hears an operator's voice paging him in his illusions, and he grows frantic. When Biff tells him that there is no opportunity for him with Oliver, Willy thinks that Biff is resisting Oliver’s offer just to spite him. Even though Biff tries to show Willy that he is a failure, Willy will not listen. The women return to the table to see Happy and Biff. Willy hears a woman's voice calling him, so he leaves to go to the bathroom. Happy and Biff then leave the restaurant with the women. The scene shifts to the past in a hotel room in Boston. Willy is with a woman who is telling him how he has ruined her. When knocking is heard at the door, Willy tells the woman to stay in the bathroom and not to come out. Biff is at the hotel room door. He tells Willy that he has flunked math. Biff says that Bernard tried to give him some answers, but he still lacked four points to pass. He rationalizes that he flunked because the math exam was right before football practice, and his mind was on the playing field. Biff also attributes his failure to the fact that his teacher did not like him; he had once imitated his teacher in front of the class and was caught in the act. Biff and Willy both laugh at this behavior. The woman hears the laughter and comes out. Willy gets her out of the room quickly, but not before she demands the silk stockings which Willy has promised her. Biff is shocked and upset when he realizes what is going on. He accuses Willy of giving away "mama's stockings." He then calls Willy a liar and a fake. Willy's flashback is cut short by the waiter, Stanley, who informs him that Biff and Happy have left with the women. Willy then leaves to go and look for some seeds to plant. Later that night, Biff and Happy arrive home with some flowers for Linda. She throws them away and tells her sons that they should not have treated their father the way they did. Happy tells her that they all had a great time, but Biff stops him. He agrees with Linda that he is the scum of the earth. He also says he wants to talk to Willy. Linda tells Biff that Willy is doing some gardening.
The scene shifts to Willy planting seeds in the garden. He is also talking to Ben about "a guaranteed twenty thousand-dollar proposition." Ben wonders whether the life insurance company will honor the policy. He also suggests that it is a cowardly thing to do and that Biff will hate him for it. Willy answers that the company will have to pay off. He adds that it would be more cowardly to live "ringing up a zero." Ben agrees that twenty thousand is something tangible. Willy thinks that many people from his New England territory would come to his funeral; then Biff would have to respect him and would not do things out of spite. Ben tells Willy that he will think about the proposition. Biff comes outside to talk to Willy. He tells him that he is leaving and not coming back. Still believing in illusions, Willy tries to talk to him about Oliver. Biff explains that he must go and wants Willy to come into the house. Willy refuses to shake hands and warns Biff that he is cutting down his life to spite his father. Biff becomes angry and confronts him with the rubber hose. He tells Willy that it is now time they told the truth. Biff explains that the reason he has been unable to hold down a job is that he has always stolen from the company. Now, he simply wants to discover himself. Willy, not really hearing anything that Biff has said, again tells his son how attractive he is. Biff is completely frustrated; he just wants Willy to understand that he is not acting out of spite. Unable to make his father hear him, Biff suddenly breaks down and sobs and asks Willy to burn his phony dream. Willy is surprised that Biff is willing to cry in front of him, for he has thought that Biff hated him. Willy now thinks that Biff will do magnificent things. Willy turns to Ben, who has just reappeared in an illusion; Ben confirms Willy's opinion of Biff. The two men then talk over Willy’s proposition and agree that it is a good idea. Ben reminds Willy that it is 'time, William, time." Willy begins to go quickly towards the outside, talking to Biff. He advises his son about how to play football. Linda calls out to Willy, as a car is heard driving off at full speed. ACT II Notes This act is filled with contrasts and pathos. Willy begins his day filled with hope, for Biff has gone to see Oliver, and Willy is certain great things will come from the meeting. He is so positive that he decides he will go out and get some seeds to plant for the yard and talk to Howard about a transfer from New England to New York. The first hint that Willy’s day will not go well comes when his wife reminds him about the payments that are due - on the car, the refrigerator, and the house. Willy ironically responds, that “they time them so when you finally paid for them, they're used up." Although he is talking about the appliances and the car, this, in essence, also describes Willy's life. When he has paid his debts, he is used up and worthless, easily discarded by the company and his sons.
It is appropriate that when Willy is happy he wants to plant some seeds that will grow into plants. There is in Willy a strong need to create something, to leave something material behind. Just as he wants to plant seeds, he wants to plant ideas of success in the minds of his sons. Unfortunately, everything Willy plants does not seem to bloom, even though Willy cannot accept this fact. He still believes he will have flowers in the back yard, and he still believes his sons will be successful. Willy first goes to his boss’ office to ask for the transfer to New York. In order for his request to be honored, Willy desperately tries to prove to Howard that he has been a good salesman in the past; he even lies about how much he has made, because Willy cannot distinguish truth from illusion. When Howard contradicts the amount, Willy argues with him and gets angry. Howard responds by firing Willy, asking him to return his sales cases. The pathos of Willy’s situation is summarized in his comment: "You can't eat the orange and throw the peel away. A man is not a piece of fruit." But Howard, as a businessman, has squeezed out all of Willy’s juices and has now permanently discarded him; he is no longer of use to the company, no matter how long he has worked for them. There are two important things to notice about the scene with Howard. One is the description that Willy gives of the successful salesman who died at the age of eighty-four. Willy is impressed with the fact that many of his clients came to the man’s funeral, indicating that Singleman was extremely popular. In truth, Singleman is the image of what Willy would like to be - a financially successful and well-liked salesman. Unfortunately, Willy is never to obtain this dream; at the end of the play, Willy dies penniless, and the audience sees that no one attends his funeral. Additionally, in the scene with Howard, Willy is trapped by his own lies and illusions. He has always bragged to Howard about how wonderful and successful his sons are. Howard, therefore, has no qualms about firing Willy, for he is sure that his sons will be able to take care of their father. He even suggests to Willy that he should turn to his sons for help. Of course, neither Biff nor Happy is able to support Willy. After he is fired, Willy goes into his fantasy world, where his dead brother Ben offers him a job. In the illusion, Linda interferes and reminds Willy that he is sure to make partner in his present job in New York. Of course, the audience realizes that Willy has probably repeatedly told Linda that he was going to be offered a partnership in the future. This illusion is particularly ironic, being juxtaposed next to his having been fired from the company that was to have made him a partner. Willy’s exclamation to Ben that he is going to conquer the world is equally ironic. His next illusion is to remember the day of Biff’s great football game. Everyone is rushing to the game when Charley comes in, wondering where everyone is going in such a hurry. Willy is upset that his friend does not remember that it is Biff’s big day. Charley laughs at Willy about making the game so important and asks him when he
is going to grow up. In contrast to the practical, rational Charley, Willy does seem particularly childish and immature. Facing the real world of his financial problems, Willy actually heads to Charley’s office to see if he can borrow some more money from his friend. As Willy waits outside the office, talking to himself, Bernard, Biff’s old friend and Charley’s son, emerges, carrying tennis rackets and heading towards some private courts to play. He is the picture of success, and a sharp contrast to Biff. As a youth, Biff was the popular one - a successful athlete and a handsome boy; as an adult, however, he has turned into a drifter, unable to hold down a job. Now it is Bernard who is successful; he is a well-known lawyer who has enough financial security to play tennis during a business day. Bernard wants to know from Willy what has happened to Biff. As soon as Bernard mentions Biff's trip to Boston, Willy yells at him and accuses him of putting the blame on him. This is Willy's defense mechanism for his guilt over the Boston fiasco, which will be detailed in a flashback later in the act. When Willy meets with Charley, he again offers Willy a job, but Willy is too proud to accept. At first he even lies and tells Charley that he has a very good paying job. Then he confesses to his friend that he has just been fired, but still refuses to take Charley up on his offer of employment. Willy’ words to Charley, that a man is worth more dead than alive, foreshadow Willy’s suicide at the end of the play. The scene ends with a rare moment of Willy facing the truth; he admits to Charley that he is his only friend in the world, a sad statement from a man who thinks that being well liked is the most important thing in life. The restaurant scene depicts Happy's totally irresponsible behavior. Although he knows he is meeting his father for lunch, he picks up a woman and has her at his table before Biff or Willy arrives. When Biff tries to explain to Happy that he needs to make Willy see the truth about Biff’s failures, Happy counsels him to tell their father something that would make him happy rather than telling him the truth. Like Linda, Happy encourages Willy to continue his world of illusion. In contrast to Happy, who is only interested in living life for the present moment, Biff is trying to come to on understanding of who he really is. After the interview with Oliver, who does not even recognize him, Biff realizes that his whole life has been a ridiculous lie, fed by Willy’s compliments and dreams. During the interview, Biff has stolen a fountain pen from Oliver, just as he has earlier stolen basketballs from him. In fact, stealing is a compulsion with Biff and the reason he has been fired from every job. Biff would like to tell his father the entire truth about himself, but Willy refuses to listen. It is no wonder that Biff cries out that he cannot communicate with his father. Ironically, Willy thinks that Biff is a failure to spite him. He is unable to accept any of the blame for his son’s failures in life; he does not see how his permissiveness in the past has contributed to Biff’s current problems. Instead, Willy convinces himself that
Biff has not accepted Oliver’s offer to hurt him. In actuality, Biff is trying to make Willy see the truth so he will not be hurt in the future. He even tells Ms. Forsyth that Willy “is a fine, troubled Prince. A hardworking, unappreciated prince. A good companion always for his boys." Biff, in his search for truth, is able to evaluate his father in a realistic way. He feels that Willy has lots of faults, but lots of values too. The young women at their table cause Willy to have another flashback - to the important scene in Boston. He is in a hotel room with a woman, when he hears a knocking on the door. Telling the woman to stay hidden in the bathroom, he goes to the door to find Biff, who has come to confess to his dad that he has flunked math and cannot continue his education. Biff gives all kinds of lame excuses for his failure and even confesses that he has cheated on the exam in order to pass, but even that did not work. Willy simply laughs it off. When the woman hears the laughter, she enters the room and demands the silk stocking that Willy has promised. Biff, realizing what is going on, is horrified and calls his father a liar and a fake. Out of the three Loman men, Biff is the most honest. He admits that he is the lowliest sort of human and a total failure in life; he says, “Nothing! I am nothing!” He desperately wants Willy to realize the same thing about him and see how he has contributed to his son’s problems. Biff says that Willy “blew me so full of hot air I could never stand taking orders from anybody." Now Biff just wants all of them to look at each other honestly; perhaps then they could make lives for themselves. Unfortunately, Willy is incapable of facing the truth, even though Biff tells him to burn his phony dreams. Happy has no desire to face the truth; he is totally content in his petty, live-for-today existence. When Biff breaks down and sobs, over Willy’s blindness and his own failures, it is a climactic moment in the play. Ironically, Biff's attempts to make Willy face reality turn out the very opposite of what Biff wants. Willy feels that Biff needs him more than ever and is desperate to give his son something to make him a success. The depth of Willy's desperation has become apparent in this act. He talks to his dead brother Ben, in couched terms, about committing suicide. He believes that if Biff has the twenty thousand dollars from his life insurance policy, he can make something of himself and become successful. He also believes that Biff, whom he feels hates him and spites him, will be impressed when he sees how many people attend his father’s funeral. It is important to realize that the jungle that Ben keeps mentioning in Willy’s illusion is the jungle of death. Ben’s caution to his brother, "Time, William, Time," reminds Willy that life is closing in on her and time is running out. At the end of the act, Willy leaves in the car to commit suicide. REQUIEM Summary
At Willy's grave a few days later, Linda wonders why no one has come to the funeral. Linda also tells Charley that for the first time in thirty-five years, they have cleared their debts. Biff comments to Charley that Willy had all the wrong dreams, but Charley answers that a salesman must have dreams to live. After the others leave, Linda stays at the grave to say goodbye to Willy. She tells him that she has made the last mortgage payment on their house; ironically, now that it is paid for, she says that there is no one to live there. Notes The requiem is a sad afterword on Willy Loman’s life and brings the play to an appropriate and tragic end. After he commits suicide, no one attends Willy's funeral, proving he was not well liked or admired, as he had longed for. The empty funeral is final proof that his dreams and philosophies were phony. Biff seems to know that Willy had all the wrong dreams, but he himself does not yet have a firm grasp of reality; there is, however, some hope for him, since he is able to admit the failures of his life. Happy, on the other hand, is mired in a world of illusions, just like his father. He honestly believes that he will soon be promoted to store manager, thereby justifying Willy’s dreams for him. It is obvious that Happy will never be any more successful than Willy. The motif of being "used up" closes the play. Willy's life was used up - by the Wagner Company and by his fantasies. This “used” motif is the basis for Miller's strongest condemnation of American society. Like most middle class men, Willy worked very hard and had very little. He was never able to get anything paid before it was used up. By the time he paid off the refrigerator, the car, and the house, they were falling apart and in need of repair. By the time Willy is ready for retirement, he is used up by his company, who has sucked all his youthful energy while keeping the American Dream in front of him with the promise of promotions that never came. Willy was simply never able to keep up with even his modest existence. He made matters worse by fooling himself into believing that there was hope. When Willy was no longer able to keep up the pace of twelve hours a day and attract new customers, the company discarded him like an orange peel. The death of the salesman, at his own hands, is a true tragedy and negative comment on the unfilled American Dream. CHARACTER ANALYSIS Willy Loman Willy Loman is the main character and protagonist of the play. He has been a traveling salesman, the lowest of positions, for the Wagner Company for thirty-four years. Never very successful in sales, Willy has earned a meager income and owns little. His refrigerator, his car, and his house are all old - used up and falling apart, much like Willy. Willy, however, is unable to face the truth about himself. He kids himself into believing that he is well liked by his customers in the New England
territory and by the company, who is sure to give him a promotion or opportunity to make more income. Willy's dream is to become like Dave Singleman, who was very popular with his clients and able to do business by just making phone calls. Because he was so well liked, when Singleman died, customers from all over his region came to his funeral. Willy dares to believe that his funeral will be similar to Singleman’s. Ironically, when Willy commits suicide, almost no one attends the funeral, proving the error of his philosophies. Throughout his life, Willy believed that if one was attractive and well liked, everything would be perfect. The doors would automatically open for such a man, and he was sure to be successful. In order to believe that he and his family are successes, Willy lies to himself and lives in a world of illusions. He says of himself that he is well liked in all the towns he visits and by all the customers that he calls on; he also erroneously believes that he is vital to the New England territory and will some day receive a promotion for his hard work. He even lies to himself, and then his boss, about how much he actually earns. Because he wants to prove to himself that he is well liked, Willy has at least one affair, attracting the young woman by offering to purchase her a pair of silk stockings. When Biff discovers his father in the hotel room with the woman, he recognizes Willy for what he is and calls him a liar and a fake. Willy also lives in a world of illusions about his two sons. He is convinced that Happy is a content, successful young man who will soon become a store manager. In truth, Happy is a loser, like his father, who lives in his own world of illusions and contributes to keeping Willy in his fantasies. Although he has his own apartment and car and claims to have relationships with women, Happy admits that he is lonely and unhappy, with no clue of how to rise above the unhappiness. Willy is even more naïve about Biff. Since he is the more attractive son who has been a successful athlete in high school, Willy has placed most of his dreams in this older son. Biff, however, fails miserably. He flunks math and cannot continue his education. He is a compulsive thief, who has lost every job because of his stealing. Biff even admits he is a “nothing,” a total failure. Willy refuses to see the truth about Biff, even when the son tries to tell him. In fact, Willy commits suicide so that Biff will have his life insurance money. He is certain that Biff can make something of himself with twenty thousand dollars. Willy Loman is a tragic figure who is largely to blame for his own downfall. He is fired from the Wagner Company because he is no longer effective and gets angry with and lies to the boss. He misjudges his sons and fails to accept the truth about either of them. He even puts his wife Linda into the position where she is totally dependent on him; in order, to protect herself and her family, she supports Willy’s illusions, even telling him that he is a good provider. Because Willy has an incorrigible inability to tell the truth, even to himself, and an unreasonable mode of thinking, he justifies his death by saying that his sacrifice will save his sons,
particularly Biff; the insurance money they collect will be a tangible remembrance of Willy. The people at the funeral, who Willy is sure will be in attendance, will prove to his sons that he was respected and well liked. It is obvious that even until the last moments of his life, Willy lives a lie. The one redeeming quality in Willy Loman is his love for his family, particularly for his unworthy son, Biff. Even when Biff forces his father to face reality, Willy is unable to accept the truth as presented to him by his elder son. Instead, he chooses to commit suicide, believing it will give Biff a better chance to succeed in life. In his mind, Willy is making the ultimate sacrifice for his family when he kills himself. Therefore, Willy, in his own mind, dies as a father and husband, not as a salesman as Miller indicates in the title of the play. Linda Loman Linda Loman, Willy’s faithful wife, is the most sympathetic character in the play. Downtrodden and leading a seemingly miserable existence, Linda still truly loves her husband in spite of all his faults and always stands by him. Although she spends her life cooking, cleaning, trying to make ends meet, and bolstering Willy’s sense of self-importance, she never complains about the way she lives. Instead, she complains about how shabbily her sons, Happy and Biff, treat their father. She even tells Biff that he cannot come home again unless he learns to get along better with Willy. Linda's weakness is that she does not have the imagination to understand Willy's dreams of success. When Willy has the opportunity to go off to Alaska and make it big with Ben, it is Linda who holds him back by reminding him of his great future with the Wagner firm. She also repeatedly lies to Willy, leading him to believe that he adequately provides for her and the family. She also tells him that he is popular and well liked by everyone. Linda's role in the play is not a complex one. She is simply the traditional and concerned wife and mother, who struggles to make ends meet and keep her family, particularly Willy, happy. She also serves to feed and enhance Willy’s illusions about himself. The Requiem of the play gives a pathetic final picture of Linda. She stays behind at Willy’s grave after everyone has left, for she wants to say a final goodbye. She proudly tells Willy that she has made the last mortgage payment on the house; she also sadly tells him that there is now no one to live there with her. Biff Loman Biff is the older of Willy’s two sons. He is an attractive man, even though he is a failure in life. In high school, Biff was a star football player, winning several scholarships. Unfortunately, he was unable to continue his education because he failed math, even though Bernard tried to make him study and helped him to cheat on the exam. He also began stealing in high school and was never reprimanded for
it. In fact, when he steals balls from the locker room, Willy excuses the behavior by saying that the coach would probably be proud of Biff’s initiative for wanting to practice at home. Early the play, Biff proves that he has assumed all of Willy's values and has not developed any of his own. Biff has learned from his father that to be well liked and attractive are the most important ingredients for success. Biff even echoes small bits of Willy's view of life when he says that Bernard "is liked but not well liked." Biff himself feels that since he is handsome, he will be well liked and successful; he waits for grand things to come his way, but they never do. Instead, he loses one job after another, because of his compulsive stealing. During the play, Biff slowly begins to accept that both he and his father are failures in life. The disillusionment begins when he is still a teenager. When Biff goes to Boston to find Willy and tell him that he has failed math, he makes an awful discovery about his father. He finds him in a hotel room with a strange woman and feels Willy is betraying his mother, both sexually and financially. He calls Willy a liar and a fake. In spite of these accusations, Biff still lives by Willy’s philosophies. Since he has no skills and little education, Biff tries to get by on being handsome and well liked; however, he is a miserable failure, who resorts to stealing to get what he wants. Late in the play, Biff comes to some realistic understanding of his place in life. He knows that he is a “nothing,” in spite of Willy’s praises of him and dreams for him. Biff tries to make his father see that he is "no good. I am a dime a dozen, Pop, and so are you." He begs for Willy to communicate with him and accept him for who he is. Although Willy is forced by Biff to see some of his own failures, he never accepts that Biff will turn out the same way. In fact, Willy commits suicide so that Biff can receive his life insurance of twenty thousand dollars and make something of himself. At the end of the play, Biff seems to be developing a strength of his own. He has faced and accepted the truth about himself and his father. Now that he acknowledges his problems, there is hope that he can reach his potential. If this play offers any hope, it is through the character of Biff. There is a chance that he can be rehabilitated and lead a normal life, away from the shadow of Willy. Happy Loman Happy is the younger son of Willy Loman and is unattractive and overweight. As a boy, he was over-shadowed by his older brother Biff, who was doted upon by Willy because he was handsome and a star football player. Though Happy never expressed any overt resentment over the excessive attention paid to Biff, he constantly seeks his father’s approval. He always tells Willy that he is losing weight, trying to please the man.
On the surface Happy seems to be a responsible young man. Unlike Biff, he has settled down; he has a job, a car, and an apartment. He even claims that he has “relationships” with women. In fact, he tries to fill his life with a host of women, as seen when he easily picks up a female in the restaurant. It seems that the more women he can have, the more important, masterful, and the center of attention he feels he is. In spite of these things, Willy tells Biff that he feels lonely and empty. In the restaurant, Biff pleads with Happy to help Willy, because he himself is not able to reach him. Obviously, Biff has a genuine concern for his father. In contrast, Happy easily dismisses Willy. He says to the woman he has picked up in the restaurant, "No, that's not my father. He's just a guy." It is a brutal rejection on the part of Happy. Like Willy, Happy lives in a world of illusions and is unable to climb out of it. He spends his life believing that he will be promoted to store manager and become a big success. When Biff plans to tell Willy the truth about his stealing and losing jobs, Happy suggests that he tell Willy something that would make him happy instead. He is obviously content to live in a world of lies. At Willy’s funeral, Happy proves that he has not changed a bit. He says that Willy Loman "didn't die in vain. He had a good dream." Happy thinks that he is going to justify Willy's dreams in the next year by becoming manager of the store. In the final analysis, it is Happy who is lost in Willy's dreams and refuses to recognize reality. He is pictured as the weaker of the two brothers. Charley Charley is a long-time friend of Willy; in fact, Biff and Happy call him Uncle Charley. Charley is a successful businessman and father. He owns his own company, and his son, Bernard, is a successful lawyer. Where Willy lives in a world of dreams, Charley is a man of practicality. He does not care about personal attractiveness. He does not have time to tell jokes, and he thinks sports are a waste of time. He laughs at Willy’s fantasies and philosophies and tells him to get over Biff being a football star. Charley does not care if people like him. He knows who he is and feels successful without the approval of others. He tells Willy that it is what you have that counts, not being well liked or attractive. He gives the example of J.P. Morgan, who looked liked a butcher, but was an unbelievable success. Although he disapproves of Willy’s ideas, Charley is very kind to him. When Willy repeatedly comes to him to borrow money, Charley always agrees to help his friend. Towards the end of the play, Willy admits that Charley is his only friend in the world. Unfortunately for Willy, Charley is living proof that his own views are wrong; therefore, when Charley offers a job to Willy, he must refuse. To Willy, accepting the offer would be admitting that his entire life and all his philosophies are wrong. Therefore, Willy refuses to work for Charley even though he desperately needs a job
to support himself and his family; instead, Willy unashamedly goes to him every week to ask for money to meet his bills. The practical Charley sees Willy as a child; he asks several times during the play, "Willy, when are you going to grow up?" Surprisingly, at the end of the play Charley forgives Willy of his fantasies, for he says that a salesman has to dream. Instead, he says that Willy's flaw is that he did not know how to sell.
Ben Loman Ben is Willy's dead brother, who exists in Willy’s illusions. He is a shadow figure in the play, who functions more as a symbol than he does as a character. Ben becomes the ideal for Willy, for he made a fortune at a young age. The story goes that he entered the "jungle" when he was seventeen; when he came out four years later, he was a rich man. This kind of success is beyond the reach of Willy, and he can only dream about it. Ironically, Ben usually appears to Willy when he is upset and depressed. When Willy cannot face the pressing problems of the present world, he talks to Ben, who cannot criticize him. Ben as a character is only developed in Willy’s dreams. His success seems to have been built on brutal force and driving energy. He teaches Happy and Biff that they should not fight fair, especially not with a stranger. Ben seems to possess no time for personal relations, nor does he seem to indulge in human emotions. In fact, in Willy’s dreams, Ben is always in a hurry to leave. It is amazing that Willy so easily accepts Ben’s success. Charley's success is a threat to Willy, because it is too close and visible for him. After all, the successful Charley lives right next door; but Ben's success is not a threat, since Ben is dead and has always been a distant figure throughout Willy’s life. Ben, therefore, functions mainly, not as a character, but as a symbol of success for Willy, the success of which he could only dream about. PLOT STRUCTURE ANALYSIS Although the plot of the play is basically unified by time, place, and characters, there is one striking exception. The present setting of the play takes place in a single day in 1942, in and around the Loman household in New York. There are only three main characters - Willy, Biff, and Happy. There are even few minor characters, such as Linda, Charley, Bernard, Oliver, and Ben. As a result, it would seem that the play was structured in an extremely tight fashion. However, the entire chronological progression of the play is repeatedly interrupted by a series of flashbacks that occur in Willy’s mind as dreams or illusions. The flashbacks go as far into the past as 1928 and reach to places outside of New York, including a hotel room in Boston.
Sometimes, the flashbacks make the play difficult to follow, for it is hard to distinguish the past from the present on stage. Miller uses several techniques to make the plot easier to follow. The setting is used to help show the movement past and present. On stage, the Loman house is really only a part of a house with the audience being able to see through the walls. When the action of the play is in the present, the characters observe all the doors and walls. When the action shifts to the past, the characters ignore the walls and walk right through them. The structure of the play, therefore, emphasizes the difference between illusion and reality. But Willy Loman's problem is that he is incapable distinguishing between illusion and reality; as a result, he sometimes brings his illusions over into the present, especially as he calls upon his dead brother Ben to help him. The play begins with flute music, which develops a sad, melancholic mood. Traditionally, the flute is used to suggest a dreamy existence, and in this play, the flute music conveys Willy’s illusions. As the play progresses, the flute takes on added meaning. It is revealed that Willy's father had made his own flutes and had become a traveling salesman to offer the flutes throughout the Midwest. The play actually begins at a moment when Willy feels trapped by all the events of his past and present life. The scenes of the past are shown on the stage to inform the reader how they have affected Willy's present life. The plot of the play is fairly simplistic. In the opening scenes of the first act, the play is set and the main characters are introduced. It becomes evident early in the plot development that Willy Loman is the protagonist and his problem is being able to separate illusion from reality. Most of the time he lives in a dream world in which he believes that both he and his sons are successful. The rising action of the play, presented in both the present and through flashbacks, reveals the extent of Willy’s problems; he refuses to accept his life as it is and believes that both Happy and Biff are capable of wonderful things in life, even though Biff has been unable to hold down a job and Happy lives for the moment without much thought or planning. The climax occurs when Biff forces the truth about himself and Willy on his father. It is more than Willy can handle; as a result, he goes about planning his own suicide in the falling action. In the conclusion or denouement, Miller reveals that virtually no one outside of family attends Willy’s funeral, proving the futility of the life of the man who felt that being popular and well liked was all important. It is a tragic ending to a tragic play, where the world of illusions totally overcomes the protagonist. THEMES - THEMES ANALYSIS In Death of a Salesman, there are recurring themes or motifs that unify the play and blend together in the last act to give a paradoxical or ironic comment on the drama. The first dominant motif is the false importance placed on personal attractiveness and popularity. To the protagonist Willy Loman, being handsome and well liked is all-
important. Willy naively believes that if a person is attractive and popular, the entire world opens up for him, guaranteeing success and answering the American Dream. Willy sees the personification of this in the salesman, David Singleman, whom he describes in the play as the man who has obtained the American Dream through being a salesman. Unfortunately, Willy confers his philosophies about attractiveness and popularity to his sons. As a result, the handsome Biff, a star football player in high school, feels like he can get by in life on his looks and personality. He finds out, however, that these traits do not bring the American Dream to him; he flunks math and cannot go to college, starts stealing, and amounts to nothing in life. Happy is also deluded; he encourages Biff in his illusions, telling him he should be able to borrow any amount of money from Bill Oliver because Biff is "so well liked." Additionally, Happy tries to make himself well liked, especially by surrounding himself with women, but he finds his existence to be very empty and lonely. The final touch of pathos in the play centers on the being liked motif. Willy has imagined that his funeral will be well attended, just like the one for Singleman. As he plans his suicide, he pictures customers and fellow salesmen from all over New England coming to his burial; the image pleases Willy, for he feels it will cause his sons to feel respect from their dead father. In truth, no one outside of family attends the funeral, except for Charley. It is a sad statement on a sad life. The theft motif is also developed in the play; it is Miller’s sad comment on the degeneration of American middle class values. Willy constantly turns his head on or actually encourages theft by his sons, especially Biff. When Biff steals a football from the locker room, Willy excuses the behavior and even says the coach will "probably congratulate you on your initiative." When Biff admits that he fails math, in spite of cheating on the exam, Willy has no comment on the cheating, which he a theft of knowledge. In fact, at one point in his flashbacks, Willy actually sends Biff and Happy out to steal lumber to prove their fearlessness to Ben. Willy also steals his sons’ dignity. He fills them with so many lies and so much hot air, that neither boy can recognize the truth or take orders from anyone. Miller also develops the image of being "all used up" throughout the play; it becomes the most pathetic concept of the drama. Early in the play, Willy captures the essence of this image when he talks about his house. He tells Linda, “Work a life time to pay off a house. You finally own it and there's nobody to live in it." The play ends with an echo of the same thought; Linda tells a dead Willy that she has just made the last mortgage payment on the house, but there is no longer anyone to live in it. The same thought of being used up recurs throughout the play. Willy says of his refrigerator that it "consumes belts like a goddam maniac. They time those things. They time them so when you finally paid for them they are used up." Here, Willy is
voicing a recognition of a central aspect of consumer capitalism; products that last forever are not good for the economy. They must break down so companies can supply newer and better models. Willy’s desire to own something that is still in operation is very poignant: "Once in my life I would like to own something outright before it is broken. I just finished paying for the car and it's on its last leg." Like the products that surround him, Willy is also used up and broken. The Wagner Company has sucked the life out of him and then fired him, discarding him like a useless piece of orange rind. Part of Willy's desperation comes from his sense of being boxed in, especially in the city. He romanticizes life in the country and tries to get something to grow in his own back yard. In the first scene, Willy comments that he feels boxed in by bricks and complains that he cannot get anything to grow. He then remembers the time when the Biff and Happy were young and there was lilac and wisteria growing in the yard. The flowers, therefore, symbolize real life and good times. Now that life is closing in on Willy, he desperately wants something to grow, to plant something that has life, but his attempts are futile, both in his efforts in the back yard and in his efforts with his sons. Ironically, Willy fully boxes himself in (in a coffin), hoping to give his sons an opportunity with his life insurance money. Miller also subtly connects the failure of the American Dream with the dysfunctional structure of the American family. Miller clearly points out the alienation of the individual within the family, indicating an even larger alienation of the individual in the world. There is little communication or happiness portrayed in the Loman family. Linda accepts her miserable situation. She is forced to stand by her husband, who has grown too old and too exhausted to cope with the job of a travelling salesman or support the family. Because of the times, Linda has no option to work for a living herself. She is entirely dependent on her husband to bring home money to pay the bills. She was also indispensable to him in this pursuit. She built up his inflated idea of himself so he could have the courage to make sales every day. Unfortunately, there were never enough sales or never enough money to pay all the bills. In spite of Linda’s loyalty and devotion to Willy, he succumbs to the temptations of the road; he has at least one extramarital affair, which his son Biff discovers. He sees through the falseness of Willy’s existence and calls him a liar and a fake. Unfortunately, Willy has given him no foundation other than illusions on which to build his life. As a result, Biff tries to make it on his attractiveness and personality. When these fail him, he resorts to stealing, even being put in jail. When he tries to tell Willy about the failures in his life, Willy ignores him. Instead, he decides to commit suicide, hoping that the money he leaves behind will make Biff a success in life. The Loman family is obviously built on false values that distort the American Dream and lead to an existence that is totally dysfunctional. The tragedy of Willy Loman is not just the tragedy of a single individual. Miller implies that Willy’s distorted illusions and values are all too frequently those forced
upon people in a capitalist society, especially in America. It is Linda who points out the tragic predicament of Willy Loman: "he is not the finest character that ever lived. But he is human being and a terrible thing is happening to him." Willy is a thoroughly human character whose limitations and errors are combined with a noble parental passion and a heroic effort to maintain his self-esteem and dreams in the midst of a competitive capitalist society.