3. Death of a Salesman
for APPSC TGPSC TREIRB JL/DL
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Arthur (Asher) Miller (October 17,
1915 – February 10, 2005)
Arthur Miller was one of the leading
American playwrights of the twentieth century. He is one of the three greatest American dramatists (Miller, Tennessee
Williams, O’Neil). He won
Pulitzer for drama.
Death of a Salesman (1949) secured
Miller's reputation as one of the nation's foremost playwrights.
Also in 1956, Miller married actress
Marilyn Monroe. The two divorced in 1961, one year before her death. That year
Monroe appeared in her last film, The Misfits, which is based on an original
screenplay by Miller. After divorcing Monroe, Miller wed Ingeborg Morath, to
whom he remained married until his death in 2005. The pair had a son and a
daughter.
Although Miller did not write
frequently for film, he did pen an adaptation for the 1996 film version of The
Crucible starring Daniel Day-Lewis and Winona Ryder, which garnered him an
Academy Award nomination. Miller's daughter Rebecca married Day-Lewis in 1996.
Stage Plays:
1. No Villain 1936- first work
2. The Man Who Had All the Luck 1944- Second major play after No Villain. Miller's first play to make it to
Broadway, It was a dismal failure, closing after only four performances. It
discouraged Miller from writing.
3. All My Sons 1947- three act play, won the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award
as the best play of 1947. launching
Miller into theatrical stardom. It
is based upon a true story, which Arthur Miller's then mother-in-law pointed
out in an Ohio newspaper about army inspection officers to approve defective
aircraft engines. Henrik Ibsen's
influence on Miller is evident from the Ibsen play The Wild Duck, from where
Miller took the idea of two partners in a business where one is forced to take
moral and legal responsibility for the other. This is mirrored in All My Sons. It is a tragedy about a father, Joe Keller (60), who is forced to confront the consequences of his actions during the
WW-II, knowingly shipped defective aircraft engine cylinder heads which led to
the death of his son Larry. Kate
Keller (50), mother of Larry and
Chris, knows that Joe is guilty and refuses to believe that Larry is dead, who
has been "missing in action" for three years. The couple’s surviving
son, Chris, has returned from the war and hopes to move on with his life by
marrying Ann Deever, the former fiancée of Larry. The play's title is taken from Joe's line at the end of Act III, “Sure, [Larry] was my son. But I think to him they were
all my sons. And I guess they were, I guess they were.”
Along with
Death of a Salesman, All My Sons and The Man Who Had All the Luck form a
thematic trilogy of plays about love triangles involving fathers and sons
4. Death of a Salesman 1949- His masterpiece, Based on American Dream, won Tony Award and 1949-Pulitzer. Story of Willy Lowman,63 years old, unstable, childlike salesman (Willy= Will he?, Lowman= Low
man); his wife Linda Lowman, loyal and loving wife; and his two sons: Biff Lowman (elder son), a high school football star, failed in mathematics and was
therefore unable to enter a university, thief;
and Harold or Happy (younger son), a womanizer and takes bribes at work. Charley is a
neighbor who always lends money and supports Willy. Bernard is the son
of Charley who becomes a successful lawyer. Ben is Willy's
deceased older brother, a diamond tycoon, a symbol of American Dream. Howard Wagner is Willy's boss. The play has been frequently revived in film,
television, and stage versions.
Famous lines:
o “You can't eat the orange and
throw the peel away - a man is not a piece of fruit.”
o “A man is not a bird, to come
and go with the springtime.”
o “The only thing you've got in
this world is what you can sell.”
o “Willy was a salesman. And for a
salesman, there’s no rock bottom to the life.”
o “I am not a dime a dozen! I am
Willy Loman, and you are Biff Loman!”
o “When I was seventeen, I walked
into the jungle, and when I was twenty-one, I walked out. And by God I was
rich.”
5.
The Crucible 1953-
fictionalized story
of the ‘Salem witch trials’ that took place in the Massachusetts Bay Colony during 1692. Miller
wrote the play as an allegory for McCarthyism, when the United States
government persecuted people accused of being communists. It opens with a
group of young girls led by Abigail Williams (antogonist) dancing in the
forest. Reverend Samuel Parris supects it as witchcraft as his daughter Betty
is suffering from a mysterious illness. Fearing punishment, Abigail accuses
various women in the town of witchcraft, thereby igniting a series of trials
and mass hysteria. A witchcraft expert, Reverend John Hale, has been called to
investigate. Abigail Williams previously worked as a maid to Elizabeth Proctor
and fired due to her illicit relationship with Jhon Proctor (protogonist).
Abigail accuses Elizabeth of witchcraft, hoping to take her place at John’s
side leading to death sentence to John.
6. A View from the Bridge 1955- one-act verse
drama- narrated by Alfieri,
who was raised in 1900s Italy but is now working as an American lawyer, thereby
representing the "Bridge" between the two cultures.
7.
A Memory of Two
Mondays(1955)-one act play
8.
After the Fall
(1964)- centered on Miller's
recent divorce from Marilyn Monroe.
9.
Incident at Vichy
(1964)
10.
The Price (1968)
11.
The Reason Why
(1970)
12.
Fame (one-act,
1970; revised for television 1978)
13.
The Creation of
the World and Other Business (1972)
14.
Up from Paradise
(1974)
15.
The Archbishop's
Ceiling (1977)
16.
The American
Clock (1980)
17.
Playing for Time
(television play, 1980)
18.
Elegy for a Lady (short play, 1982, first part of Two Way Mirror)
19. Some Kind of Love Story (short play, 1982, second part of Two Way Mirror)
20.
I Think About You
a Great Deal (1986)
21.
Playing for Time
(stage version, 1985)
22.
I Can't Remember
Anything (1987, collected in Danger: Memory!)
23.
Clara (1987,
collected in Danger: Memory!)
24.
The Ride Down Mt.
Morgan (1991)
25.
The Last Yankee
(1993)
26. Broken Glass (1994)- Phillip and
Sylvia Gellburg are a Jewish married couple living in Brooklyn, New York City,
in 1938. the same time of Kristallnacht, in Nazi Germany. The play's title is
derived from Kristallnacht, which is also known as the Night of Broken Glass.
27.
Mr. Peters'
Connections (1998)- The title character
is a former Pan Am pilot who worked for the airline in its glory days. He
recalls flying into a thousand sunsets and bedding eighteen Rockettes in a
month, eventually marrying one of them
28.
Resurrection
Blues (2002)- set in an unnamed
third world Latin American country. revolves around a captured prisoner who may
or may not be the second coming of Christ.
29.
Finishing the
Picture (2004)- final play, 4 months
before his death
Death of a Salesman
Context:
Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman
stems from both Arthur Miller's personal experiences and the theatrical
traditions in which the playwright was schooled. The play recalls the
traditions of Yiddish theater that focus on family as the crucial element,
reducing most plot to the confines of the nuclear family. Death of a Salesman
focuses on two sons who are estranged from their father, paralleling one of
Miller's other major works, All My Sons, which premiered two years before Death
of a Salesman.
Although the play premiered in 1949, Miller
began writing Death of a Salesman at the age of seventeen when he was working
for his father's company. In short story form, it treated an aging salesman
unable to sell anything. He is berated by company bosses and must borrow subway
change from the young narrator. The end of the manuscript contains a
postscript, noting that the salesman on which the story is based had thrown
himself under a subway train.
Arthur Miller reworked the play in
1947 upon a meeting with his uncle, Manny Newman. Miller's uncle, a salesman,
was a competitor at all times and even competed with his sons, Buddy and Abby.
Miller described the Newman household as one in which one could not lose hope,
and based the Loman household and structure on his uncle and cousins. There are
numerous parallels between Abby and Buddy Newman and their fictional
counterparts, Happy and Biff Loman: Buddy, like Biff, was a renowned high
school athlete who ended up flunking out. Miller's relationship to his cousins
parallels that of the Lomans to their neighbor, Bernard.
While constructing the play, Miller
was intent on creating continuous action that could span different time periods
smoothly. The major innovation of the play was the fluid continuity between its
segments. Flashbacks do not occur separate from the action but rather as an
integral part of it. The play moves between fifteen years back and the present,
and from Brooklyn to Boston without any interruptions in the plot.
Death of a Salesman premiered on
Broadway in 1949, starring Lee J. Cobb as Willy Loman and directed by Elia
Kazan (who would later inform on Arthur Miller in front of the House
Un-American Activities Committee). The play was a resounding success, winning
the Pulitzer Prize, as well as the Tony Award for Best Play. The New Yorker
called the play a mixture of "compassion, imagination, and hard technical
competence not often found in our theater." Since then, the play has been
revived numerous times on Broadway and reinterpreted in stage and television
versions. As an archetypal character representing the failed American dream,
Willy Loman has been interpreted by diverse actors such as Fredric March (the
1951 film version), Dustin Hoffman (the 1984 Broadway revival and television
movie), and, in a Tony Award-winning revival, Brian Dennehy.
Structure- Two Acts -Requiem:
|
Act |
Details |
|
Act One |
Monday evening and night |
|
Act Two |
Tuesday |
|
Requiem |
A few days after (Willy’s burial) |
It is a 2 act play with a requiem at the end.
There is no division of scenes.
Setting: The
action takes place in Willy Loman’s house and yard and in various places he
visits in the New York and Boston of today.
Opening line:
LINDA: Willy!
WILLY: It’s
all right. I came back.
LINDA: Why?
What happened? (Slight pause.) Did something happen, Willy?
WILLY: No,
nothing happened.
Closing Line:
LINDA: Forgive
me, dear. I can’t cry. I don’t know what it is, I can’t cry. I don’t understand
it. Why did you ever do that? Help me Willy, I can’t cry. It seems to me that
you’re just on another trip. I keep expecting you. Willy, dear, I can’t cry.
Why did you do it? I search and search and I search, and I can’t understand it,
Willy. I made the last payment on the house today. Today, dear. And there’ll be
nobody home. (A sob rises in her throat.) We’re free and clear. (Sobbing more
fully, released.) We’re free. (Biff comes slowly toward her.) We’re free...
We’re free...
Short Summary
Willy Loman, a mercurial sixty-year
old salesman with calluses on his hands, returns home tired and confused. His
wife Linda greets him, but worries that he has smashed the car. He reassures
her that nothing has happened, but tells her that he only got as far as Yonkers
and does not remember all of the details of his trip; he kept swerving onto the
shoulder of the road, and had to drive slowly to return home. Linda tells him
that he needs to rest his mind, and that he should work in New York, but he
feels that he is not needed there. He thinks that if Frank Wagner were alive he
would be in charge of New York, but his son, Howard, does not appreciate him as
much. Linda tells him how Happy, his younger son, took Biff, his eldest son,
out on a double-date, and it was nice to see them both at home. She reminds
Willy not to lose his temper with Biff, but Willy feels that there is an
undercurrent of resentment in Biff. Linda says that Biff is crestfallen and
admires Willy. They argue about whether or not Biff is lazy, and Willy believes
that Biff is a person who will get started later in life, like Edison or B.F.
Goodrich.
Biff Loman, at thirty-four, is
well-built but not at all self-assured. Happy, two years younger, is equally
tall and powerful, but is confused because he has never risked failure. The two
brothers discuss their father, thinking that his condition is deteriorating.
Biff wonders why his father mocks him, but Happy says that he merely wants Biff
to live up to his potential. Biff claims he has had twenty or thirty different
jobs since he left home before the war, but has been fired from each. He
reminisces about herding cattle and wistfully remembers working outdoors. Biff
worries that he is still merely a boy, while Happy says that despite the fact
that he has his own car, apartment, and plenty of women he is still
unfulfilled. Happy believes that he should not have to take orders at work from
men over whom he is physically superior. He also talks about how he has no
respect for the women he seduces, and really wants a woman with character, such
as their mother. Biff thinks that he may try again to work for Bill Oliver, for
whom he worked years ago but quit after stealing a carton of basketballs from
him.
The play shifts in time to the Loman
house years before, when Biff and Happy were teenagers. Willy reminds the
teenage Biff not to make promises to any girls, because they will always
believe what you tell them and he is too young to consider them seriously.
Happy brags that he is losing weight, while Biff shows Willy a football he took
from the locker room. Willy claims that someday he'll have his own business
like Charley, their next door neighbor. His business will be bigger than
Charley's, because Charley is "liked, but not well-liked." Willy
brags about meeting the mayor of Providence and knowing the finest people in
New England. Bernard, Charley's son, enters and tells Willy that he is worried
that Biff will fail math class and not be able to attend UVA. Willy tells
Bernard not to be a pest and to leave. After Bernard leaves, Willy tells his
sons that Bernard, like Charley, is liked but not well-liked. Willy claims
that, although Bernard gets the best grades in school, in the business world it
is personality that matters and that his sons will succeed. After the boys
leave, Linda enters and Willy discusses his worry that people don't respect
him. Linda reassures him and points out that his sons idolize him.
Miller returns to the more recent past
past for a short scene that takes place in a hotel room in Boston. A nameless
woman puts on a scarf and Willy tells her that he gets lonely and worries about
his business. The woman claims that she picked Willy for his sense of humor,
and Willy promises to see her the next time he is in Boston.
Willy, back in the kitchen with Linda,
scolds her for mending her own stocking, claiming that she should not have to
do such menial things. He goes out on the porch, where he tells Bernard to give
Biff the answers to the Regents exam. Bernard refuses because it is a State
exam. Linda tells Willy that Biff is too rough with the girls, while Bernard
says that Biff is driving without a license and will flunk math. Willy, who
hears the voice of the woman from the hotel room, screams at Linda that there
is nothing wrong with Biff, and asks her if she wants her son to be a worm like
Bernard. Linda, in tears, exits into the living room.
The play returns to the present, where
Willy tells Happy how he nearly drove into a kid in Yonkers, and wonders why he
didn't go to Alaska with his brother Ben, who ended up with diamond mines and
came out of the jungle rich at the age of twenty-one. Happy tells his father
that he will enable him to retire. Charley enters, and he and Willy play cards.
Charley offers Willy a job, which insults him, and they argue over the ceiling
that Willy put up in his living room. Willy tells Charley that Ben died several
weeks ago in Africa. Willy hallucinates that Ben enters, carrying a valise and
umbrella, and asks about their mother. Charley becomes unnerved by Willy's
hallucination and leaves.
The play returns to the past, where
Willy introduces his sons to Ben, whom he calls a great man. Ben in turn boasts
that his father was a great man and inventor. Willy shows off his sons to Ben,
who tells them never to fight fair with a stranger, for they will never get out
of the jungle that way. Charley reprimands Willy for letting his sons steal
from the nearby construction site, but Willy says that his kids are a couple of
"fearless characters." While Charley says that the jails are full of
fearless characters, Ben says that so is the stock exchange.
The play returns to the present, where
Happy and Biff ask Linda how long Willy has been talking to himself. Linda
claims that this has been going on for years, and she would have told Biff if
she had had an address at which she could contact him. She confronts Biff about
his animosity toward Willy, but Biff claims that he is trying to change his
behavior. He tells Linda that she should dye her hair again, for he doesn't
want his mother to look old. Linda asks Biff if he cares about Willy; if he
does not, he cannot care about her. Finally, she tells her sons that Willy has
attempted suicide by trying to drive his car off a bridge, and by hooking a
tube up to the gas heater in the basement. She says that Willy is not a great
man, but is a human being and "attention must be paid" to him. Biff
relents and promises not to fight with his father. He tells his parents that he
will go to see Bill Oliver to talk about a sporting goods business he could
start with Happy. Willy claims that if Biff had stayed with Oliver he would be
on top by now.
The next day, Willy sits in the
kitchen, feeling rested for the first time in months. Linda claims that Biff
has a new, hopeful attitude, and the two dream of buying a little place in the
country. Willy says that he will talk to Howard Wagner today and ask to be
taken off the road. As soon as Willy leaves, Linda gets a phone call from Biff.
She tells him that the pipe Willy connected to the gas heater is gone.
At the office of Howard Wagner,
Willy's boss, Howard shows Willy his new wire recorder as Willy attempts to ask
for a job in New York. Howard insists that Willy is a road man, but Willy
claims that it is time for him to be more settled. He has the right to it
because he has been in the firm since Howard was a child, and even named him.
Willy claims that there is no room for personality or friendship in the
salesman position anymore, and begs for any sort of salary, giving lower and
lower figures. Willy insists that Howard's father made promises to him. Howard
leaves, and Willy leans on his desk, turning on the wire recorder. This
frightens Willy, who shouts for Howard. Howard returns, exasperated, and fires
Willy, telling him that he needs a good, long rest and should rely on his sons
instead of working.
Willy hallucinates that Ben enters and
Linda, as a young woman, tells Willy that he should stay in New York. Not
everybody has to conquer the world and Frank Wagner promised that Willy will
someday be a member of the firm. Willy tells the younger versions of Biff and
Happy that it's "who you know" that matters. Bernard arrives, and
begs Biff to let him carry his helmet to the big game at Ebbets Field, while
Willy becomes insulted that Charley may have forgotten about the game.
The play returns to the present day,
where the adult Bernard sits in his father's office. His father's secretary,
Jenny, enters and tells Bernard that Willy is shouting in the hallway. Willy
talks to Bernard who will argue a case in Washington soon and whose wife has
just given birth to their second son. Willy wonders why Biff's life ended after
the Ebbets Field game, and Bernard asks why Willy didn't make Biff to go summer
school so that he could go to UVA. Bernard pinpoints the timing of Biff's
failures to his visit to his father in New England, after which Biff burned his
UVA sneakers. He wonders what happened during that visit. Charley enters, and
tells Willy that Bernard will argue a case in front of the Supreme Court.
Charley offers Willy a job, which he refuses out of pride. Charley criticizes
Willy for thinking that personality is the only thing that matters in business.
Willy remarks that a person is worth more dead than alive, and tells Charley
that, even though they dislike one another, Charley is the only friend he has.
At the restaurant where Willy is to
meet his sons, Happy flirts with a woman and tells her that Biff is a
quarterback with the New York giants. Biff admits to Happy that he did a
terrible thing during his meeting with Bill Oliver. Bill did not remember Biff,
who pocketed his fountain pen before he left. Biff insists that they tell their
father about this tonight. Willy arrives and tells his sons that he was fired.
Although Biff tries to lie to Willy about his meeting, Biff and Willy fight.
Biff finally gives up and tries to explain. As this occurs, Willy hallucinates
about arguing with the younger version of Biff. Miss Forsythe, the woman with
whom Happy was flirting, returns with another woman and prepares to go out on a
double date with Happy and Biff. Happy denies that Willy is their father.
Willy imagines being back in the hotel
room in Boston with the woman. The teenage Biff arrives at the hotel and tells
Willy that he failed math class, and begs his father to talk to Mr. Birnbaum.
Biff hears the woman, who is hiding in the bathroom. Willy lies to Biff,
telling him that the woman is merely there to take a shower because she is
staying in the next room and her shower is broken. Biff realizes what is going
on. Willy throws the woman out, and she yells at him for breaking the promises
he made to her. Willy admits the affair to Biff, but promises that the woman
meant nothing to him and that he was lonely.
At the restaurant, the waiter helps Willy and
tells him that his sons left with two women. Willy insists on finding a seed
store so that he can do some planting. When Biff and Happy return home, they
give their mother flowers. She asks them if they care whether their father
lives or dies, and says that they would not even abandon a stranger at the
restaurant as they did their father. Willy is planting in the garden. He
imagines talking to Ben about his funeral, and claims that people will come
from all over the country to his funeral, because he is well known. Ben says
that Willy will be a coward if he commits suicide. Willy tells Biff that he cut
his life down for spite, and refuses to take the blame for Biff's failure. Biff
confronts him about the rubber tube attached to the gas heater, and tells his
mother that it was he, not Willy, who took it away. Biff also admits that his
parents could not contact him because he was in jail for three months. Biff
insists that men like he and Willy are a dime a dozen, but Willy claims
otherwise. Biff cries for his father, asking him to give up his dreams, but
Willy is merely amazed that he would cry for his father. Happy vows to get
married and settle down, while everybody but Willy goes to sleep. Willy talks
to Ben, then rushes out of the house and speeds out away in his car. Happy and
Biff come downstairs in jackets, while Linda walks out in mourning clothes and
places flowers on Willy's grave.
Only his wife, sons, and Charley
attend Willy's funeral. Linda wonders where everybody else is, and says that
they have made their final house payment and are free and clear after
thirty-five years. Biff claims that Willy had the wrong dreams, but Charley
says that a salesman must dream, and that for a salesman there is no rock
bottom in life. Biff asks Happy to leave the city with him, but Happy vows to
stay in New York and prove that his father did not die in vain. Everybody
leaves but Linda, who remains at the grave and talks about how she made the
final house payment.
Character List
Willy Loman- A 60
year old salesman living in Brooklyn, Willy Loman is a gregarious, mercurial
man with powerful aspirations to success. However, after thirty-five years
working as a traveling salesman throughout New England, Willy Loman feels
defeated by his lack of success and difficult family life. Although he has a
dutiful wife, his relationship with his oldest son, Biff, is strained by Biff's
continual failures. As a salesman, Willy Loman focuses on personal details over
actual measures of success, believing that it is personality and not high
returns that garner success in the business world.
Biff Loman- The 34
year old son of Willy Loman, Biff was once a star high school athlete with a
scholarship to UVA. But he never attended college nor graduated from high
school, after refusing to attend summer school to make up a flunked math class.
He did this primarily out of spite after finding out that his father was having
an affair with a woman in Boston. Since then, Biff has been a continual
failure, stealing at every job and even spending time in jail. Despite his
failures and anger toward his father, Biff still has great concern for what his
father thinks of him, and the conflict between the two characters drives the
narrative of the play.
Linda Loman- The
dutiful, obedient wife to Willy and mother of Biff and Happy, Linda Loman is
the one person who supports Willy Loman, despite his often reprehensible
treatment of her. She is a woman who has aged greatly because of her difficult
life with her husband, whose hallucinations and erratic behavior she contends
with alone. She is the moral center of the play, occasionally stern and not
afraid to confront her sons about their poor treatment of their father.
Happy Loman- 32
year old- The younger of the two Loman sons, Happy Loman is seemingly
content and successful, with a steady career and none of the obvious marks of
failure that his older brother displays. Happy, however, is not content with
his more stable life, because he has never risked failure or striven for any
real measure of success. Happy is a compulsive womanizer who treats women
purely as sex objects and has little respect for the many women whom he
seduces.
Charley - The
Lomans' next door neighbor and father of Bernard, Charley is a good
businessman, exemplifying the success that Willy is unable to achieve. Although
Willy claims that Charley is a man who is "liked, but not
well-liked," he owns his own business and is respected and admired. He and
Willy have a contentious relationship, but Charley is nevertheless Willy's only
friend.
Bernard- Bernard
is Charley's only son. He is intelligent and industrious but lacks the
gregarious personality of either of the Loman sons. It is this absence of
spirit that makes Willy believe that Bernard will never be a true success in
the business world, but Bernard proves himself to be far more successful than
Willy imagined. As a grown-up, he is a lawyer preparing to argue a case in
front of the Supreme Court.
Ben- Willy's
dead brother. He is not a real character in the play. He comes to
hallucinations, of Willy Loman, carrying
a valise and umbrella, again and again. Ben left home at seventeen to
find their father in Alaska, but ended up in Africa, where he found diamond
mines and came out of the jungle at twenty-one an incredibly rich man. Ben
represents the success for which Willy has always hoped but can never seem to
achieve.
Dave Singleman: He is
not a real character in the play but Willy Loman’s inspiration. He was one of
the most famous salesmen in America and at his funeral, national and
international people came to show glowing tribute to him. Willy Loman wanted to
be a rich and reputed salesman like Dave Singleman but he could not be.
Howard Wagner- The 36
year old son of Frank Wagner, Willy Loman's former boss, Howard now occupies
the same position as his late father. Although Willy was the one who named
Howard, Howard is forced to fire Willy for his erratic behavior. Howard is
preoccupied with technology; when Willy meets with his new boss, he spends most
of the meeting demonstrating his new wire recorder.
Frank Wagner: (Materialistic) -He is the father of Howard Wagner.
After his death, his capable son, Howard Wagner runs his company.
Stanley- Stanley
is the waiter at the restaurant where Willy meets his sons. He helps Willy home
after Biff and Happy leave their father there.
The Woman- An
assistant in a company in Boston with which Willy does business, this nameless
character has a continuing affair with Willy. The Woman claims that Willy
ruined her and did not live up to his promises to her. When Biff finds the
Woman in Willy's hotel room, he begins his course of self-destructive behavior.
Bill Oliver: (Bad and cruel)- He is the ex-boss of Biff
Loman. Biff goes to him for a loan to start a sporting products business, but
he is neat and clean and rejected by Bill Oliver to provide any loan. In fact,
Bill could not even recognize Biff.
Jenny: Jenny is Charley’s secretary.
Letta: A prostitute who meets Biff and Happy at Frank’s
Chop House.
Miss Forsythe- An
attractive young woman at the restaurant, who serves the play by allowing Happy
to demonstrate his womanizing and seduction languages
Mr. Birnbaum- math
teacher of Biff Loman
Themes
The Dangers of Modernity
Death of a Salesman premiered in 1949 on the
brink of the 1950s, a decade of unprecedented consumerism and technical
advances in America. Many innovations applied specifically to the home: it was
in the 50s that the TV and the washing machine became common household objects.
Miller expresses an ambivalence toward modern objects and the modern mindset.
Although Willy Loman is a deeply flawed character, there is something
compelling about his nostalgia. Modernity accounts for the obsolescence of
Willy Loman's career - traveling salesmen are rapidly becoming out-of-date.
Significantly, Willy reaches for modern objects, the car and the gas heater, to
assist him in his suicide attempts.
Gender Relations
In Death of a Salesman, woman are sharply
divided into two categories: Linda and other. The men display a distinct
Madonna/whore complex, as they are only able to classify their nurturing and
virtuous mother against the other, easier women available (the woman with whom
Willy has an affair and Miss Forsythe being two examples). The men curse
themselves for being attracted to the whore-like women but is still drawn to
them - and, in an Oedipal moment, Happy laments that he cannot find a woman
like his mother. Women themselves are two-dimensional characters in this play.
They remain firmly outside the male sphere of business, and seem to have no
thoughts or desires other than those pertaining to men. Even Linda, the
strongest female character, is only fixated on a reconciliation between her
husband and her sons, selflessly subordinating herself to serve to assist them
in their problems.
Madness
Madness is a dangerous theme for many artists,
whose creativity can put them on the edge of what is socially acceptable.
Miller, however, treats the quite bourgeois subject of the nuclear family, so
his interposition of the theme of madness is startling. Madness reflects the
greatest technical innovation of Death of a Salesman--its seamless hops back
and forth in time. The audience or reader quickly realizes, however, that this
is based on Willy's confused perspective. Willy's madness and reliability as a
narrator become more and more of an issue as his hallucinations gain strength.
The reader must decide for themselves how concrete of a character Ben is, for
example, or even how reliable the plot and narrative structure are, when told
from the perspective of someone as on the edge as Willy Loman.
Cult of Personality
One of Miller's techniques throughout the play
is to familiarize certain characters by having them repeat the same key line
over and over. Willy's most common line is that businessmen must be well-liked,
rather than merely liked, and his business strategy is based entirely on the
idea of a cult of personality. He believes that it is not what a person is able
to accomplish, but who he knows and how he treats them that will get a man
ahead in the world. This viewpoint is tragically undermined not only by Willy's
failure, but also by that of his sons, who assumed that they could make their
way in life using only their charms and good looks, rather than any more solid
talents.
Nostalgia / regret
The dominant emotion throughout this play is
nostalgia, tinged with regret. All of the Lomans feel that they have made
mistakes or wrong choices. The technical aspects of the play feed this emotion
by making seamless transitions back and forth from happier, earlier times in
the play. Youth is more suited to the American dream, and Willy's business
ideas do not seem as sad or as bankrupt when he has an entire lifetime ahead of
him to prove their merit. Biff looks back nostalgic for a time that he was a high
school athletic hero, and, more importantly, for a time when he did not know
that his father was a fake and a cheat, and still idolized him.
Opportunity
Tied up intimately with the idea of the
American dream is the concept of opportunity. America claims to be the land of
opportunity, of social mobility. Even the poorest man should be able to move
upward in life through his own hard work. Miller complicates this idea of
opportunity by linking it to time, and illustrating that new opportunity does
not occur over and over again. Bernard has made the most of his opportunities;
by studying hard in school, he has risen through the ranks of his profession
and is now preparing to argue a case in front of the Supreme Court. Biff, on
the other hand, while technically given the same opportunities as Bernard, has
ruined his prospects by a decision that he made at the age of eighteen. There
seems to be no going back for Biff, after he made the fatal decision not to
finish high school.
lost opportunities
A major theme of the play is the lost
opportunities that each of the characters face. Linda Loman, reminiscing about
the days when her sons were not yet grown and had a less contentious
relationship with their father, regrets the state of disarray into which her
family has fallen. Willy Loman believes that if Frank Wagner had survived, he
would have been given greater respect and power within the company. Willy also
regrets the opportunities that have passed by Biff, whom he believes to have
the capability to be a great man.
Growth
In a play which rocks back and forth through
different time periods, one would normally expect to witness some growth in the
characters involved. Not so in Death of a Salesmen, where the various members
of the Loman family are stuck with the same character flaws, in the same
personal ruts throughout time. For his part, Willy does not recognize that his
business principles do not work, and continues to emphasize the wrong
qualities. Biff and Happy are not only stuck with their childhood names in
their childhood bedrooms, but also are hobbled by their childhood problems:
Biff's bitterness toward his father and Happy's dysfunctional relationship with
women. In a poignant moment at the end of the play, Willy tries to plant some
seeds when he realizes that his family has not grown at all over time.
American Dream
Death of a Salesman is considered by many to
be the quintessential modern literary work on the American dream, a term created
by James Truslow Adams in his 1931 book, The Epic of America. This is somewhat
ironic, given that it is such a dark and frustrated play. The idea of the
American dream is as old as America itself.
Miller had an uncertain relationship with the
idea of the American dream. On one hand, Bernard's success is a demonstration
of the idea in its purist and most optimistic form. Through his own hard work
and academic success, Bernard has become a well-respected lawyer. It is ironic,
however, that the character most obviously connected to the American dream, who
boasts that he entered the jungle at age seventeen and came out at twenty-one a
rich man, actually created this success in Africa, rather than America. There
is the possibility that Ben created his own success through brute force rather
than ingenuity. The other doubt cast on the American dream in Death of a
Salesman is that the Loman men, despite their charm and good intentions, have
not managed to succeed at all. Miller demonstrates that the American dream
leaves those who need a bit more community support, who cannot advocate for
themselves as strongly, in the dust.
Summary of Act I.1 (Loman Home,
Present):
The troubled, misguided, and
travelling salesman in his sixties, Willy Loman, enters his home. He
appears very tired and confused. Linda Loman, his wife, puts on a robe and
slippers and goes downstairs. She has been asleep. Linda is mostly
jovial, but represses objections to her husband. Her struggle is to support him
while still trying to guide him. She worries that he smashed the car, but he
says that nothing happened. He claims that he's tired to death and couldn't
make it through the rest of his trip. He got only as far as Yonkers, and
doesn't remember the details of the trip. He tells Linda that he kept swerving
onto the shoulder of the road, but Linda thinks that it must be faulty steering
in the car.
Linda says that there's no reason why
he can't work in New York, but Willy says he's not needed there. Willy says, “I’m the New England man. I’m vital in New England.”
Willy claims that if Frank Wagner were alive he would be in charge of New York
by now, but that his son, Howard, doesn't appreciate him. Linda tells him that
Happy took Biff on a double date, and that it was nice to see them shaving
together. In Willy’opinion, it takes life time to achieve success: ”Work a lifetime to pay off a house. You finally own it,
and there’s nobody to live in it.” Linda reminds him not to lose
his temper with Biff, but Willy claims that he simply had asked him if he was
making any money. Willy says that there is an undercurrent of resentment in
Biff, but Linda says that Biff admires his father. Willy calls Biff a lazy bum
and says that he is lost.
When Willy loses himself in
reminiscences, Linda trying to bring him out of it, Says:
LINDA: Willy,
dear, I got a new kind of American-type cheese today. It’s whipped.
WILLY: Why do you
get American when I like Swiss?
LINDA: I just
thought you’d like a change...
WILLY: I don’t
want a change! I want Swiss cheese.
Willy longs for the days when their
neighborhood was less developed and less crowded. He wakes up his sons Biff and
Happy, both of whom are in the double bunk in the boys' bedroom.
WILLY: “Certain men just don’t get started till later in life.
Like Thomas Edison; I think. Or B. F. Goodrich. One of them was deaf. I’ll put
my money on Biff.”
Willy Loman clings only to his dreams
and ideals. Linda has a similar longing for an idealized past, but has learned
to suppress her dreams and her dissatisfaction with her husband and sons. The
major conflict is between Biff Loman and his father.
Summary of Act I.2 (Loman Home, Present):
Biff (34) is
well-built but somewhat worn and not very self-assured. Happy (32) is
tall and powerfully made. He is a visibly sexual person. Both boys are somewhat
lost, Happy because he has never risked defeat. The two brothers discuss their
father. Happy thinks that Willy's license will be taken away, and Biff suggests
that his father's eyes are going.
Happy thinks that it's funny that they
are sleeping at home again, and they discuss Happy's "first time"
with a girl named Betsy. Happy says that he was once very bashful with
women, but as he became more confident Biff became less so. Biff wonders why
his father mocks him so much, but Happy says that he wants Biff to make good. Biff
says to Happy: “To suffer fifty weeks of the
year for the sake of a twoweek vacation”
Biff tells Happy that he has had
twenty or thirty different types of jobs since he left home before the war, and
everything turns out the same. He reminisces about herding cattle in Nebraska
and the Dakotas. But he criticizes himself for playing around with horses for
twenty-eight dollars a week at his advanced age. Happy says that Biff is a poet
and an idealist, but Biff says that he's mixed up and should get married.
When Biff asks Happy if he is content,
Happy defiantly says that he is not. He says that he has his own apartment, a
car, and plenty of woman, but is still lonely. Biff suggests that Happy come
out west with him to buy a ranch. Happy claims that he dreams about
ripping off his clothes in the store and boxing with his manager, for he can
"outbox, outrun, and outlift anybody in that store," yet he has to
take orders from them.
Happy is a womanizer. He says that the
women they went on a date with that night were gorgeous, but he gets disgusted
with women: he keeps "knockin' them over (have sex with them)" and he
don’t have any respect towards them. Happy says that he wants someone with
character, like his mother.
Both men are tall and well-built, but
their emotional development does not mirror their physical appearance. Biff
believes himself to be a failure because he does not have steady occupation and
a stable home life. Happy, although he is ostensibly more successful than his
brother, he still feels empty and unfulfilled. The childhood bedroom like
setting, the childlike nicknames of Happy and Biff are inappropriate for mature
adults.
Biff says that he thinks he may work
for Bill Oliver, whom he worked for earlier in life. Biff worries that Bill
will remember that he stole a carton of basketballs, and remembers that
he quit because Bill was going to fire him.
Summary of Act I.3 (Loman Home, Past):
This segment of the act takes place in
the kitchen years before. Willy reminds Biff not to make promises to a girl,
because girls will always believe what you tell them and Biff is too young to
be talking seriously to girls. Willy surprises the boys with a new punching
bag, and as Happy exercises he brags about how he is losing weight. Biff
shows Willy a football he took from the locker room, but Willy tells him to
return it. Biff tells Willy that he missed him when he was away on business.
Willy says that someday he'll have his own business like Uncle Charley. Willy
says that he'll be bigger than Charley, because
“He’s (Charley) is liked, but not well-liked” (Note: Biff had the same
opinion on Bernard). Willy promises to take his boys on business and show
them all of the towns in New England and introduce them to the finest people.
As Happy and Biff toss the football
around, Bernard enters. Bernard is worried because Biff has a state exam
(Regents) the following week and has yet to study for them. Bernard heard that
Mr. Birnbaum will fail Biff in his math class if he does not study, and reminds
Biff that just because he has been accepted to UVA the high school does not
have to graduate him. Willy tells Bernard not to be a pest, and Bernard leaves.
Biff says that Bernard is "liked, but not well liked." Willy says
that Bernard may get the best grades in school, but when he gets out in the
business world people like Biff and Happy will be five times ahead of him.
Linda enters, and after the boys leave
she and Willy discuss the troubles that Willy has been having in his business.
Willy worries that others laugh at him, but Linda reassures him, saying that he
is successful because he is making seventy to a hundred dollars per week. Willy
also worries that people respect Uncle Charley, who is a man of few words.
Linda tells him that few men are as idolized by their children as Willy is.
Summary of Act I.4 (Hotel Room,
Past):
Willy crosses from one part of the
stage to another, where a woman is standing, putting on her scarf. Willy says
that he gets so lonely, and gets the feeling that he'll never make a living for
her or a business for the boys. The woman claims that she picked Willy for his
sense of humor. Willy tells her that he will be back in about two weeks and
that he will see her the next time he is in Boston.
Summary of Act I.5 (Loman Home, Past):
Willy is back in the kitchen with
Linda, who reassures him that he is a handsome man. Linda mends her stocking,
but Willy tells her that he does not want her to do such menial tasks (infact,
buy new stockings). Willy returns to the porch, where he tells Bernard to give
Biff the answers to the Regents exam. Bernard says that he normally gives Biff
the answers, but Regents is a State exam and he could be arrested. Bernard says
that Biff is driving the car without a license and will flunk math. Willy also
hears the woman's voice (from the hotel room), and screams for it to shut up.
Willy explodes at Linda, saying that there's nothing the matter with Biff. He
asks her if she wants Biff to be a worm like Bernard. Linda, almost in tears,
exits into the living room.
Summary and of Act I.6 (Loman Home, Present):
Willy tells Happy that he nearly hit a
kid in Yonkers. Willy wonders why he didn't go to Alaska with his brother Ben,
because the man was a genius: success incarnate. Ben ended up with diamond
mines. Willy says, “The man knew what he
wanted and went out and got it! Walked into a jungle and comes out, the age of
twenty-one, and he's rich! The world is an oyster, but you don’t crack it open
on a mattress! (About Ben). Happy tells Willy that he should retire.
Charley enters. As Willy and Charley play cards, Charley offers Willy a job,
which insults him. Willy asks Charley why Biff is going back to Texas, but
Charley tells him to let Biff go. Willy talks about the ceiling he put up in
the living room, but refuses to give any details. When Charley wonders how he
could put up a ceiling, Willy shouts at him that a man who can't handle tools
is not a man, and calls Charley disgusting.
Uncle Ben enters, a stolid man in his
sixties with a mustache and an authoritative air. Willy tells Ben that he is
getting awfully tired, but since Charley cannot see Ben, Willy tells him that
for a second Charley reminded him of his brother Ben, who died several weeks
ago in Africa. Ben asks Willy if their mother is living with him, but Willy
said that she died a long time ago. Charley, who cannot see Ben, wonders what
Willy is talking about. Finally Charley becomes unnerved and leaves.
Summary of Act I.7 (Loman Home,
Past):
While Willy talks with Ben, Linda (as
a younger woman) enters. Willy asks Ben where his father is, but Ben says that
he didn't find his father in Alaska, for he never made it there. Ben claims he
had a very faulty view of geography and ended up in Africa instead of Alaska.
Willy was only three years, eleven months old when Ben left. Young Biff and
Happy enter, and Willy introduces them to Uncle Ben, a "great man."
Ben boasts that their father was a very great man, an inventor who could make
more money in a week than another man could make in a lifetime. Willy shows
Biff to Ben, and says that he's bringing up Biff to be like their father. Ben tells
Biff, “Never fight fair with a stranger, boy.
You’ll never get out of the jungle that way.Ben leaves, wishing Willy good luck
on whatever he does.”
Charley returns, and reprimands Willy
for letting his kids steal lumber from the nearby building that is being
refurbished. Willy says that he reprimanded them, but that he has a
"couple of fearless characters" as his children. Charley tells him
that the jails are full of fearless characters, but Ben says that so is the
stock exchange. Bernard enters and says that the watchman is chasing Biff, but
Willy says that he is not stealing anything.
WILLY: You shoulda seen the lumber they brought home last week. At
least a dozen six-by-tens worth all kinds a money.
CHARLEY: Listen, if that watchman…
WILLY: I gave them hell, understand. But I got a couple of
fearless characters there.
CHARLEY: Willy, the jails are full of fearless characters.
Willy says that he will stop by on his
way back to Africa, but Willy begs him to stay and talk. Willy worries that
he's not teaching his sons the right kind of knowledge. Ben repeats that when
he walked into the jungle he was seventeen, and when he walked out he was
twenty-one and fantastically rich.
Summary of Act I.8 (Loman Home,
Present):
Ben leaves, but Willy still speaks to
him as Linda enters. Willy wonders what happened to the diamond watch fob that
Ben gave to him when he came from Africa. Linda reminds him that he pawned it
to pay for Biff's radio correspondence course. Biff and Happy come downstairs
in their pajamas, and ask Linda how long Willy has been talking to himself.
Linda says that this has been going on for years. Linda says that she would
have told Biff, if he had an address where he could be reached. She also says
that Willy is at his worst when Biff comes home, and asks Biff why they are so
hateful to one another. Biff claims that he is trying to change.
Linda asks if he thinks about Willy.
She says that if Biff has no feelings for his father, then he has no feeling
for her either. Linda says that Willy is the dearest man in the world to her,
and she won't have anyone making him feel unwanted. Biff tells her to stop
making excuses for Willy because he never had an ounce of respect for her.
LINDA: “Biff, a man is not a bird, to come and go with the
springtime.”
Happy tells Biff not to call their
father crazy. Biff says that Willy has no character. She tells him that Willy
never made a lot of money, and that he is not the finest character, but he is a
human being and "attention must be paid" to him.
LINDA to BIFF: “I don’t say he’s a great man. Willy Loman never made a
lot of money. His name was never in the paper. He’s not the finest character
that ever lived. But he’s a human being, and a terrible thing is happening to
him. So attention must be paid. He’s not to be allowed to fall into his grave
like an old dog. Attention, attention must be finally paid to such a person”
Linda recounts the indignities that
Willy has suffered, such as having to borrow money from Charley, and she calls
Happy a philanderer. Biff wants to stay with his parents and promises not to
fight with Willy. Biff says that Willy threw him out before because his father
is a fake who does not like anybody who knows the truth about him. Linda says
that Willy is dying and that he's been trying to kill himself. When Willy had
his car accident in February, a woman saw that he deliberately smashed into the
bridge railing to drive his car into the river. Willy has also tried to use the
gas line to kill himself. Biff apologizes to Linda and promises to stay and try
to become a success. Happy tells Biff that he never tries to please people in
business, and that he whistles in the elevator.
Willy enters and tells Biff that he
never grew up, and that Bernard does not whistle in the elevator. Biff says
that Willy does whistle, however. Biff tells Willy that he's going to see Bill
Oliver tomorrow to talk about the sporting good business. Happy says
that the beauty of the plan is that it would be like they were playing ball
again. Willy says that it is personality that wins the day. After the boys
leave, Linda worries that Oliver won't remember Biff. Willy says that if Biff
had stayed with Oliver he'd be on top now. Willy reminisces about Biff's ball
game at Ebbets Field. He promises that the next day, he'll ask Harold if he can
work in New York. Biff finds Willy's rubber tubing behind the heater, and is
horrified.
Summary of Act II.1 (Loman Home,
Present):
Willy sits at the kitchen table the
next morning. He claims that he slept well for the first time in months. Linda
says that it was thrilling to see the boys leaving together, and says that Biff
had a new, hopeful attitude. Willy dreams about buying a little place in the
country. Linda asks Willy if he will talk to Howard today, and he says that he
will tell Howard to take him off the road. Linda tells him that he is supposed
to meet the boys for dinner at Frank's Chop House. As soon as Willy
leaves, Linda gets a phone call from Biff. She tells him that the pipe that
Willy connected to the gas heater is gone; Willy must have taken it away
himself. She is disappointed to learn that Biff is the one who took it away.
Summary of II.2 (Wagner's Office,
Present):
Willy enters the office of his boss,
Howard Wagner, a thirty-six year old man sitting at a typewriter table with a
wire-recording machine. Howard plays Willy recordings of Howard's daughter and
son. Willy tries to tell Howard what he wants, but Howard insists on playing a
recording of his wife. Willy tells Howard that he would prefer not to travel
anymore, but Howard says Willy is a road man. Willy says that he was in the
firm when Howard's father used to carry him as a boy. Howard is more interested
in the future than the past, as he ignores Willy to consider his new machine.
In contrast, Willy speaks not of his future with the company but with his
history and past promises
Howard is not interested in Willy’s story:
‘Cause you gotta admit, business is business.”
Willy narrates the story of Dave Singleman whom he met in Parker House, how a
salesman had respect: “Dave Singleman. And he
was eighty-four years old, and he’d drummed merchandise in thirty-one states…..
when he died, hundreds of salesmen and buyers were at his funeral. Things were
sad on a lotta trains for months after that. In There was respect, and
comradeship, and gratitude in it. Today, it’s all cut and dried.”
Willy keeps asking for lower and lower
salaries (he asked howard for 65 dollars a week, then 50, finally for 40,
citing that he average 170 dollars in 1928, which is rejected by Howard).
Howard's father made promises to Willy, he cries, but Howard tells him to pull
himself together, and then leaves. Willy leans on the desk and turns on the
wire recorder.
WILLY to HOWARD: “I put thirty-four years into this firm, Howard, and now I
can’t pay my insurance! You can’t eat the orange and throw the peel away — a
man is not a piece of fruit! Now pay attention. Your father — in 1928 I had a
big year. I averaged a hundred and seventy dollars a week in commissions.”
Willy leaps away with fright and
shouts for Howard. Howard returns and fires Willy, telling him that he needs a
good, long rest. Howard tells him that this is no time for false pride and he
should rely on his sons.
Summary of II.3 (Loman Home, Past):
Howard exits and Ben enters, carrying
his valise and umbrella. Willy asks him if he has secured the Alaska deal. The
younger version of Linda enters, and she tells Ben that Willy has a great job
in New York. She tells him not to go to Alaska. She wonders why everybody must
conquer the world, and tells Willy that he's well-liked, and that Old Man
Wagner promised that Willy would be a member of the firm someday. Young Biff
enters with Young Happy. Willy insists that it is "who you know" that
counts, but Ben leaves. Young Bernard arrives, and begs Biff to let him carry
his helmet, but Happy wants to carry it. Willy prepares to escort them to the
championship game. Willy tells Charley that he cannot go to Biff's baseball
game because there is no room in the car. Willy is insulted when he thinks that
Charley forgot about the game. Willy prepares to fight Charley.
Summary of II.4 (Charley's Office,
Present):
Bernard, now mature, sits in Charley's
office. Willy talks to Bernard, who tells him that he's going to leave for
Washington soon. Willy tells Bernard about the deal with Bill Oliver, and asks
Bernard his secret. Willy wonders why Biff's life ended after the Ebbets Field
game. Bernard asks why Willy did not tell Biff to go to summer school so that
he could pass math. Around that time, Biff disappeared for a month to see his
father in New England, and when he came back he burned his UVA sneakers.
Bernard wonders what happened in New England.
Charley enters and tells Willy that
Bernard is going to argue a case in front of the Supreme Court. Charley gives
Willy some money. Willy complains about Howard firing him, but Charley says
that things like naming a child do not matter: the only thing that matters is
what you can sell.
CHARLEY to WILLY: “The only thing you got in this world is what you can
sell. And the funny thing is that you’re a salesman, and you don’t know that.”
Charley offers him a job again, even
though he admits that he does not like Willy and Willy does not like him. Willy
refuses once more, and Charley realizes that the sticking point is jealousy.
Charley gives him money for insurance, and Willy remarks that a person is
worth more dead than alive.
WILLY: After all
the highways, and the trains, and the appointments, and the years, you end up
worth more dead than alive.
CHARLEY: Willy,
nobody’s worth nothin’ dead. Did you hear what I said?
Willy tells Charley to apologize to
Bernard for him, and, on the verge of tears, tells Charley that he is his
only friend.
Summary of II.5 (Restaurant,
Present):
At the restaurant, Stanley the waiter
seats Happy. A lavishly dressed girl enters and sits at the next table, and
Happy tells Stanley to bring her champagne. Biff enters as Happy flirts with
the girl, who is named Miss Forsythe. Happy tells Miss Forsythe that Biff is a
quarterback with the New York Giants. Happy asks the girl out, and asks her if
she can find a friend for Biff. The girl exits, and Happy remarks that girls
like that are why he can't get married.
Biff tells Happy that he did a
terrible thing. Bill Oliver did not remember Biff, and walked away when Biff
approached him. Biff stole his fountain pen, though. Biff insists that
they tell their father tonight to prove that Biff is not lying about his
failures just to spite Willy. Biff admits to Happy that, “I realized what a ridiculous lie my whole life has been!”
Happy tells him to say that he has a lunch date with Oliver tomorrow and to
prolong the charade, because Willy is never so happy as when he is looking
forward to something. Willy arrives, and tells his sons that he was fired.
Although Biff tries to lie to Willy about his meeting with Oliver, Biff and
Willy fight when Willy thinks that Biff insulted Bill Oliver. Biff finally
gives up, and tells Happy that he cannot talk to Willy. As Biff tries to
explain, Willy imagines himself arguing with Young Biff and Young Bernard about
Biff failing math, and imagines Bernard telling Linda that Biff went to Boston
to see Willy. Biff continues to explain what happened while Willy imagines the
woman in the hotel room. Miss Forsythe returns with another woman and Willy leaves.
Biff and Happy argue over who should do something about their dad. Happy denies
to the women that Willy is their father.
Summary of II.6 (Hotel Room, Past):
Willy follows the Woman as he buttons
his shirt. Someone knocks on the door, but Willy says he is not expecting
anybody. The Woman claims that Willy ruined her, and that whenever he comes to
the office she will make sure that he goes right through to the buyers. The
knocking persists, and Willy tells the Woman to stay in the bathroom while he
opens the door. It is Biff, who tells Willy that he flunked math. Biff begs
Willy to talk to Mr. Birnbaum, his teacher, to convince him to pass Biff.
Biff hears the woman laugh, and she
enters from the bathroom. Willy tells Biff that the woman is staying in the
next room, which is being painted, so he let her take a shower in his room.
Willy throws the woman out, as she claims Willy promised to buy her a pair
of stockings. Willy tries to explain that the woman is a buyer, but Biff
starts to cry. Willy admits that he had a relationship with the woman, but
claims that it means nothing to him, and that he was lonely.
Summary of II.7 (Restaurant,
Present):
At the restaurant, Stanley stands in
front of Willy as Willy shouts at the waiter, thinking that he is Biff. Stanley
tells Willy that his boys left with the two women and said that they will see
him at home. Stanley tries to help him. Willy asks if there is a seed store
in the neighborhood, because he has to buy some seeds to plant. Willy leaves
for the seed store.
WILLY to STANLEY: I've got to get some seeds. I've got to get some seeds,
right away. Nothing's planted. I don't have a thing in the ground.
Summary of II.8 (Loman Home,
Present):
Happy and Biff return home to find
their mother there. Happy gives her flowers, and tells Linda that he and Biff
met two girls. Linda knocks the flowers to the floor at Biff's feet. She asks
whether they care if their father lives or dies. She says that they wouldn't
even abandon a stranger at the restaurant as they did their father. Linda asks
Happy if he had to go to his "lousy rotten whores" tonight,
but Happy insists that all they did was follow Biff around trying to cheer him
up. Linda throws them out, calling them a pair of animals. Linda says that
Willy didn't have to say anything to her because he was so humiliated that he
nearly limped when he entered the house. Biff insists that he talk to Willy,
but Linda refuses to let him.
They hear a noise outside; it is Willy
planting his seeds in the garden. They find Willy outside, carrying a
flashlight, a hoe and a handful of seed packets. Willy imagines that he talks
to Ben about his own funeral. He says that people will come from miles around,
because he is well-known and well-liked, but Ben says he is a coward. Biff
tells Willy that he is not coming back anymore and that he has no appointment
with Oliver. Willy does not believe Biff, and tells him that he cut down his
life for spite. Willy refuses to take the blame for Biff's failure. Biff takes
the rubber tube out of his pocket and puts it on the table. Biff asks if it is
supposed to make him feel sorry for his father. Biff tells his father that the
reason they couldn't find him for months was because he was in jail for
stealing a suit, and that he has stolen something at every good job since high
school. Biff says that he is a dime a dozen, and so is Willy, but Willy insists
that neither of them are unimportant.
BIFF: “…..Why am I
trying to become what I don’t want to be? What am I doing in an office, making
a contemptuous, begging fool of myself, when all I want is out there, waiting
for me the minute I say I know who I am! Why can’t I say that, Willy?
WILLY: The door of
your life is wide open!
BIFF: Pop! I’m a
dime a dozen, and so are you! WILLY: I am
not a dime a dozen! I am Willy Loman, and you are Biff Loman!
Crying, Biff asks Willy to give up his
phony dream. Willy is amazed to realize that Biff likes him. Linda says that he
loves him. Willy can't believe Biff cries for him. Happy tells Linda that he
will get married and change everything. Everybody goes to sleep but Willy, who
remains in the kitchen talking to Ben. He imagines what wonderful things Biff
could accomplish with $20,000 insurance money. Linda calls from her bedroom for
Willy to come to bed, but Willy runs out of the house and speeds away in his car.
Biff and Happy don jackets, while Linda walks out in mourning clothes and
places flowers down on Willy's grave.
Summary of Requiem
Charley tells Linda that it is getting
dark as she stares at Willy's grave. Deeply angered, Happy tells Linda that Willy
had no right to commit suicide. Linda wonders where all of the people that
Willy knew are. Linda says it is the first time in thirty-five years that she
and Willy were nearly free and clear financially, because Willy only needed a
little salary. Biff says that Willy had the wrong dreams and that he never knew
who he was. Charley says that "nobody dast
blame this man," for Willy was a salesman, and for a salesman
there is no rock bottom to the life. A salesman has to dream.
Biff asks Happy to leave the city with
him, but Happy says that he's going to stay in the city and beat the racket,
and show that Willy did not die in vain.
HAPPY to BIFF: “I’m gonna show you and everybody else that Willy Loman
did not die in vain. He had a good dream. It’s the only dream you can have — to
come out number-one man. He fought it out here, and this is where I’m gonna win
it for him.”
Charley, Happy and Biff leave, while
Linda remains at the grave. She asks why Willy did what he did, and says that
she has just made the last payment on the house today, and that they are free now.
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