Arthur Miller takes us to the past where there is thick tension. Willy is lying about the amount of money he made. Willy stutters, this shows his uncomfortable about what has happened this makes him lie about it. ‘Well I-I did about a hundred and eighty gross in providence.’ Willy wants his family to be proud of him. If Willy is getting a lot of money his philosophy is right. On the other hand this scene gives us an in sight into Willy’s inner character. It shows he has low self-esteem and he doesn’t face up to the truth. In the present Willy continues to lie about his money and takes money from Charley and pretends he earned it.
Willy imagines he’s talking to his dead brother Ben. Ben is successful and hasn’t played a big role in Willy’s up bringing or adult life. Willy tells Ben what he remembers from his father as a way to bond with Ben. ‘All I remember is a man with long bread?’ Willy grew up without any father figure. This makes him insecure about his role as a father to his two sons.
Linda tells her sons Willy is trying to kill himself. This is like the eruption of a volcano after it was bubbling for so long; ‘And sure enough on the bottom of the heater there is a new little nipple on the gas pipe.’ From this scene it gives us an insight into what might happen in the future, that Willy commits suicide. Willy is still trying to kill himself but Linda does not want to get herself out of the supportive role as housewife. Linda is in denial about the truth. Nearly the whole family is in denial and living in the past.
All of a sudden at the end of act one Arthur Miller takes all the tension away; but this is way for him to build it up again like one building a house. Willy all of a sudden thinks that Biff and Happy will be very successful. ‘Because you got greatness in you Biff.’ Biff is planning to go into business selling sporting goods with Happy. He’s going to ask Bill Oliver for $10,000.
The audience here have a clear mind and know that the plan probably won’t work it has a huge flaw, Olive hasn’t seen Biff in over 15 years, and therefore probably won’t remember him. Tension starts to grow again straight away for the audience because they are aware of the flaw unlike Willy and his family.
Like I said although some tension is relieved for the family, the audience can see right though the plan, they can see is all relays on chance and they see that the family needs a little success to keep them all together. This proves they are all living in the past, and they won’t admit the truth. They will cling on to all the hope they can.
Miller starts act two with a big moment of tension. This is very different compared to the way Miller started act one. We start act one with a little moment of tension.
Willy is fired from his job by Howard, who Willy named; this gave Willy a false sense of safety. In the business world how much money you make is the only thing that keeps you employed. Howard explains to Willy that he can no longer work for him. ‘I don’t want you to represent us anymore.’ Howard is trying to let Willy down gentle; he still has a little bit of respect for Willy.
Bill Oliver doesn’t remember Biff. Biff realises that the business idea was a silly idea and that it wasn’t realistic. He feels humiliated and realises he was just a shipping clerk. As a way to get back at Oliver, Biff steals Oliver’s fountain pen. Biff steals as a way to punish the person who used to possess the stolen object. Biff feels that having an object from a successful person might rub the successfulness on to him.
Charley offers Willy a job but Willy refuses. ‘I’m offering you a job.’ Willy has too much pride to take the job. He believes that if he accepts the job he will lose his self respect. If Willy takes the job it will mean that Charley is higher then Willy therefore more successful. The audience know that if Willy took the job it meant that he his self-worth.
Biff, Happy and Willy meet up at the end of the day in the restaurant. Biff and Willy argue. Biff was trying to tell Willy the truth- that Oliver didn’t recognise him. Willy won’t let Biff tell him what was going on. ‘Dad, you’re not letting me tell you what I wanted to tell you’. Biff gets angry because Willy won’t let him tell him the truth. Although Biff does try to tell Willy the truth there are certain times in the moment where Biff just wants to make out everything is okay; he is scared of hurting Willy’s feeling. This scene is so stressful for Willy that he goes back into the past. (Get quote)
After Biff realise his father can’t cope with the truth, Biff pretends he got the deal. ‘No, no. Look, pop. I’m supposed to have lunch with them tomorrow.’ Biff can see that his father can’t cope and won’t cope with the truth. This causes Biff to slip back into letting Willy believe he got the deal.
Willy goes back into the past. In the past Biff discovers that Willy was having an affair. ‘You fake! You phoney little fake! You fake!’ From this moment on Biff turns against his father and Biff gives up on his life. Willy really knows deep down inside that it was his fault for what become of Biffs life, but he can’t admit this. This whole scene shows that Biff has a very weak character. He can’t cope with problems so he gets angry and is full of self pity. This is seen by him ruining his life and stealing other people’s possessions that they worked hard for.
When Willy mentions the University of Virginia Biff all of sudden gives up all hope of going to the University. ‘You need does points for the University of Virginia.’ Biff wants to hurt and punish his father. He can’t physical hurt him or tell his mother about the women so Biff does the next best thing which is destroying Willy’s dream of Biff going to the University of Virginia. Biff destroys his life so that he won’t fill his father’s dream of Biff living the ‘America Dream’. (Explain what the dream is)
Happy gets angry when Biff says that Happy doesn’t know who he is. ‘He never knows who he is.’ Happy gets angry because he was only trying to be a salesman because that is what Willy wanted Biff to be. If Happy was a salesman he might be the favourite son. Willy wants his sons to be better and to live better then he did.
Willy considers suicide. ‘Why? Does it take guts to stand here. The rest of my life is using up a zero?’ if Willy dies his wife Linda, will get $20,000 from the life insurance. Although Willy wants the money to go to Biff to start up his business, the money is a way for Willy to make up for ruining Biffs life.
Willy and Biff had yet another argument. ‘Dad, you’re never going to see what I am so what’s up of arguing.’ Willy and Biff can never resolve their disagreements. Biff tries to tell Willy about the tube and Willy’s admit at suicide but Willy denials everything.
When the past gets stressful, Willy goes back to the present and if the present gets stressful then Willy goes back to the past. He can now just go back and forth between times in his mind. Willy can’t stand tension. This shows that Willy’s character is weak. He’s not strong enough to combat the harsh tensions.
Willy drives off in his car and crashes, he dies. ‘There is the sound of a car starting and moving away at full speed.’ This scene could have been interrupted as an accident or suicide.
It could have been accidental because there was screaming in Willy’s head and he wanted to get away from it and in his confusion he crashed the car.
On the other hand, it could be that he wanted to give the insurance to Biff. Plus he does talk about a suicide plan to his dead brother Ben in his imagination.
Overall the play has lots of moments of tension in it. Miller starts off with little moments of tension and works his way to the big moments of tension. He removes all the tension at the start of act two just so he can build it up again.
This story links to the Great Depression which was going on at the time of the play. Miller doesn’t like the idea of the American Dream because he knows it destroys a lot of lives and is very hard to live up to.
(Write about the American dream and refer to the play as a tragedy)
