Throughout the play the audience hears a woman’s laughter. In this scene it is the reason Willy gets found out by Biff as Willy had almost got Biff to leave. The laugh symbolises Willy’s infidelity and betrayal, it reveals Willy’s secret to Biff and to the audience. This is the dramatic climax of the play. Before Willy and the woman are found out, Biff tells Willy a story and they both laugh at the line “And in the middle of it he walked in!” this is dramatic irony because Biff walks in later to find his father and the woman.
Another symbol in this scene is the stockings, Willy gives new stockings to the woman and yet his wife Linda has to mend hers “you gave her Mama’s stockings!”
In the scene Biff goes from fun and then on finding Willy out he goes into shock. When it starts to sink in, he becomes sad, and then angry at his father. Willy’s emotions go from happiness, to fear and then anger. The write creates conflict in this scene by Willy becoming angered at Biff for not believing him “I gave you an order!” because Biff calls him a fake and Willy doesn't want to hear the truth. This makes him angry because he wants to regain his masculinity and therefore gets angry and shouts at Biff. Willy thinks that being liked can get him anywhere, he replies “The kids like it?” when Biff tells him about why he can't graduate, this quotation shows that Willy doesn't care so much that Biff can't graduate, as long as he is well-liked. He also thinks that he can just fix the problem by being liked by Biff's teacher.
The character of the woman reveals that Willy is indecisive and can't decide between the domestic and pleasurable sides of life. The write uses the theme of 'whores and housewives' and how they are used to define Willy, making him the tragic hero. The woman reveals the superficiality of Willy's life. The woman works in an office where Willy sells, which could be why Willy had an affair with her “I'll see that you go right through to the buyers.” This shows that although he cares for Linda, his desire for success outweighs his loyalty to her and he cannot see that Linda is more loyal than his company and the people he works for.
This scene affects the rest of the play which the audience see before seeing this. Willy gets angry at Linda for mending stockings in front of him; this is because he is ashamed of what he has done to Linda. The flashbacks in the play help to show what has happened before the present in the play, which shows the audience why the characters act the way they do and how they have been affected by past events. This shows that the ending of the play was down to fate, this is a common feature of tragedies.
Biff could be the tragic hero here because he has caused his own downfall by an error of judgement in failing his maths exam and not being able to graduate. The tragedy in this scene is mainly focused on Willy; he falls from grace from Biff’s point of view. Willy's life seems to fall apart because of this event, Biff is Willy's last hope of achieving the American dream and when Biff sees his father like this, he loses his faith in the dream and goes on to do the exact opposite – being a farmhand. Biff abandons Willy and Willy can't cope with it “Biff his life is in your hands” Willy has caused this himself with the affair – harmatia.
The second key scene is when Biff tells Willy he is leaving home for good. This is reminiscent of Willy's father walking out on him. Biff has a moment of realisation in this scene, “I'm nothing, Pop. Can't you understand that?” this is a tradition of tragic heroes in plays. However, Willy still believes that he is right and won't give up on Biff “I am not a dime a dozen!” Biff uses the word ‘dime’ which is financial language suggesting that he is trying to get through to his father that he is not as successful as he thinks he is, and never has been.
Willy thinks that Biff is just spiting him and trying to get revenge on him for having the affair “You vengeful, spiteful mut!” and Willy can't see why Biff doesn't want to be successful. But Biff doesn't want the American dream because he doesn't want to turn out like his father, living a lie. “Will you take that phoney dream and burn it”
Biff reveals truths his father didn't know, but Willy only hears what he wants to and when Biff has finished, still thinks that Biff can be great and believes that him dying is the only way Biff can make it. He thinks that Biff will love him for killing himself and getting the life insurance money “he'll worship me for it!” And believes that this is his only way of achieving the American dream, through Biff “I always knew one way or another we were gonna make it, Biff and I!”
Biff could be the tragic protagonist in this scene because he has fallen from having high hopes and ambitions when he was younger, to believing he is worth nothing. However, the tragic protagonist in this scene is Willy, as a main characteristic of tragic heroes is that they die and it is him that dies, not Biff. Willy has also fallen from being admired and loved by Biff to being blamed for Biff’s failures and Biff deciding to walk out on him.
