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 the entire 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 Willy. 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 around Biff, but Willy feels that there is an undercurrent of resentment in Biff, but Linda says that Biff is crestfallen and admires Willy. They argue about whether or not Biff is lazy, but Willy finally believes that Biff is a person who will get started later in life, such as Edison or B.F. Goodrich.
Biff Loman, at thirty-four, is well-built but not at all self-assured, while Happy, two years younger, is equally tall and powerful, with a visible sexuality, but is also confused because he has never risked failure. The two brothers discuss their father, thinking that his condition is degeriorating. Biff wonders why his father mocks him, but Happy says that he merely wants Biff to make good. 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 merely a boy even at his age, while Happy says that he has his own car and apartment and plenty of women, but is still unfulfilled, for he believes that he shouldn't 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 wants a woman with character, such as their mother. Biff thinks he may work for Bill Oliver, for whom he worked years ago but quit because he stole a carton of basketballs from him.
The play then 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 seriously consider them. 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, but will be bigger than Charley, 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 and not be able to atend 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 his sons will succeed. After the boys, Linda enters and Willy discusses his worry that people don't respect him, but Linda reassures him that people do, and in particular his sons idolize him.
Miller then segues back to the 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 Linda for mending her stocking, for he claims that she should not have to do such things. He goes out on the porch, where he tells Bernard to give Biff the answers to the Regents exam, but 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 day, where Willy tells Happy how he nearly hit a kid in Yonkers with his car, 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 twenty-one. Happy tells his father that he will retire him. 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. Finally 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 he would 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 he has 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 an address where she could contact him. She confronts Biff over his animosity toward Willy, but Biff claims that he is trying to change. 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, for if he does not he cannot care about her. Finally she tells her sons that Willy 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." Finally Biff relents and promises not to fight with his father, and 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'd be on top now.
The next day, Willy sits in the kitchen, rested for the first time in months. Linda claims that Biff has a new, hopeful attitude, and the two dream about buying a little place in the country, Willy claims 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 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. He insists that Howard's father made promises to Willy. Howard leaves, and Willy leans on his desk, turning on the wire recorder. This frightens Willy, who shouts for Howard, who returns exasperated and fires Willy, telling him that he needs a good, long rest and should now rely on his sons.
Willy then hallucinates that Ben enters and Linda, as a young woman, tells Willy that he should stay in New York, for 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 Œwho 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, whose wife just had their second son and who will argue a case in Washington soon. 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 he could go to UVA. Bernard pinpoints Biff's failures to his visit to his father in New England, after which Biff burned his UVA sneakers, and wonders what happened during that visit. Charley enters, and tells Willy how 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 great criterion 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, to prove that he did not lying about his failures to spite Willy. Willy arrives and tells his sons that he was fired. Although Biff tries to lie to Willy about his meeting, Biff and Willy fight when Willy thinks that he insulted him. 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 about how he failed math, 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, where the water is broken, but Biff realizes what has occurred. Willy throws the woman out, and she yells at him for 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, Stanley the waiter helps Willy and tells him that his sons left with two women. Willy insists that he find a seed store so that he can do some planting. When Biff and Happy return home, they find Linda there and give her flowers. She asks them if they care whether their father lives or dies, and says that they wouldn't abandon a random 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 to everywhere to his funeral, because he is well known, but 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 in his car. Happy and Biff come downstairs in jackets, while Linda walks out in mourning clothes and places flowers down in Willy's grave.
At Willy's funeral, only his family and Charley attend. 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 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 says how she made the final house payment.
About the Play:
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 aspects of the play to a family level. This is particularly evident in the family structure within the play, concerning two sons estranged from their father. This has parallels to another one of Miller's 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 its short story form, it concerned an aging salesman who cannot sell anything, is berated by company bosses and must borrow subway change from the young narrator. The end of the manuscript contains a postscript 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, a salesman who was a competitor at all times, even 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 failed high school. Miller's relationship to his cousins parallels that between the Lomans and their neighbor, Bernard.
In the play, Miller was intent to create a play with continuous action that could nevertheless span different time periods. The major innovation of the play was the fluid continuity between segments of the play in which Œflashbacks' did not occur as separate from the normal action but rather as integral to the action of the play. The play thus moves from the present day to fifteen years before, and from Brooklyn to Boston without any interruptions in the action.
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 on Broadway George C. Scott and, in a Tony Award-winning revival, Brian Dennehy.
About the Play:
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 aspects of the play to a family level. This is particularly evident in the family structure within the play, concerning two sons estranged from their father. This has parallels to another one of Miller's 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 its short story form, it concerned an aging salesman who cannot sell anything, is berated by company bosses and must borrow subway change from the young narrator. The end of the manuscript contains a postscript 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, a salesman who was a competitor at all times, even 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 failed high school. Miller's relationship to his cousins parallels that between the Lomans and their neighbor, Bernard.
In the play, Miller was intent to create a play with continuous action that could nevertheless span different time periods. The major innovation of the play was the fluid continuity between segments of the play in which Œflashbacks' did not occur as separate from the normal action but rather as integral to the action of the play. The play thus moves from the present day to fifteen years before, and from Brooklyn to Boston without any interruptions in the action.
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 on Broadway George C. Scott and, in a Tony Award-winning revival, Brian Dennehy.
Death Of A Salesman
Short Plot In the beginning of the play, the main character, Willy Lowman, has just returned home after finding himself unable to concentrate on driving. His wife, Linda, suggests that he ask for a job in New York so that he won't have to drive so much. Willy insists, however, that it is vital to his company that he work in New England. Willy asks Linda about his son, Biff, who has just come home after being away for several years. He can't understand why Biff is unable to get a good job. Soon Willy begins thinking about when Biff was a senior in high school. He remembers how Biff was the star of the football team and how he was offered scholarships from several colleges. After Willy's daydream ends, Charley comes in to play cards with him. While they are playing cards Charley offers Willy a job, but Willy refuses. As they are talking, Willy's brother, Ben, appears to him in an illusion. Willy tries to talk to both of them at once and Charley can't understand. Willy and Charley get into an argument and Charley leaves. Willy then turns his attention to Ben and asks him how he became so successful. Ben tells Willy that he went into the jungle when he was seventeen and when he came out at twenty-one he was rich. After Biff overhears Willy talking to himself, he asks Linda what's wrong with him. Linda explains that Willy is exhausted and has even tried to kill himself. When Willy enters the scene, Happy tries to cheer him up by announcing that he and Biff are going to start their own sporting goods company. He tells Willy that Biff is going to see Bill Oliver in the morning and ask for a loan. Willy is optimistic and reminds Biff that the most important things in life are to be well-liked and to have personal attractiveness. The next day Willy decides to ask his boss, Howard, if he can have a job in New York. Howard explains that there is no room for him in New York, and then tells Willy that he no longer wants him to represent the company. Now that Willy has no job, he must ask Charley for the money to pay his insurance premium. When Charley finds out that Willy has been fired, he offers him a good job in New York, but Willy refuses. Charley gives Willy the money and then Willy leaves to meet Biff and Happy at a restaurant. When Willy arrives at the restaurant, Biff tries to explain to him that he has been living an illusion and will never amount to anything extraordinary. Willy refuses to listen to him and pretends that Biff has another appointment for the next day. When Biff tries to make Willy face the truth, Willy becomes furious and goes off to the bathroom. Biff and Happy then leave the restaurant. While Willy is in the bathroom, he goes into another illusion. He finds himself in a hotel room with a woman. She is telling him how much she loves his sense of humor. Then knocking is heard at the door, and at first Willy refuses to answer it. As the knocking continues, Willy tells the woman to wait in the bathroom. He opens the door and finds Biff there. Biff tells Willy that he has flunked math and asks that Willy talk to his math teacher about it. Biff explains that his teacher doesn't like him because he once caught Biff imitating him in class. Biff shows Willy the imitation and they both start laughing. The woman hears them laughing and comes out of the bathroom. Willy hurries her out of the room, but not before the woman demands the stockings that Willy promised her. Willy tries to explain the situation, but Biff won't listen. He accuses Willy of giving away Linda's stockings and calls him a liar and a fake. Willy is then brought out of his illusion by the waiter at the restaurant. Willy asks if there is a seed store in the neighborhood and then leaves. Later that night Biff and Happy come home and find Willy planting seeds in the back yard. Biff tells Willy that it would be best if they didn't see each other again. He tries to explain that he is only a common man and will never live up to Willy's expectations, but Willy refuses to listen. Willy decided that he will commit suicide because he believes that with the 20,000 dollars of life insurance money Biff will finally be able to make something of himself. At his funeral, we see that Willy died a forgotten man because no one except his family came. Character Analysis Willy Lowman The main conflict in Death of a Salesman deals with the confusion and frustration of Willy Lowman. These feelings are caused by his inability to face the realities of modern society. Willy's most prominent delusion is that success is dependant upon being well-liked and having personal attractiveness. Willy builds his entire life around this idea and teaches it to his children. When Willy was young, he had met a man named Dave Singleman who was so well-liked that he was able to make a living simply by staying in his hotel room and telephoning buyers. When Dave Singleman died, buyers and salesmen from all over the country came to his funeral. This is what Willy has been trying to emulate his entire life. Willy's need to feel well-liked is so strong that he often makes up lies about his popularity and success. At times, Willy even believes these lies himself. At one point in the play, Willy tells his family of how well-liked he is in all of his towns and how vital he is to New England. Later, however, he tells Linda that no one remembers him and that the people laugh at him behind his back. As this demonstrates, Willy's need to feel well-liked also causes him to become intensely paranoid. When his son, Biff, for example, is trying to explain why he cannot become successful, Willy believes that Biff is just trying to spite him. Unfortunately, Willy never realizes that his values are flawed. As Biff points out at the end of the play, he had the wrong dreams. Biff Lowman In many ways Biff is similar to his father. In the beginning of the play we see that Biff shares many of the same ideas as Willy. He values being well-liked above everything else and sees little value in being smart or honest. One of Biff's main flaws is his tendency to steal. Early in the play we learn that he has stolen a football from the school locker. When Willy finds out about this, instead of disciplining Biff, he says that the coach will probably congratulate him on his initiative. We also learn that Biff once stole a box of basketballs from Bill Oliver. This foreshadows the scene in which Biff steals Bill Oliver's fountain pen after trying to get a loan for his sporting goods business. The climactic scene in Biff's life comes when he finds a woman in Willy's hotel room. This causes Biff to realize that Willy is a fake. Biff's tragedy is that he has accepted Willy's values all his life, and now that he finds out they are false, he has no values of his own to rely upon. Thus, Biff becomes lost and must set out to find his own values. Once Biff begins to develop his own beliefs, his opinions about his father change. Instead of viewing his father as a fake, Biff comes to realize that his father had some good qualities, but was simply misguided by inadequate values. Happy Lowman Happy is the younger of the two Lowman brothers and thus is often overshadowed by Biff. Because of this, Happy is constantly trying to get attention from Willy. In one of the flashbacks Happy continually says, I'm losing weight, you notice, Pop? This is an attempt by Happy to get recognition from Willy. When in the present, Happy tries to get recognition by announcing that he is getting married. In both instances, however, Happy's remarks are dismissed as unimportant. Thus it is no surprise when Happy leaves Willy alone in the restaurant. It is merely in retaliation for his own rejection. Another characteristic of Happy is his refusal to recognize reality. When Biff, Happy, and Willy are in the restaurant, Happy tries to prevent Willy from learning that Biff did not get the loan. While Biff is trying to explain that he never actually worked as a salesman for Oliver, Happy is continually reassuring Willy that the interview went well. Another example occurs at the end of the play when Happy insists that Willy did not die in vain. He had a good dream. Themes/Purpose/Ideas The main theme in Death of a Salesman is illusion versus reality. Willy has lived his entire life in a world of illusions. These illusions include Willy's belief that being well-liked is the key to success, as well as the literal illusions that Willy has of his past. Originally, Biff shared Willy's illusions of success and greatness, but by the end of the play he has become completely disillusioned. Once Biff comes to fully understand his place in life, he says to Willy, I'm a dime a dozen, and so are you. Willy, however, has lived too long in his dreams and cannot understand what Biff is trying to say. If Willy had to face reality, he would then be forced to examine the affair he had in Boston, his philosophy, and all of his illusions. Instead, he prefers to live in the past. And now Biff, who is trying to confront the truth about himself, finds that he is completely unable to commuicate with his father. Another theme of Death of a Salesman is the old order of agrarian pride and nobility versus the new order of industrialization. In the beginning of the play, Willy foreshadows this theme by criticizing the changes brought about by industrialization. The street is lined with cars. There's not a breath of fresh air in the neighborhood. It is this conflict between the old and new orders that brings about Willy's downfall. Willy's father, a pioneer inventor, represents the traditional values and way of life that Willy was brought up on. So does Dave Singleman, the eigthy-four year old salesman that inspired Willy to go into the sales industry. Howard, the young boss of Willy's company, represents the impersonal and ruthless nature of capitalistic enterprise. When Willy goes in to ask Howard if he can be transferred to a job in New York, Howard refuses to help him even though Willy has been working for the company for several decades and was good friends with his father. When Willy asks why he cannot be reassigned, Howard replies, Šit's a business, kid, and everybody's gotta pull his own weight, thus demonstrating Howard's cold indifference to Willy's situation. Style In Death of a Salesman, Arthur Miller uses a very realistic style of speech. Because the story is carried almost completely by the dialog, this is vital to the play's success. Miller also uses repetition of significant phrases throughout the play. Phrases such as He is not just liked, but well-liked and Isn't that a remarkable thing acquire greater meaning over the course of the play. One example of this is how the phrase Isn't that a remarkable thing comes to signify Willy's occasional disillusionment. The first time we hear this phrase is when Willy says that he can't roll down the windshield on his car and Linda reminds him that he said he rolled it down on his trip to Boston. The phrase doesn't really acquire significance, however, until the scene in which Willy borrows money from Charley. Willy has always thought of Charley as representing the worst qualities in humanity. He is neither well-liked nor personally attractive. For this reason, Willy has never considered Charley to be his friend. After Willy is fired, however, he discovers that the only person he can borrow money from is Charley. Thus he comes to realize that Charley is his only friend, and he says Isn't that remarkable. Willy also uses the phrase near the end of the play after Biff has broken down and cried while trying to explain his life. Willy has always though that Biff was destroying his own life just to spite him, but now he realizes that Biff actually loves him. Another technique used by Miller is changing the tone of the play when switching to different time periods. In the present, the tone is generally serious and dark. When it changes to the past, however, the tone becomes brighter and more optimistic. This change in tone represents Willy's desire to return to the time before he became enemies with Biff.
