The Death of Salesman

By Arthur Miller
1. Theme
In the play of The Death of Salesman, there are so many themes that Arthur Miller bring up, however I decided to focus on 3 themes in this play; American Dream, Abandonment & Betrayal, Reality & Illusion. o American Dream The American Dream that anyone can achieve financial success and material comfort lies at the heart of Death of a Salesman. Various secondary characters achieve the Dream in different ways: Ben goes off into the wilderness of Alaska and Africa and lucks into wealth by discovering a diamond mine; Howard Wagner inherits his Dream through his fathers company; while Bernard, who seemed a studious bore as a child, becomes a successful lawyer through hard work. Willy Lomans version of the Dream, which has been influenced by his brother Bens success, is that any man who is manly, good looking, charismatic, and well-liked deserves success and will naturally achieve it. He puts his dream on Biffs shoulder, consequently, he has always expected more than he deserves. In addition, he has always expected Biff to become a high achiever, as he was as a football player in high school. As we can see economic crisis around 1939-1941 and its not easy to be rich and wealthy at that moment. Over the course of his lifetime, Willy and his sons fall short of the impossible standards of this dream. But the real tragedy of the play is not that Willy fails to achieve the financial success promised in his American dream, but rather that he buys into the dream so thoroughly that he ignores the noticeable things around him, such as the love of his family, while pursuing the success he hopes will bring his family security. By sacrificing himself at the end of the play in order to get his family the

money from his life insurance policy, Willy literally kills himself for money. o Abandonment & Betrayal Inspired by his love for his family, Willy ironically abandons them (just as he himself was abandoned by his father when he was three). The tragedy of Willys death comes about because of his inability to distinguish between his value as an economic resource and his identity as a human being. The Woman, with whom Willy cheats on Linda, is able to feed Willys salesman ego by liking him. He is proud of being able to sell himself to her, and this feeling turns to shame only when he sees that by giving stockings to The Woman rather than Linda. He doesnt see that his love, not material items, is the primary thing Linda needs from him. The link between love and betrayal is present throughout the play: part of Biffs revelation at the plays end is that Willy has betrayed him by encouraging him to settle for nothing less than greatness, thus making the compromises of the real world impossibly difficult. Happy, and even Linda, also betray Willy out of a kind intuition to not flap him out of his illusions, which forces Willys fragile mind to deal alone with the growing gap between his dreams and his life. Shes nothing to me, Biff. I was lonely, I was terribly lonely. , Willy tries to excuse his infidelity

o Reality & Illusion Throughout the play the Lomans in general cannot distinguish between reality and illusion, particularly Willy. This is a major theme and source of conflict in the play. Willy cannot see who he and his sons are. He believes that they are great men who have what it takes to be

successful and beat the business world. Unfortunately, he is mistaken. In reality, Willy and sons are not, and cannot, be successful. Certain lines in the play point to this character flaw that is present in Willy, Hap, and (for a time) Biff. For example, Willy believes that to be well liked is the means to being successful. This is an illusion that Willy lives in. Also, on the literal level, Willy very often lapses into a flashback and appears to be reliving conversations and situations that occurred years ago. This itself is an inability to see reality. This reality versus illusion problem eventually brings about Willy's downfall. In the end, Willy believes that a man can be "worth more dead than alive." Charlie, always the voice of reality tells Willy, "A man isn't worth anything dead." Willy is also unable to see change. He is man lost in the modern era of technology. He says, "How can they whip cheese?" and is constantly "In a race with the junkyard." Willy has lost at trying to live the American Dream and the play can be viewed as commentary about society.

2. Settings
The action takes place at Willy Lomans house in the New York City area, as well as other New York locales, and in a hotel room in Boston. Some of the action takes place in flashbacks while Willy hallucinates. The play is told partly through the mind and memory of Willy Loman. The flashbacks are used as revelations of things mentioned in the present-day conversations. They serve as a tool to help the reader understand the background to the story. Willy is often caught reliving the Boston hotel room scene (Biff! What are you doing in Boston!), and is also sometimes reminded of the better times he had with his family when he was younger. A final literary technique Miller used well is irony. The reader sees that the problem between Willy and Biff is that Biff has lost all faith in his father. Willy lives with his wife Linda and their two sons, Biff and Happy in a small house, crowded and boxed in by large

apartment buildings. (The way they boxed us in here. Bricks and windows, windows and bricks). The right term for the language in Death of a Salesman is probably describing it as Modern American. The speech is in the relaxed talking language of modern America, Gee, Id love to go with you sometime, dad. The Lomans live in Brooklyn, but the famous Noo Yawka accent is barely heard. The characters use the common speaking slang of conversation. But, when Happy tries to impress the two prostitutes at the restaurant, he speaks in a more formal tone, Why dont you bring-excuse me miss, do you mind? I sell champagne, and Id like you to try my brand. Bring her a champagne, Stanley Another clues of the statements is below : No, Ben, I dont want you to think Its Brooklyn, I know but we hunt too. Will you ask Howard to let you work in New York? Oh, yeah, my father lived many years in Alaska Setting (time) "Today," that is, the present; either the late 1940s or the time period in which the play is being produced, with "daydreams" into Willy's past; all of the action takes place during a twenty-four-hour period between Monday night and Tuesday night, except the "Requiem," which takes place, presumably, a few days after Willy's funeral. Also, related with American dream when earned money was so hard presumably it happened after World War II.

3. Plot
The story starts with Willy who comes home in the middle of the night after a few days too early from a trip. He tells his wife Linda that he was too tired and couldnt make it. He couldnt drive because he couldnt manage to keep his mind on driving and kept going off the road because he was daydreaming. He nearly had an accident but he is too ashamed to tell his family. 4

In the scene from Willy's memory, Biff, Happy, and Linda all suddenly appear on stage as they were fifteen years earlier, when the boys were teenagers. Biff, the favorite son, is the high school football captain. He is about to play an important game, and also about to flunk senior math, despite his friend Bernard's help studying. Bookish Bernard is not "well liked" by Biff's standards, and his father Charley, a salesman with his own business, is not "well liked" by Willy's standards. Still, for all his attempts to be "impressive," Willy is not doing well as a salesman, he confesses to Linda. Willy's thoughts shift further back in time to show him dallying with another woman in a hotel room.

Back in the present, Happy comes downstairs to calm his father, but is unsuccessful. The neighbor, Charley, comes in with the same intent, but Willy gets insulted when Charley offers him a job. Meanwhile, as his sons Biff and Happy enter, they see their father standing in the middle of the kitchen talking to his brother Ben who arrived from the past . Willy tells them a lot about his brother and he admires him very much. The three men talk about their future and theyre getting louder and louder as his friend Charlie suddenly enters, but Willy still doesnt stop talking about Ben, fascinated by his success. Biff wants to go to Bill Oliver to ask him for a job but Happy has the idea that they should found their own sports- line The Loman Brothers. Willy likes the idea very much and is proud, but he is just proud of Happy. Biff goes to Oliver in order to ask if he would lend him 500.000$ but he doesnt have any sort of success.

At the same time Willy goes to his boss Howard Wagner because he is tired of selling goods in towns which are far away and wide spread, so he wants Howard to give him a job in New York. He refuses the job and fires him. Now Willy stays alone in Howards office and starts talking to Ben, he dreams of changes which he didnt take in the past. Without a job, he has to enlarge his debts at Charlies because he must pay the rate for his insurance. But Charlie just lent him a lot of money because Willy 5

always lied to his family that he broke new records in selling goods and he presented Charlies money. At Charlies home Willy meets Bernard, a former best friend of Biff. He always stands in the shadow but now the situation is different: Bernard is a famous lawyer and Biff is a loser with no future.

In the evening Biff and Happy meet their father because he wanted to celebrate the success of Biffs deal with Oliver. But Willy tells his sons that Howard fired him and Biff lied to his father because he doesnt want him to be disappointed. So he just tells him that he got the money. Later, Biff and Happy leave their father because they have dates with girls and Willy is all alone. He falls into the past when Biff didnt go to school and followed his father to Boston where Willy spent a night with another woman. After this tragic event the relationship between Biff and Happy was less good. After this flashback, Willy goes home.

Late at night the two boys come home and they have a fight with their mother because they left their father alone in the restaurant. They find him in the backyard where he plants a tree. Biff tells him that he will leave his home and they start arguing but (Biff tells Willy that he is sorry for hurting him and says, If I strike oil Ill send you a check. Meantime, forget Im alive) then Biff tells his father that he really loves him (Biff shouts, "I'm not bringing home any prizes any more, and you're going to stop waiting for me to bring them home!" and breaks down in tears. Astonished, Willy realizes that Biff loves him after all, because he "cried to me.").

Linda and her sons go to bed and only Willy stays awake. He is in the kitchen and talks again to his brother Ben. Willy realizes that Biff loves him and decides to Then he gets into his car and commits suicide by crashing the car which would give his family 20 thousand dollar in life insurance. No one but his family and Charley goes to his funeral.

4. Characterization
Major Character : Willy Loman : A 63 year old once popular salesman whos lost his popularity and sales. The sales firm he works for no longer pays him salary. Working on straight commission, Willy cannot bring home enough money to pay his bills. After thirty-four years with the firm, they have spent his energy and discarded him. Willy's sons, Biff and Happy, are also failures, but Willy doesn't want to believe this. He wants his sons, especially Biff, to succeed where he has not. He believes his boys are great and cannot understand why they are not successful. This is a major source of conflict throughout the play. As Willy has grown older, he has trouble distinguishing between the past and present between illusion and reality - and is often lost in flashbacks where much of the story is told. These flashbacks are generally during the summer after Biff's senior year of high school when all of the family problems began. Willy has had an affair with a woman he meets on sales trips and once caught by Biff. Now, Biff does not respect Willy and they do not get along. Willy eventually commits suicide so that Biff can have the insurance money to become successful with. (His behavior are : contradictory, somewhat angry, and often obsessive) You fake! You phony little fake! Biff- Hap, hes got to understand that Im not the man somebody lends that kinf of money to. He thinks Ive been spiting him all these years and its eating him up Be liked and you will never want Biff Loman : Willys older son, who has trouble holding a job and getting

along with his father. Biff was a star football player in high school, with scholarships to two major universities. He flunked math his senior year and was not allowed to graduate. He was going to make the credit up during the summer but caught Willy being unfaithful to Linda. This shock changed Biff's

view of his father and everything that Biff believed in. Biff then became a drifter and was lost for fifteen years. He was even jail for stealing a suit once. After he returns home from the West, his presence and his failure to get a job exasperate Willy. Willy wants dearly for Biff to become a business success, although Biff has an internal struggle between pleasing his father and doing what he feels is right. Biff wants to be outside on a cattle ranch, and Willy wants him behind a corporate desk. Through the illusions that Willy believes, he cannot see that Biff is a nobody and not bound to be successful as defined by Willy. This conflict is the main material of the play. Eventually, Biff finally sees the truth and realizes that he is a "dime a dozen" and "no great leader of men." He tells this to Willy who is outraged. Willy shouts, "I am not a dime a dozen! I am Willy Loman and you are Biff Loman!" At the end of the play, Biff realizes the illusions that Willy lived on. Biff is destined to no greatness, but he no longer has to struggle to understand what he wants to do with his life. Biff- Dont yell at her, Pop, will ya? , I dont like you yelling at her all the time, and Im tellin you, thats all, furiously: Stop yelling at her!, those statements shows how he cares for his mother, Linda. Biff: Ten(thousand), I think, would be top though, Pop, Im a dime a dozen, and so are you!, What the hell am I doing playing around with horses twenty-eight dollars a week?, he is a realistic. Bernard: Biff, Im carrying your helmet, aint IOh Biff your promised!, Everyone wants to carry Biffs helmet indicated he is well liked. Biff-I just realized what a ridiculous lie my whole life has been! Weve been living in a dream for fifteen years He is a caring person. Will you let me go, for Christs sake? Will you take that phony dream and burn it before something happens?, Whered you go this time, Dad? Gee, we were lonesome for you.

Willing to Learn from Experience. No, youre going to hear the truth what you are and what I am!, How the hell did I ever get the idea that I was a salesman there? I even believed myself that I was a salesman for him! And then he gave me one look andI realized what a ridiculous lie my whole life has been! He has No Ambition- Lost confidence in the American dream. Hap- What happened, Biff? Wheres the old humor, the old confidence? . Biff-Yeah. Lotta dreams and plans, Hap- I remember the time that the idea [that a woman was too good] would never come into your head. Wheres the old confidence, Biff? -Biffs confidence is gone, but he is no longer delusional. Biff-Screw the Business world!

Happy Loman : He lives in an apartment in New York, and during the play is staying at his parent's house to visit. He is of low moral character; constantly with another woman, trying to find his way in life, even though he is confident he's on the right track. Hap has always been the "second son" to Biff and tries to be noticed by his parents by showing off. When he was young he always told Willy, "I'm losin' weight pop, you notice?" And, now he is always saying, "I'm going to get married, just you wait and see," in an attempt to redeem himself in his mother's eyes. Hap also tries to be on Willy's good side and keep him happy, even if it means perpetuating the lies and illusions that Willy lives in. In the end of the play, Hap cannot see reality. Like his father, he is destined to live a fruitless life trying for something that will not happen. "Willy Loman did not die in vain," he says, "He had a good dream, the only dream a man can have - to come out number one man. He fought it out here, and this where I'm gonna win it for him." He attempts to continue his fathers dream after he dies, which he resolves to carry on Willys legacy by making as much money as possible, which is a twisted misinterpretation of what Willys death meant. 9

 Seemingly confident

I bet you forgot how bashful you used to be. Especially with girls. Oh, I still am, Biff. I just control it, thats all. I think I got less bashfall and you got more so. What happened, Biff? Wheres the old humor, the old confidence?

Self-sufficient

Has his own apartment.

Good at seducing women

Sexuality is like a visible color on him, or a scent that many women have discovered.

Idolizes his Dad

Pop? Why hes got the finest eye for color in the business. You know that. Im losing weight, you notice, Pop?

Bad business ethics

sleeps with fiances of his superiors That girl Charlotte I was with tonight is engaged to be married in five weeks. Maybe I just have an overdeveloped sense of competition or something, but I went and ruined her, and furthermore I cant get rid of her. And hes the third executive Ive done that to. Isnt that a crummy characteristic? And to top it all, I go to their weddings!

All I can do now is wait for the merchandise manager to die.

Egotistical

and I got more in my pinky finger than hes got in his head. I gotta show some of those pompous, self-important executives over there that Hap Loman can make the grade. 10

 Despise towards women

Yeah that was my first timeI think. Boy, there was a pig! They laugh, almost crudely. I get that any time I want, Biff. Whenever I feel disgusted. The only trouble is, it gets like bowling or something. I just keep knockin them over and it doesnt mean anything.

I hate myself for it. Because I dont want the girl, and, still, I take it andI love it!

Linda Loman : The wife of Willy who tries to protect Willys feelings and cant make herself confront him if it means hurting his feelings. She is always trying to stand between Willy and her sons to ease the tension. She is protective of Willy. She knows that Willy is tired and is a man at the end of his rope - the end of his life and, as he put it, "ringing up a zero." She wants him to be happy even when the reality of the situation is bad. Linda knows that Willy has been trying to commit suicide, but does not intervene because she does not want to embarrass him. She lets it continue because she is not one to cause trouble. Linda often wonders why Biff hates his father so much, and never knows what is really going on. Biff: Because I know hes a fake and he doesnt like anybody around who knows! Linda: Why a fake? In what way? What do you mean? Biff: Just dont lay it all at my feet. Its between me and him-thats all I have to say. Linda has no idea of what is behind Biffs dislike for his father, and is sometimes confused by it. "You're my foundation and my support," Willy tells Linda (Supporting statement which showns Linda as a loyal wife.

Ben Loman

: Willys adventurous brother, who has just died in Africa when

the play begins. At moments of great stress or doubt, Willy converses with Bens ghost. Ben is the embracement of the most old-fashioned aspect of the

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American Dream, the idea that a man can set out into the wilderness by himself and come back wealthy. Willy regrets not following Bens path and testing himself against rugged natural settings. Yet he barely knew Ben, and Ben showed contempt for him on his few visits to Willys home. Minor Characters Charley : Willys neighbor, a steady businessman. He is a constant

friend to Willy through the years, though Willy is quick to take offense whenever Charley tries to bring Willys unrealistic dreams down to earth. Charley foresees Willys destruction and tries to save him by offering him a job. He gives the final elegy about what it meant for Willy to live and die as a salesman. Bernard : Charleys son, he is studious and hardworking. As a

boy in high school, he warns Biff not to flunk math, a warning both Biff and Willy ignore. He grows up to be a successful lawyer who is about to argue a case before the Supreme Court. The Woman : Willys mistress in Boston, during the time that Biff

and Happy were in high school. She is a secretary to one of the buyers, and picked Willy as a lover because, it seems, she is able to exploit him for gifts. Howard Wagner : Willys boss and the son of Frank Wagner, who

founded the company for which Willy works. A cold, selfish man, he inherits his success without building anything himself. He refuses to take the personal association between Willy and his father into account when he tells Willy there is no place for him at the New York office. He represents the new, impersonal face of the sales business Stanley : A waiter at Franks Chop House, who is friendly with : A call girl Biff and Happy met at Franks Chop House. : A call girl friend of Miss Forsythe. : Charleys secretary. : Biffs former boss. Though crucial to the plot, he Happy but has sympathy for Willys plight. Miss Forsythe Letta Jenny Bill Oliver

doesnt appear onstage.

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