Death of a Salesman

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Death of a Salesman is a 1949 play written by American playwright Arthur Miller. The play ran for 742 performances, winning both the Tony Award and the Pulitzer Prize for drama. The original production was directed by Elia Kazan with Lee J. Cobb starring in the leading role of Willy Loman.

Death of a Salesman made both Arthur Miller and the character Willy Loman household names. The play raises a counterexample to Aristotle's characterization of tragedy as the downfall of a great man: though Loman certainly has Hamartia, a tragic flaw or error, his downfall is that of an ordinary man (a "low man"). Like Sophocles' Oedipus in Oedipus the King, Loman's flaw comes down to a lack of self-knowledge; unlike Oedipus, Loman's downfall threatens not the city but only a single household. In this sense, Miller's play represents a democratization of the ancient form of tragedy; the play's protagonist is himself obsessed with the question of greatness, and his downfall arises directly from his misconception of himself as someone capable of greatness. The tragedy of Willy Loman contrasted significantly with that of Willie Stark, the charismatic, populist politician in All the King’s Men, the movie of which won the Academy award for the best film of 1949.

Characters

Major characters: The Loman Family

Willy Loman

A middle-aged salesman (63 years old) who is no longer able to earn a living. He receives only a small commission as he ages, and he slowly loses his mind and attempts to kill himself by inhaling gas from the water heater or from crashing his hummer. Idolizes Dave Singleman to become well liked and rich. He spends most of his time dreaming instead of doing anything to improve his life. He is obsessed with the post-war interpretation of the American Dream. In the end he kills himself by crashing his car, hoping to get the life insurance money for his family (although specifically Biff).

Linda Loman

Willy's wife who aids in shielding Willy from reality. Linda enables Willy and despite obvious faults, she continues to allow Willy to make mistakes and does not help him. She also tries to rationalize many of Willy's actions, including his attempted suicide.

Biff Loman

The older son of Willy and Linda and the all-star athlete of the family. After discovering his father had an affair, he abandoned all of his dreams and set out to make his own way. Unfortunately he cannot escape his past or what he was taught as a child. He comes to realize that he was only fooling himself into believing in lies about his life.

Happy Loman

The younger son of Willy and Linda, epitomizes all of Willy's negative points, such as Willy's blind following of the American dream, as mentioned above. Happy is generally supportive of his father. He seems to only worry about making his parents notice him even if it means making up lies.

Ben Loman

Willy's wealthy and recently deceased older brother, who only appears during his time shifts. Willy looks up to him and his successful tapping of diamonds from Africa. He is the subject of many of Willy's hallucinations.

Other characters

• Charley: Willy's neighbour. Sympathetic to Willy's plight, his job offer to Willy was rejected mainly out of hubris. He is forced to stand by and watch Willy's death as his help is rejected.
• Bernard: Charley's son. Is the antithesis of Biff, mostly due to the parenting of his father. An "anaemic", worried, "worm" of a boy, he grows to become a successful lawyer and gets to the top of his profession. He tries to help Biff by asking him to study before his Regent's exam, but is shunned by Willy, who emphasises likeability and personality above intelligence. As an adult, he doesn't push his success into Willy's face when he encounters him, but remains sympathetic and tactful.
• Dave Singleman: Willy's model. As Willy puts it, "he died the death of a salesman" (from which the play's title comes). Singleman has long since passed away by the time the play begins. He was an eighty-four-year-old salesman who died on a train, wearing his slippers. Willy noticed that numerous businessmen attended Singleman's funeral, and concluded that Singleman had been well-liked and popular, the two traits that Willy values above all else.
• Howard Wagner: Willy's boss. Inherited company from father; fires Willy shortly before the end of the play. Insensitive, he parades a tape recorder before Willy which he knows he is unable to afford - a symbol of the modern businessman.
• Stanley: A waiter. Refuses Willy's money and lends a hand to help Willy return home after his sons leave him.
• Miss Forsythe: A woman who Biff and Happy meet in the restaurant where Stanley works. She draws Biff and Happy away from the dinner they planned with their father.
• Letta: A woman that Biff and Happy meet, friend of Miss Forsythe.
• The Woman: Willy's mistress, referred to by Willy as "Miss Francis". Sight of her with Willy forever scars Biff.
• Jenny: Charley's secretary.

Plot summary

One night, Willy Loman, a beaten-down traveling salesman based in New York City, returns home from a long business trip. His patient and loving wife, Linda, is surprised to see him but greets him warmly. From their ensuing conversation, it is revealed that Willy's early homecoming is due to his growing senility. Linda dotes on him and tells him to come to bed. Willy agrees but eventually remains in the kitchen, reminiscing, aloud to himself, about better times. His two sons, Biff and Happy, eventually awaken to Willy's loud mutterings but they remain in their beds to share a conversation. Biff, who had been working on a farm in Texas, talks to Happy about working outside, and how this house brings back bad memories, and boxes him in. Throughout the play, Willy also exhibits skills that would be more suited to an outside life, but he does not see these skills, primarily his ability to build and repair the house, as useful. The only success he can accept is the materialistic success of the 'American dream', which is beyond him. Willy goes outside and flashes back to Biff's childhood: Biff is the star quarterback of his high school football team. His father continuously dotes on Biff, while ignoring Happy. When Biff confesses to "borrowing" a football from his school's locker room, Willy simply writes off his behavior as initiative. Biff's classmate and neighbor, Bernard, arrives to help Biff study for math, but Willy and his sons ignore him and carry on playing football. Later on in the flashback, Willy goes inside, where Linda talks to him about their budget. Willy is reminded of a flirtatious encounter he had with The Woman, during which he gave her some silk stockings, originally meant for his wife. When he returns from the flashback, he sees Linda mending some stockings and snatches them away in guilt. Later, he and Charley engage in a card game (casino), during which Willy is reminded of his brother Ben. Ben begins a dialogue with him, and Willy contemplates why he can't become successful. Throughout the play, Willy has these imaginary conversations with Ben, during most of which he asks Ben how he made his millions. Ben tried to go to Alaska to find their father but ended up in Africa. In Africa, he "stumbled" upon the diamond business and became wealthy by the time Willy was old enough to care about his own career. Willy feels that he can also become successful by luck alone. However, it is made apparent that Ben never spent much time with the rest of the Lomans and gave only rudimentary descriptions of how he gained his wealth. For instance, whenever Willy asks Ben (in his flashbacks) how he made his millions, Ben only answers "When I walked into the jungle, I was 17. When I walked out, I was 21, and by God I was rich." In addition, Willy worked for a man who only had to wake up in the morning, put his slippers on, and make phone calls, and had made millions of dollars. Willy assumes that one does not need to work hard or develop skill and experience, but that all that one needs is a "smile and a shoeshine" to be successful. In a sense, Willy's dream is the American Dream of material success. Willy has no interest in spiritual values or altruism.

As a salesman, Willy has been reduced to working for commission alone, has to travel long distances, and even has to borrow money from Charley to make ends meet. In order to escape from his own failure, he pressures his sons to make something of themselves, then is crushed when they don't live up to his expectations. The family discovers he's tried to kill himself when Linda finds a tube and "a new little nipple" on the heater, at which point Linda mentions he's deliberately crashed the car on several occasions. Biff has just returned from Texas after several years, during which he never contacted his family, and he is therefore not entirely welcome. In an effort to please their father, Biff and Happy plan to start a sporting goods business in Florida and put on exhibitions for publicity. Willy is excited by this plan, though it is ludicrous, and the boys plan to ask Bill Oliver, Biff's past employer, for startup money. Willy asks his current employer for a job in New York, so he doesn't have to travel so much. His employer, adamant there is no place in the business for him fires him instead. Willy is left desolate, and has another flashback and conversation with Ben, where he explains why he became a salesman instead of following him, and ends up in Charley's office. There, he runs into Bernard, who mentions that, during Biff's last year in high school, Biff went to Boston to visit Willy, but after he returned, had lost all interest in school, thereby failing in his further career. Willy denies anything happened in Boston. Charley mentions that Bernard is going to argue a case in front of the Supreme Court, which astounds Willy. Charley offers Willy a job when he finds out that Willy has been fired, but Willy is too proud to accept.

Later, at a restaurant, Biff tells Happy about his encounter with Bill Oliver; he never got a chance to speak with Oliver, as he didn't even remember who Biff was. Infuriated, Biff stole Oliver's fountain pen and fled, at which point he realized his life was a lie and he was only a shipping clerk to Oliver. When Willy arrives, Biff tries to tell Willy the truth, but Willy so desperately wants good news that he forces Biff to lie. When Biff resists, Willy starts to pace, demanding to know why Biff didn't pass math. Biff takes pity on Willy, and lies that his encounter with Oliver went well, which allows Willy to continue denying reality. Willy has another flashback, during which he relives the night Biff found him in Boston; Biff walked in on Willy and The Woman, where Willy desperately tried to cover up his affair, but Biff saw through his lies and fled back to New York. Willy then wakes up in the bathroom by the waiter helping him, and goes back home, where he begins planting seeds outside and talking to Ben. Biff confronts Willy about the lies their lives have been. Biff tells Willy that they are "dime a dozen", not meant for leadership. Crying, Biff goes into the house. Willy, his delusions restored, says that Biff must like him because he cried. Willy tells Ben that Biff will do well with the $20,000 in insurance money. Suddenly, Willy realizes that he's alone. Inside the house, Biff and Happy hear the car start and drive off. Willy kills himself.

Later at his funeral, Biff decides to leave the house and work out West and Happy decides to "finish the fight he started". The play ends with Linda speaking to Willy in apostrophe, telling him that they have finally made the final payment on their mortgage.

Style

The play is mostly told from Willy's point of view, and it shows previous parts of Willy's life in his time shifts, sometimes during a present day scene. It does this by having a scene begin in the present time and adding characters onto the stage that only Willy can see and hear, representing characters and conversations from other times and places. One example of this is during a conversation between Willy and his neighbor Charley. During the conversation, Willy's brother Ben comes on stage and begins talking to Willy while Charley speaks to Willy. When Willy begins talking to his brother, the other characters do not understand who he is talking to and some of them even begin to suspect that he has "lost it". However, at times it breaks away from Willy's point of view and focuses on the other characters, Linda, Biff and Happy. During these parts of the play, the time and place stay constant without any abrupt flashbacks as usually happens while the play takes Willy's point of view. Willy dies self-deceived.

The play's structure resembles a stream of consciousness account: Willy drifts between his living room, downstage, to the apron and flashbacks of an idyllic past, and also to fantasized conversations with Ben. When we are in the present the characters abide by the rules of the set, entering only through the stage door to the left; however, when we visit Willy's "past" these rules are removed, with characters openly moving through walls. Whereas the term "flashback" as a form of cinematography for these scenes is often heard, Miller himself rather speaks of "mobile concurrences". In fact, flashbacks would show an objective image of the past. Miller's mobile concurrences, however, rather show highly subjective memories. Furthermore, as Willy's mental state deteriorates, the boundaries between past and present are destroyed, and the two start to exist in parallel.

Awards and nominations

Awards

• 1949 New York Drama Critics' Circle Best Play
• 1949 Pulitzer Prize for Drama
• 1949 Tony Award for Best Play
• 1984 Drama Desk Award Outstanding Revival
• 1984 Tony Award for Best Reproduction
• 1999 Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play
• 1999 Drama Desk Award Outstanding Revival of a Play

References

Further reading

• Hurell, John D. (1961). Two Modern American Tragedies: Reviews and Criticism of Death of a Salesman and A streetcar Named Desire. New York: Scribner. pp. 82–8. OCLC 249094. 
• Sandage, Scott A. (2005). Born Losers: A History of Failure in America. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. ISBN 067401510X. 

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Death of a Salesman

• Death of a Salesman at the Internet Broadway Database
• Character Analysis of Willy Loman
• Character Analysis of Linda Loman
• GradeSaver analysis, glossary, themes and quizzes on the novel
• Death of a Salesman: A Celebration by Joyce Carol Oates
• Death of a Salesman Reviews
• Director's Notes for "Death of a Salesman"