Death of a Salesman

ACT I: As the play opens, Willy Loman, a man in his early sixties, is returning home from a sales trip. He is exhausted after an unsuccessful attempt to drive to his first appointment. His wife Linda, alarmed at his early return worries about his health and makes excuses for his inability to drive. In the face of her concern, Willy confesses that he cannot concentrate. He is having strange thoughts. These thoughts will plaque him throughout the play. They are recollections of the past.

At Linda's urging, Willy agrees to ask Howard Wagner, his boss, to give him a position in the New York office. During Linda and Willy's conversation, their sons, Happy and Biff, are getting reacpuainted. Happy, the younger of the two, has a job and his own apartment. He is confident, easygoing and sensual. Biff, who is his father's favorite, has had 20 or 30 jobs since high school. He is lost and troubled. His inablility to settle down confuses Willy and has caused tension between father and son.

Downstairs, Willy recalls the past, half to himself and half aloud. Willy idolized Biff, he took such pride in Biff's athletic achievements that he frequently ignored Happy's need for attention and overlooked Biff's weaknesses -- his failure in math, his theft of the basketballs, and his cheating. Willy even justifies Biff's bad behavior when Linda and Bernard, the boy next door, criticize him.

Willy's reminiscences are interrupted by the sound of a woman laughing. The woman is never named, but her presence is felt several times during the play. Weaving between the present and the past, Willy speaks of his loneliness and his inability to get ahead. The voice of the other woman flatters Willy from the past, while Linda, unaware of Willy's daydream, tries to reassure him.

As Willy talks, Linda mends stockings. The sight of her mending angers and shames Willy, reminding him of the limited income and a past indiscretion with the unnamed woman.

Happy comes downstairs to find out why his father has come home and what has caused all the commotion. He finds a confused Willy babbling about his wealthy brother Ben. Like the woman, Ben is heard and seen only by Willy. Ben exists in Willy's mind as a symbol of adventure, quick success and wealth. When Willy is upset, he talks to Ben. Willy is so involved in his daydreams that happy gives up trying to talk to fis father and goes back to his room.

Disturbed by the noise next door, Charley (Bernard's father) wanders in to soothe Willy. He offers to play cards. While Charley talks Willy alternately addresses Charley and Ben. Gathering that Willy is troubled, Charley offers him a job which Willy promptly refuses.

Slipping deeper into his reverie, Willy ignores Charley, and recalls a visit Ben made long ago. Ben spoke of diamonds, their father, and his success. Anxious to please, Willy showed off his sons and encouraged Biff to steal sand from a construction site so they could rebuild the front step. linda and Charley warned Willy that Biff would be in serious trouble for stealing again -- a warning which amused Willy and Ben.

Linda jolts Willy back to reality as he is about to leave the house in his pajamas. Biff and Happy come downstairs and ask Linda what is wrong with their father. She can only say that his is tired and deserves attention. She tells them that Willy is on straight commission and borrows $50 a week from Charley to make ends meet. She also tells them he has been trying to kills himself. Horrified, Happy curses his father and Biff swears he will find work and stay at home.

Willy hears Biff's promise to find work. Caught up in the excitement, Happy suggests that he and Biff start a sporting goods line. They plan to ask Biff's former boss Bill Oliver for financial banking. His optimisim restored, Willy goes to bed while Happy and Biff marvel at how old their parents have become.

ACT II: The next morning Willy is still elated. Over breakfast he vows to ask his boss for a new assignment. Linda tells him to meet their sons at dinner for a celebration and Willy sets off just as it is beginning to rain.

His interview with Howard Wagner goes poorly. Howard plays with his tape recorder, barely listening to Willy's needs. He finally gives Willy his atteing -- only to fire him. Dejected, Willy again turns to Ben, who offers him a proposition. When Willy hesitiates and speaks of Dave Singleman, the man who inspired Willy to become a salesman, Ben becomes impatient and fades. In desperation Willy goes to Charley's office.

Charley's son Bernard, now a successful lawyer and a father of two boys, meets Willy in the outer office. Willy congratulates Bernard on his successful career and asks him why Biff has never succeeded. Bernard hints that something happened to Biff when he visited Willy in Boston the summer after graduation. Charley enters and tries to corner Willy. He gives Willy money and offers him a job which Willy refuses. Annoyed, Charley asks why Willy needs money, and Willy confesses that he has been fired.

While Happy and Biff wait for Willy at the restaurant, Biff explains that he saw Bill Oliver briefly but never even talked to him. Buring his wait for Oliver, Biff had suddenly realized he had never been more than a shipping clerk for Oliver. This realization makes him remember all the lies people in his family have told one another. happy doesn't want to hear Biff's truth so he flirts with a girl at the next table and arranges a double date. Later, Willy is as unwilling to hear what Biff has to say as Happy was. A fight ensues as Biff tries to explain his feelings. Happy tries to tell the same old lies, and Willy yells. A call for happy interrupts them and sends Willy into the bathroom and his mind into the past.

Willy recalls Biff's visit to Boston and remembers Biff's horror at discovering his father in a motel with another woman. After this incident, Biff gave up on college. Happy and Biff abandon their father in the restaurant, leaving Stanley, the waiter, to see that Willy gets home.

When the boys finally return home, Linda is waiting for them. She has pieced together the events of the evening and wnats her sons to get out. She says their presence only torments Willy. But Biff insists on seeing his father. During this confrontation, Biff convinces his father that he loves him. Willy is elated and consults Ben on e last time. he wants Ben's approval for his scheme to provide Biff with $20,000 -- the amount his insurance will pay if he dies. Convinced his suicide will make Biff's fortune, Willy kills himself.

REQUIUM: His death angers happy and confuses Linda. Happy cannot accept his father's death; to do so would mean admitting that his own dreams of success are as misquided as Willy's were. Linda, like Happy, depends on Willy's dreams and his death shatters her. Standing over his grave, Linda tells Willy that the mortgage on their house in finally paid. They are free for the first time.

Charley and Biff seem to understand Willy's suicide, but for different reasons. Charely recognizes that Willy was a salesman in the truest sense of the word -- he sold himself until the world stopped buying.

Biff understands and forgives Willy. With his father's death, he relinquishes any further belief in his father's dreams. Finally, at age 34, Biff is free to be himself.

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