Death of a Salesman
Overview
• Unlike traditional tragedies, the play tells the demise of an everyday domestic gure. As a
result of this, the audience can sympathise and emphasise with his su ering and decline.
• As the play follows a domestic breakdown, setting is important. The Loman household seems
small, insigni cant and vulnerable — which is symbolic of Willy himself.
• The towering angular shapes of the setting create a feeling of entrapment and hint the fragility
of domestic life and the family unit. The world beyond engulfs the house, just as Capitalist
America consumes Willy.
• Miller employs two di erent time frames: real time and remembered time. It is clear that Willys
past actions have been ignoble.
• Miller uses the play to o er an indictment of the American Capitalist system; exposing the
harmful and destructive ideology of the American Dream.
• He is a Walter-Mitty character: an ordinary and ine ectual person who indulges in fantastic
daydreams of personal triumphs.
Character analysis’:
Willy Loman:
• Willy is the protagonist of the play. He is confused and has a blurred sense of the past and the
present, he also lives vicariously through his sons.
• Willy is demoted and ultimately red at work, this contributes to his declining mental health.
• He is disillusioned with the trajectory of his life.
• His late brother Ben was a successful businessman — this served as a reminder of Willy’s own
failures. Ben represents the wealth and success that eludes Willy.
• Willy’s delusion of himself builds as the play progresses.
Linda:
• Linda works diligently to maintain the illusion of Willy’s success.
• She allows Willy a level of authority and control that he cannot attain in his professional life.
• She serves as an equal partner in the family’s delusions. She tells Bi “his life is in your hands.”
Bi :
• Bi ’s hamartia is his inability to develop a traditional career for himself.
• Bi is a complete foil to his father and brother, he feels compelled to seek the truth about
himself rather than create a facade of material success.
• Bi ’s identity crisis is a function of his and his fathers disillusionment, whereby in order to
reclaim his identity, he must expose.
Happy:
• Happy’s name is ironic because he is not really happy at all.
• Happy and Willy share each others worst traits and both have a fervour to be superior.
• He is a womaniser who remains static and one-dimensional throughout the play.
• As a result of the American Dream, he is destined to be swallowed up by the force of blind
ambition that fuels his insatiable sex drive.
Dave Singleman:
• Just like his name suggests, Dave is a ‘single man’ and therefore self-su cient, which shows
his independence and individuality.
• ‘Dave’ means beloved which goes along with how well-known Willy says that he was. He serves
as Willy’s role model throughout the play.
• He died the novel ‘Death of a Salesman’ that eludes Willy — hundreds of salesmen and buyers
attend his funeral in a stark contrast to Willy.
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, Uncle Ben:
• One of Willy’s lifelong regrets is that he didn’t go with Ben to Alaska.
• Willy always asks Ben for advice, however, as Ben is dead the advice he receives is merely the
product of his own imagination.
• Ben’s successes serve to highlight Willy’s failures.
Bernard:
• Bi and Bernard are the parallels of their fathers, Willy and Charley.
• Bernard grows up to be a successful lawyer, despite how Wily used to mock him for studying
hard. Bi cannot live up to Bernard’s success.
Charley:
• Charley is Willy’s neighbour and only friend.
• Like his son, Charley is a lawyer, but he is humble and functions as a voice of reason in Willy’s
world of delusion and confusion.
The Woman:
• ‘The Woman’ has the double a ect of making the audience both despise and pity Willy.
• Her two appearances in the play are fragments of her haunting Willy’s imagination.
• Her laughter is a symbol of mocker and recognition of naivety.
• She functions as the plot device that disillusions Bi Loman about his fathers identity.
Key quotations:
Willy:
• “I put thirty-four years into this rm” — this shows how easily disposable he was despite
dedicating his life to his career and ‘The American Dream.’
• “Walked into a jungle, and comes out, at the age of twenty-one, and he’s rich! The world is an
oyster, but you don’t crack it open on a mattress!” — referring to his brothers success.
• “I’m vital in New England!” — exhibits his hubris and his delusion.
• “Because personality always wins the day!” — delusion.
• “I’ve got to get some seeds” — extended metaphor for Willy having no growth within his life,
both personally and professionally.
• “A man can end with diamonds here on the basis of being liked” — Willys over-concern with
what other people thought of him.
• “You stole Bill Olivers fountain pen!” — a reference to Willys delusion and belief that Bi was
trying to spite him, when really he wanted to make him proud.
• “Spite! Spite is the word of your undoing” — exposes Willys relentless anger and
disappointment at Bi .
Linda:
• “Bi , his life is in you hands!” — Linda is just as delusional as Willy and puts an extremely unfair
responsibility on Bi .
• “A small man can be just as exhausted as a great man” — empathetic, philosophical.
• “You make mountains out of molehills.”
• “We’re free… we’re free… we’re free” — group of three emphasises the strain that a nancial
burden can have.
• “Why didn’t anybody come?” — a stark contrast to Dave Singleman’s funeral, showing the
nature of Willy’s character.
• “Not enough sun gets back there. Nothing’ll grow anymore.” — A reference to the extended
metaphor of the seeds.
• “Be loving to him. Because he’s only a little boat looking for a harbour.”
Bi :
• “You fake! You phony little fake! You fake!”— exposing Willy.
• “I’m no good. Can’t you see what I am?” — deconstructing his father’s delusions.
• “Pop! I’m a dime a dozen! And so are you!”
• “Screw the business world!”
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