Death of A Salesman by Arthur Miller
Plot Summary
The play takes place in 1949, in the present day. The scene is Brooklyn’s Loman house, which is surrounded by residential buildings.
After an unsuccessful business trip, Willy Loman returns home fatigued. Concerned about Willy’s mental state and the recent vehicle tragedy.
His wife Linda proposes that he ask his boss, Howard Wagner, whether he might work in his hometown instead of traveling. Willy laments to Linda that their son, Biff, has done nothing with his life.
Despite his high school football potential, Biff failed maths and was thus unable to attend university.
Biff and his younger brother, Happy, who is staying with Willy and Linda temporarily due to Biff’s surprise return from the West, talk about their childhood together.
They talk about their father’s mental decline, which they’ve seen in the form of his continual indecision and daydreaming about the boys’ high school years.
Willy eventually walks in, unhappy that the two guys have never achieved anything. To appease their father, Biff and Happy inform him that Biff plans to make an incredible business proposal the next day.
The next day, Willy travels to town to seek Howard for a job, while Biff goes to make a business proposal, but both fail. Despite Willy’s urgent appeals, Howard defiantly refuses to hire him in New York.
Willy then loses his cool and is fired when Howard tells him he needs a long rest, and he is no longer permitted to represent the Wagner Corporation, while Biff waits hours to meet a former boss who does not remember him and turns him down. Biff borrows a fountain pen on the spur of the moment.
Willy then goes to his neighbor Charley’s office, where he meets Charley’s son Bernard, who is now a successful lawyer set to plead a case before the Supreme Court.
Bernard explains that Biff had planned to attend summer school to make up for failing arithmetic, but something happened in Boston while Biff was visiting his father that changed his mind.
Willy consistently rejected Charley’s offer of a do-nothing job. Charley subsequently unwillingly sends money to the now-unemployed Willy to pay off his life-insurance premium, and Willy surprises Charley by observing that a man is eventually “worth more dead than alive.”
Happy, Biff, and Willy go out to eat, but Willy refuses to hear the terrible news from Biff. Happy attempts to get Biff to lie to their father.
Willy becomes enraged and falls into a flashback of what happened in Boston the day Biff came to see him: Willy was in Boston for work, and Biff went to see him to ask Willy to convince his teacher to bend Biff’s failing math grade.
Willy was in the midst of an adulterous romance with a receptionist when Biff entered the hotel room unexpectedly and spotted the woman, who was half-dressed.
Biff would not accept his father’s cover-up story and storm out, calling him a fraud and a fake. Biff’s feelings toward his father shifted at that point, leaving him befuddled.
Biff storms out of the restaurant, followed by Happy and the two girls he picked up, leaving Willy befuddled and upset.
As they arrive home, Linda confronts them fiercely for abandoning their father, while Willy stands outside, muttering to himself. Biff tries to reconcile with Willy, but the conversation swiftly devolves into another squabble.
Biff expresses to his father unequivocally that he is not suited for anything spectacular, emphasizing that both of them are simply regular men living ordinary lives.
The dispute appears to reach a climax when Biff holds Willy and begins to cry, attempting to persuade Willy to let go of his unreasonable expectations.
Willy appears to believe his kid has forgiven him and will follow in his footsteps, and after Linda goes upstairs to bed, slides one final time into a hallucination, thinking he is talking to his long-dead brother Ben.
Ben “approves” of Willy’s plot to end his own life in order to give Biff his life insurance money to help him start a business, in Willy’s opinion. Willy walks out of the house, and Biff and Linda sob as the sound of Willy’s car blares up and fades out.
Willy’s funeral is attended by only his family, Charley and Bernard, in the closing scene (who do not speak during the scene). The ambiguity of confused and unresolved feelings persists, particularly the question of whether Willy’s choices or circumstances were outmoded.
Biff maintains his notion that he does not want to be a businessman like his father at the burial. Happy, on the other hand, chooses to follow in his father’s footsteps, while Linda laments her husband’s decision moments before she makes her final mortgage payment.
What is the Significance of the Title Death of a Salesman?
The title contains multiple meanings. The most evident is that it refers to Willy Loman’s actual physical death, which regrettably occurred by suicide. Therefore, Willy is a salesperson who perishes. That one is quite obvious.
The Perfect Funeral
Of course, we’re talking about Arthur Miller here, so we’re pretty sure the title has a deeper meaning. It also refers to Willy’s romanticized death, in which everyone weeps and beats their chests, among other things. Willy bases his fantasy funeral on the service of an elderly salesman named Dave Singleman.
Willy was inspired to become a salesman in the first place by Singleman’s funeral. Willy claims that it was large and well-attended, proving to everyone that Singleman was successful and well-liked. Willy appears to judge a man’s worth by the magnitude of his… umm… funeral.
Willy’s funeral, however, is nothing like the one he portrays for Singleman. Nobody shows up at all. We hope Willy’s ghost wasn’t there to witness it, because he’d be devastated.
Willy’s funeral demonstrates that he wasn’t especially successful or well-liked by his own standards. The chasm (or gap) between how Willy imagines his death will be accepted and how it really occurs makes this term terribly ironic.
The Death of Willy’s Dream
Willy’s salesman dream—the desire of being financially successful and a parent to hotshot sons—is also referenced in the title. Willy is broke and jobless by the end of the play. It’s evident that his goal of becoming a big-time salesman has died.
Willy, on the other hand, feels that by killing himself, he might leave something to his son Biff in the shape of life insurance money. This would provide Biff with an opportunity to flourish in business.
Willy’s death may give birth to a new salesman. That, however, does not occur at all.
The burial scene makes it very evident that all of Willy’s dreams are deader than dead. Biff has little desire to follow in his father’s footsteps. Furthermore, it is painfully evident to everyone that Willy committed suicide, which means that no life insurance money will be paid to his family. Willy’s salesman dream is, in the end, dead, dead, dead.
The American Dream and Capitalism
On a broader level, the title may be another jab at capitalism and the American Dream. Willy, as a salesperson, epitomizes American commercialism in many ways. The fact that he is eaten up and spit out by the system may be a commentary on the system’s own soullessness.
Instead of Death of a Salesman, you may call the play Death of Capitalism or Death of the American Dream. Their titles aren’t quite as cool and subtle as Miller’s, are they? We’ll probably leave the writing of great works of literature to him.
Why is Death of a Salesman Such a Tragic Story?
The tragedy of Death of a Salesman is that it depicts the perilous repercussions of investing one’s life in an idealistic aim such as the American Dream.
Willy Loman is oblivious to the fact that he is a failing salesperson, and in order to escape that reality, he continuously returns to his past. He is blinded by wealth and the desire to achieve the American Dream, so he puts it on his son, Biff.
Willy was oblivious to the fact that true happiness derives from emotional attachments rather than materialistic stuff. He couldn’t accept his son for who he truly is.
Willy’s death is not necessarily the play’s tragedy. It is a fact that he was unable to identify what made him or his family happy. And that he perished after a fleeting materialistic possession. And his death is final.
What makes Death of a Salesman so Ironic?
The irony in Death of a Salesman is that Willy Loman is a loser who constantly instructs his sons on how to be successful.
He was advising them on how to be successful when they were children, and he is still coaching them on how to be successful now that they are in their thirties.
Willy, on the other hand, is becoming less and less successful as he ages and wears down. Willy has no idea how to succeed. Willy continually asking his brother Ben the secret to success in his fantasy, indicating that he doesn’t know the secret, if there is one.
Willy can’t teach his sons how to succeed, and he can’t be a role model of success since he isn’t a success himself, and he doesn’t know how he could have succeeded.
It’s also ironic that Ben can’t give him advise. Ben keeps stating that he walked into the woods and came out rich by God.
What Literary Devices Does Death of a Salesman Employ?
The struggle of Willy Lowman, a salesman by trade, is the main action of the drama. The rising action occurs when Willy gets sacked from his work, and the falling action occurs when Willy blames himself for his family’s problems.
Allegory: Death of a Salesman employs allegory by portraying the key notion of how the person’s non-adoptive nature causes problems for himself and those who belong to him.
Allusion: As shown in the instances below, the play employs a variety of references.
Biff: But look at your pal…. Yet when he steps into the store, the waves part in front of him… I want to walk into the store like he does. (Act-I)
ii. Willi: Like a young deity, Hercules—something along those lines. Then there was the sun, the sun all around him. Remember how he gave me a wave? Straight from the field, with three college reps on hand? And the buyers I brought, as well as the applause when he appeared, Loman, Loman, Loman. He’ll be great yet, God Almighty. (Act-I)
Willy: “That’s why I praise Almighty God you’re built like Adonis.” (Act-I)
The first example refers to Moses, whereas the other two are to Greek gods.
In the play Death of a Salesman, there are two forms of confrontation. The first is an external struggle involving Willy Loman and the competitive world around him, as well as his own family. Another is Willy’s internal turmoil, his struggle against the odds of life, and how he intends to deal with his problems.
The play climax, when Willy confronts his frightened son, Biff, for the final time.
Characters: In Death of a Salesman, there are both static and round characters. Willy’s boys, Biff and Happy, are lively people who shift their outlook on life and on their father. The remainder of the characters, however, observe no change in their conduct because they are static characters, such as Willy Loman, Linda, Charlie, and Bernard.
Irony: The following instances from the play demonstrate situational irony. That’s exactly what I mean. Bernard may have the finest grades in school, but when it comes to business, you will be five times ahead of him. That is why I thank God that you are both built like Adonises. Because the one who makes an appearance in business, who generates personal interest, is the man who advances. You will never desire if you are liked. (Act-I)
ii. CHARLEY (putting an arm around Bernard’s shoulder): How do you like him? I’m going to plead a case before the Supreme Court.
The irony is obvious in the first example, when Adonises is mentioned, and in the second, where the Supreme Court is mentioned.
Metaphor: Aside from the broader metaphors of good against evil, Death of a Salesman makes effective use of a variety of metaphors, such as, i. I am a penny a dozen, and so are you. (Act-II)
ii. Although the world is an oyster, you don’t open it on a mattress. (Act-I)
These examples demonstrate how characters and the environment have been likened to various things in order to make them feel more prominent.
Mood: Death of a Salesman depicts a melancholy mood; however, it also turns tragic, sardonic, and highly satiric at points. When Willy is caught up in life’s difficulties, it might be depressing.
Death of a Salesman’s most important motifs are mythic beings, the American West, and the African rainforest.
Willy Loman is the main character in the play. The text begins with his dissatisfaction with his life and concludes with his untimely death.
Rhetorical Questions: Throughout the play, rhetorical questions are used, such as, i. CHARLEY: Without pay? What kind of employment is one that does not pay? (Act-II)
ii. WILLY: What’s wrong with you? I have a job. (Act-II)
CHARLEY: Why does everyone have to like you? Who was a fan of J. P. Morgan? Was he effective?
These examples demonstrate the usage of rhetorical questions posed by Charley and Willy that do not require answers. They speak for themselves.
Death of a Salesman’s Characters
Willy Loman is an actor.
Willy Loman, the play’s protagonist, is a 62-year-old salesman who resides in Brooklyn but is assigned to the New England region, so he is on the road five days a week. He sets high importance on his work and the values it represents.
He connects the professional and personal goals of friends and persons he admires. He aspires to be as successful as Ben and as popular as David Singleman, which explains his crude humor.
He is an unsuccessful salesperson who dreads the present but romanticizes the past, where his mind drifts during the play’s time changes. He is estranged from his eldest son, Biff, and this reflects the isolation he feels from the rest of the world.
Willy Loman frequently makes contradicting claims. For example, he chastises Biff twice for being lazy before admiringly stating that his son is not lazy.
Similarly, he asserts that a man should have few words, only to backtrack and remark that, because life is brief, jokes are appropriate, before concluding that he jokes too much.
This pattern of speech and thought demonstrates his contradictory values and lack of control. It’s a franticness that stems from the fact that he can’t live up to the principles to which he’s dedicated.
Biff
Biff, the Lomans’ eldest son, was once a brilliant high school athlete but dropped out and has been living sporadically as a nomad, a farmer, and an occasional burglar.
Biff rejects his father and his ideals as a result of their meeting in Boston, where he finds his father’s involvement with “the Woman.” He carries some of the teachings his father taught him to an extreme, as if to demonstrate the worthlessness of his father’s true values—as a child, he was encouraged to steal logs, and as an adult, he continues to steal.
And, despite his refusal to pursue the path his father imagined he would take, namely obtaining a university education and starting a business, he still craves parental approval. Biff’s activities, while off-kilter, mock the daring character of entrepreneurial ventures.
Happy
He is the younger, less-favored son who eventually earns enough money to leave his parents’ home and obtain his own bachelor pad. He works harder than Biff to be like his father in the hopes of being loved by him.
He professes to want a girl like the one his dear old father married and exaggerates his professional accomplishments in the same way his father did. He also imitates his father’s linguistic mannerisms, as evidenced by his phrase “Don’t try, honey, try hard.”
On one level, Happy understands his father (despite being a lousy salesman with a “sometimes…sweet nature”); on another, he fails to learn from his father’s flawed principles.
Happy substitutes one-night hookups for marriage. He, like his father, feels a sense of isolation. Despite a plethora of ladies, which the viewer hears and sees in a scene, he professes to be lonely, even adding that he continues “knockin’ them over and it doesn’t mean anything.”
This statement reflects his father’s subsequent assertion that the Woman in Boston is meaningless, but whereas Willy has a genuine emotional attachment to his wife Linda, Happy doesn’t even have a family to support him. In the play’s system of values, this makes him a degradation from his father.
Linda Loman, Willy Loman’s wife, is his foundation and support. She attempts to teach their two sons to respect their father and provides him with encouragement and confidence. Her demeanor, on the other hand, does not imply apathy or stupidity, and she is far from a doormat when her kids fail to fulfill their responsibilities to their father.
She isn’t as delusory about reality as Willy is, and she worries if Bill Oliver will remember Biff. If she nagged Willy to accept reality, he might follow in his father’s footsteps and desert the family.
When Willy is not there, Linda’s personality surfaces on three occasions. In the first, she claims that, despite his lack of success as a businessman and as a man, he is a human being in distress who needs to be heard.
She observes that his business partners do not recognize him, nor do his kids, for whom he worked.
Later, as a father, she pleads his case, chastising her sons for abandoning him because they would not have a stranger. Eventually, she pays tribute to a husband she adores, and her confusion over why he took his own life does not indicate her foolishness.
She knew something the audience didn’t: the last time she saw Willy, he was happy because Biff loved him.
Willy’s neighbor, Charley Charley, is a friendly and successful businessman who can afford to pay Willy $50 per week for a long time and provide him a job. He, unlike Willy, is not an idealist and, pragmatically, tells him to forget about Biff and not have grudges against him.
“That’s simple enough for you to say,” Willy responds. “That ain’t easy for me to say,” the empathetic Charley responds. In sharp contrast to Willy’s failing sons, Charley has a successful son, Bernard, a former nerd whom Willy used to mock.
Mr. Howard Wagner
Willy’s boss is a devoted father of two children who, like Willy, is a product of today’s culture. He is not a nice businessman. He demoted Willy from a salaried post to a commission-only position before the play began.
Ben
Ben represents the ruthless, self-made millionaire who made his money in “the jungle.” He likes to say, “When I walked into the jungle, I was seventeen. I was twenty-one years old when I walked out. And, by God, I was wealthy!” He is only seen via Willy’s eyes.
The Boston Woman
The Lady in Boston, like Ben, is only seen through Willy’s eyes, yet we realize that she is just as lonely as Willy. She exhibits rage and shame when he tries to force her out of the room.
Death of a Salesman Themes
The American Dream is the play’s most important theme, as every member of the Loman family wishes for a better life.
Willy and his sons attempt to pursue this ideal but are met with failure and frustration. Nonetheless, some of the characters have demonstrated that it is a feasible model.
Howard Wagner, who inherited his father’s seductive ambition, while Loman’s neighbors have realized this ideal, demonstrating how to live a successful life. Willy is the only one who wishes to experience this ecstasy.
Despite his efforts, he is unable to better his standard of living. Biff, his son, is also always failing, and Happy is not living up to his father’s expectations. Disappointed by his son’s failures and his own exhausting life, will attempts to view his dream via his brother’s achievement but receives nothing.
Modernism began to affect the organization of society in the 1950s, causing notable changes in a variety of professions. Consumers began to rely on modern electronics, spending a fortune and yet vying for the next item to enter the market.
Modernity soon seeps into the Lomans’ lives as they witness their boys flourishing in the world like their neighbors but suffer only mental pain when they see them failing.
Howard continues to work on his radio, demonstrating that technological advancement has supplanted human labor.
Unfortunately, both of them fail him; Biff is aimless, while Happy does not chase dreams. In contrast to Willy’s unsuccessful family, Charley and his son have resounding financial and professional success, allowing their family to realize the American ideal.
Another key subject Miller discusses in the play is the concept of an ideal or well-liked personality.
Willy always tells his sons that they must be liked. As he has witnessed in his sales experience, well-liked people are the demands of industry and the market.
It also becomes clear to them that an ideal personality achieves success, as evidenced by Charley’s son and Howard, Willy’s boss.
Hallucination: Another key theme in the drama is hallucination. Willy Loman’s failures and repeated sufferings drive him to the point where he closes himself off from the bitter reality and begins to hallucinate. His delusion depicts his successful brother, Ben, who has made a fortune via his talents.
Although Ben is no longer alive, he continues to haunt Willy through hallucinations, leading to disappointment and severe mental torment.
The character of Willy Loman represents this concept throughout the play. He is an exceedingly proud man, despite the fact that his sons have failed him and he has been fired from his work.
Despite his financial difficulties, he continuously praises his business ideas and his sons’ minor triumphs.
His pride never allows him to appreciate the true accomplishments and efforts of his neighbor, Charley, who assists him in overcoming his financial issues.
Although treachery is a minor topic in the play, it casts a bleak shadow over several characters as Willy betrays his wife Linda by having an extramarital affair.
Similarly, Biff consistently avoids his father’s dreams in order to find his own way of life. Linda believes Biff is betraying his father by not satisfying Willy’s desires.
Reality versus Illusion: Another important subject is reality versus illusion, as Willy continuously dreams of being a successful businessman, and if he fails to attain glory, his boys will carry the banner to win success for him.
Sadly, his dreams to gain fortune are simply illusions that, despite his efforts, do not become reality. His boys, to his amazement, likewise go against his wishes.
Opportunity: Although everyone strives to succeed, yet material luck finds those who seek better opportunities. Howard has been tolerating Willy because his father appointed him. Otherwise, he knows Willy does not deserve the job anymore.
So, when Willy asks for some changes in his job, he fires him without having any compassion. Willy does not understand the reason for this sudden decision; instead of equipping himself with a better professional attitude, Willy gets more frustrated.
Howard, on the other hand, gets an opportunity to find a new potential salesman. In the same way, Willy’s son, Happy, finds an opportunity to have a good job, while Biff wanders to seek one.
Family: The theme of family emerges through the Lomans, who never accept the changing shift of time, an attitude that costs them dearly. Willy constantly tries to materialize his dreams yet ends up with a failure.
After his failed attempts, he fixes his attention to his sons, thinking they may fulfill his dreams of the ideal life through their careers.