By Arthur Miller (1915-2005) A Study Guide | ||
. Study Guide Prepared by Michael J. Cummings...© 2003 Title .. .......The complete title of the play is Death of a Salesman: Certain Private Conversations in Two Acts and a Requiem. The first word of the title refers not only to the death of the main character, Willy Loman, but also to the death of his career and his hopes for a better life for himself and his family. Requiem is the first word of a Latin funeral mass in Roman Catholic ritual. The sentence in which the word occurs is Requiem aeternam dona eis Domine, which means "Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord." Requiem means rest. Requiem also refers to a song for the dead. .......Death of a Salesman is a stage play in the form of a tragedy. It contains two acts and a conclusion called a “Requiem." Unlike the classic Greek or Elizabethan tragedy, which focuses on the downfall of a noble person (often a king or another person of high social status), Death of a Salesman focuses on an ordinary person, a common American salesman.The play won the Pulitzer Prize and a Tony award after it debuted in New York City. Year of Publication and Historical Background .......Death of a Salesman was published in 1949. In that year, America was enjoying an economic boom that initiated a significant trend: the absorption of small businesses by large corporations that reduced the importance of the individual worker and increased the importance of the company as a whole and its bottom line. To an extent, Willy Loman must cope with this trend. .......The action takes place at Willy Loman’s 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. Protagonist:
Willy Loman
.......A persistent knock at the door of the hotel room unnerves Willy, and he orders the woman into the bathroom to hide. The door opens and Biff presents himself, informing his dad that he has traveled all the way to Boston to tell him that he failed math with a 61 and his teacher won’t give him the extra four points needed to pass and to graduate. He begs his father to talk to the teacher.The scene shifts back to the bar. When a waiter named Stanley calls out to Willy, Willy awakens from his hallucination and comes out of the restroom assisted by Stanley, who tells him that his sons have left with the two women. Willy gives Stanley dollar, saying, “You’re a good boy." Stanley refuses the money, but Willy throws out more bills. .......“I don’t need it any more," he says. .......Willy asks directions to a store that sells gardens seeds. After Stanley gives directions to a hardware store, he stuffs the money in Willy’s coat pocket after Willy turns around to leave. .......When Biff and Hap arrive home, Hap gives his mother flowers and tells her he and Biff were out with two girls. She angrily knocks the flowers to the floor and says, “Don’t you care whether he [Willy] lives or dies?" .......She then orders them out of the house. .......“I don’t want you tormenting him any more," she says. .......But Biff insists on seeing his father, now in the back yard planting seeds. After going out to the garden, Biff tells Willy he is leaving never to return. They go inside and Biff asks to shake his father’s hand. Willy refuses and says, “May you rot in hell if you leave this house!" They argue violently. However, still holding out hopes for Biff, Willy says, “The door of your life is wide open!" .......Biff says, “Pop, I’m a dime a dozen, and so are you! . . . I am not a leader of men, Willy, and neither are you." Biff breaks down and hugs his father, and Willy says, “Isn’t that remarkable? Biff–he loves me!" Linda and Hap both assure Willy that his observation is true. Everyone goes to bed except Willy, who tells Linda he will come upstairs in two minutes. Moments later, there is the sound of a car starting up and driving off. .......There is a crash. Willy dies. .......At the funeral, Hap says Willy “did not die in vain. He had a good dream. It’s the only dream you can have–to come out number-one man." Linda says, “Willy, I can’t cry. It seems to me that you’re just on another trip . . . . I made the last payment on the house today. And there’ll be nobody home." . Conflict .......Willy
Loman, like so many other American men of the last century, is in conflict
with society, his family, and himself. In his struggle to compete in materialistic
America, he comes up short; society beats him down. In his effort to communicate
with his son Biff and mold him into a success, he fails. In a war with
his own inner self, he refuses to accept what he is–ordinary,
average, unremarkable. Ultimately, Willy's inner
and outer conflicts destroy him.
.......References
to Willy Loman's traffic accidents–possible
suicide attempts, his wife thinks–at the beginning
of the play foreshadow the ending and help to make it plausible.
.......The climax occurs when Biff, who well knows his own and his father's limitations, tells Willy, “Pop, I’m a dime a dozen, and so are you! . . . I am not a leader of men, Willy, and neither are you." .......The
denouement, or conclusion, occurs when Willy drives off and crashes, apparently
committing suicide, and his wife says at his funeral, “Willy,
I can’t cry. It seems to me that you’re just on another trip . . . . I
made the last payment on the house today. And there’ll be nobody home."
Themes The Death of a Dream .......The play centers primarily on the inability of Willy Loman to fulfill his dream of a more prosperous and rewarding life for himself and his family. Willy’s failure as a breadwinner and father are due mostly to his own shortcomings, but he is also a victim of the survival-of-the-fittest business philosophy taking hold in America. Unrealistic Expectations .......Throughout his career, Willy has been an average salesman at best. However, he has always thought himself far above average. 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. Faulty Notion of Success .......Willy Loman believes the measure of a man is his ability to achieve material success. In this respect, he lionizes his brother Ben, who became wealthy by mining diamonds in Africa. Willy says, "The man knew what he wanted and went out and got it! Walked into a jungle, and comes out, the age of twenty-one, and he's rich!" Pathological Desire for Recognition .......Willy Loman appears to have a pathological desire for public recognition and the money and lifestyle that go with it. His abnormal desire to win esteem and respect as a businessman so obsesses him that he loses his grip on sanity and reality. The specific cause of his debility may be rooted in attempts, at an early age, to keep up with his high-achieving brother, Ben, and to adapt to an aggressive, fast-paced, materialistic society. Desperation .......Willy becomes desperate in his continuing effort to rise from mediocrity and show the world that he is somebody. Though he is 63 and has little money, he tells his wife, "Before it's all over we're gonna get a little place out in the country, and I'll raise some vegetables, a couple of chickens." Nurturing this dream, he later says to himself , "I've got to get some seeds. I've got to get some seeds, right away. Nothing's planted. I don't have a thing in the ground." After buying seeds at a store, Willy begins to plant them in his back yard in a final, desperate attempt to do something that succeeds--or, if he does in fact commit suicide--to leave behind his mark on the world. Know Thyself .......The words on the ancient Greek temple at Delphi advised, "Know thyself." But Willy continually fails to recognize his limitations. He does not know himself. Consequently, he constantly overreaches himself and thus constantly fails. Biff, on the other hand, eventually realizes "what a ridiculous lie" his and Willy's life have been. Happy lacks this insight. After Willy dies, he says, "I'm gonna show you and everybody else that Willy Loman did not die in vain. He had a good dream. It's the only dream you can have--to come out number-one man. He fought it out here, and this is where I'm gonna win it for him." His attitude suggests that he will walk the same road as his father and end up a failure. Symbols and Significance of Names Ben: In Scottish and
Irish, this is a word meaning mountain peak. Willy looks upon Ben as the
summit of success.
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