Death of a Salesman – Act I & Early Act II Study Notes
SETTING & STAGECRAFT
• House stands centre-stage; roof-line is one-dimensional & largely transparent, allowing the audience to see looming apartment blocks – a visual metaphor for urban claustrophobia and the Lomans’ social displacement.
• Behind the kitchen (raised ) sits the boys’ bedroom; dimly lit, two beds & a dormer window.
• Apron curves into orchestra pit: doubles as back-yard and space for Willy’s memories/hallucinations (“city scenes”).
• Present-tense scenes: actors respect imaginary wall-lines, enter via kitchen door (L stage).
• Past-tense scenes / flashbacks: walls dissolve; characters walk “through” them → blurring reality & memory.
• Flute motif underscores Willy’s entrance & recurs whenever father/Ben or wilderness is evoked – sonic symbol of the pioneer dream.
• Leaves & lighting shifts accompany mental transitions (e.g., forestage covered with leaves during first flashback).
PRINCIPAL CHARACTERS (ACT I – EARLY ACT II)
• Willy Loman – >60, exhausted travelling salesman for Wagner Co., New England territory; prone to day-dreams, memory lapses, self-contradiction.
• Linda Loman – loyal, “iron repression” of objections; primary emotional caretaker (“foundation and support”).
• Biff Loman – 34; ex-high-school football star, drifting between ranch jobs; plagued by sense of failure, seeks authenticity/outdoor life.
• Happy (Harold) Loman – 32; assistant to assistant merchandise manager; outwardly content, inwardly lonely; compulsive womaniser, lives by surface success codes.
• Ben Loman – Willy’s dead brother; appears only in hallucinations. Self-made mining magnate (“walked into the jungle at 17, walked out at 21 rich”).
• Charley – next-door neighbour; pragmatic, laconic, offers Willy loans & a job.
• Bernard – Charley’s son; once “anemic nerd,” now poised, successful lawyer (Supreme Court argument forthcoming).
• Howard Wagner – Willy’s 36-yr-old boss, owns wire recorder; fires Willy.
• The Woman (Boston) – Willy’s extramarital affair; symbolises betrayal, stockings motif.
CHRONOLOGICAL PLOT POINTS & SCENE-BY-SCENE NOTES
1. Opening Night – Willy Returns
• Drives home “ten miles an hour” after near-collision near Yonkers; complaints about Studebaker, arch supports, exhaustion.
• Linda suggests New York desk job; Willy’s identity stakes: “I’m vital in New England!”
• Conflict over Biff’s earnings (<\$35/week); Willy oscillates (“lazy bum” ↔ “not lazy”) → early sign of cognitive dissonance.
2. Bedroom-to-Kitchen Cross-Cut
• Recurrent image: boys shaving together, scent of aftershave = nostalgia for vitality.
• Economic frustration: mortgage almost paid yet “no one to live in the house.”
• Environmental lament – cut elms, overcrowded apartments; loss of pastoral America vs. capitalist build-up.
3. Upstairs Dialogue – Biff & Happy
• Willy’s erratic driving triggers sons’ concern (“green light turns red and he goes”).
• Biff’s self-diagnosis: restless, 20–30 jobs, herding colts; spring evokes existential dread.
• American Dream alternative: buy ranch (“Loman Brothers”); masculine longings for open air vs. store confinement.
• Happy’s hollowness: car, apartment, women ≠ fulfillment (“gets like bowling”).
4. First Major Flashback (Leaves & Music)
• Young Biff & Happy simonize Chevy; Willy buys punching bag signed by Gene Tunney.
• Emphasis on appearance/popularity: Willy tells boys that being “well liked” beats academics (Bernard contrast).
• Theft condoned: football “borrowed,” lumber from construction site → seeds of later business ethics failures.
• Linda totalling commissions ( gross Providence → reality check: net).
• Bills montage – fridge , washing machine , vacuum , roof – treadmill of consumer debt (“race with the junkyard”).
• Stockings motif: Woman laughs behind scrim ↔ Linda mends stockings → guilt collision.
5. Kitchen – Present Again
• Willy laments missed chance with Ben (“why didn’t I go to Alaska!”).
• Charley’s midnight poker; Vitamin banter: showmanship vs. practicality.
• Ben hallucination overlaps real game of cards, triggering ceiling argument & Charley’s exit.
• Ben episode #1: wilderness myth—tangible diamonds vs. intangible contacts.
6. Late-Night Yard Vision
• Seeds/hammock dream → longing to cultivate life, literalise growth he failed to provide.
• Second flashback: Ben trips young Biff, umbrella to eye: “never fight fair with a stranger.” Capitalist survival lesson.
7. Rising Tension Before Boston Trip
• Willy confuses cars (Chevy ’28), conflates past/present.
• Boys plan sporting-goods venture; Willy’s coaching for Oliver meeting (ask ).
• Rubber pipe discovery foreshadowed (Linda reveals Willy’s suicide attempts: car accidents + gas hose).
8. Act II – Tuesday Morning
• Willy euphoric: “slept like a dead one,” plants seeds plan, goes to ask Howard for NYC job.
• Financial exposition: last mortgage payment near; premium due.
• Howard scene: wire recorder (children’s capitals, wife’s shyness) underscores Willy’s obsolescence vs. modern tech.
• Fired after pleading for ; dictum: “You can’t eat the orange and throw the peel away—a man is not a piece of fruit!”
9. Charley’s Office / Bernard Contrast
• Bernard (now lawyer) recalls Biff’s post-Boston collapse (burns UVA sneakers).
• Willy borrows , rejects Charley’s job () → pride vs. practical aid.
• Charley’s credo: “The only thing you got in this world is what you can sell.”
10. Frank’s Chop House Catastrophe
• Happy flirts with Miss Forsythe & Letta; lies Biff is Giants’ QB.
• Biff waited 6 hours; Oliver didn’t remember him; steals \$20{,}000 insurance “diamond.”
• Biff shows rubber hose, erupts: “We never told the truth for ten minutes in this house!”
• Recognition scene: Willy realises Biff’s love (“He cried to me!”) → decides insurance suicide.
• Car engine heard; off-stage fatal crash.
12. Requiem
• Sparse funeral; only Charley & Bernard attend → illusion of being “known” shattered.
• Charley’s eulogy: salesman lives on smile/shoeshine; must dream.
• Biff: denounces wrong dreams (“all, all wrong”). Happy vows to vindicate Willy via business.
• Linda’s last words at grave: “We’re free…free and clear.” Mortgage paid but human cost ultimate.
THEMES & MOTIFS
• American Dream’s Double Edge – Success as popularity vs. hard work (Bernard/Charley model).
• Reality vs. Illusion – Transparent set, broken walls illustrate mental dissolution; Willy’s impossible temporal juxtapositions.
• Masculinity & Provider Anxiety – Breadwinner identity tethered to sales numbers; impotence expressed via driving mishaps & suicide attempts.
• Capitalism’s Consumer Trap – Appliances timed to fail; perpetual instalments (\approx 25-year mortgage).
• Seeds / Gardening – Urge to leave concrete legacy; growth stunted by urban sprawl & darkness (no sun in yard).
• Stockings – Guilt of infidelity + economic failure (can’t buy Linda new pairs).
• Rubber Hose / Gas Heater – Tangible death option; family hushes it → moral complicity.
• Athletic Glory – Biff’s high-school triumphs (“Ebbets Field”) haunt present mediocrity; commentary on fleeting nature of external validation.
NUMERICAL & FACTUAL DETAILS
• Willy’s route: averages 60\,\text{mph}\$170/week25\text{ years}\$20{,}000\$50/week\$110 (insurance + debts).
SYMBOLISM QUICK-REFERENCE
• Flute – Father’s artisan past ⇒ lost pioneer spirit.
• Car – Mobility dream turned death instrument (studebaker → Chevy ’28).
• Recorder – Technological progress that marginalises older generation.
• Pen / Basketballs – Petty thefts indicating moral shortcut culture.
• Diamonds – Tangible success vs. Willy’s ephemeral “contacts.”
ETHICAL / PHILOSOPHICAL INSIGHTS
• Miller critiques meritocracy myth: charisma ≠ security, likability ≠ livelihood.
• Personal worth conflated with market value leads to existential fragility (“worth more dead than alive”).
• Familial complicity: Linda’s “attention must be paid” vs. sons’ escapism; raises duty-of-care questions toward mentally ill parents.
CONNECTIONS & PARALLELS
• Echoes of The Great Gatsby – dream of reinvented identity vs. immutable class realities.
• Post-WWII consumer boom: refrigerators, G.E. vs. Hastings; planned obsolescence debate.
• Contrast with frontier archetype (Ben) mirrors turn from agrarian myth to corporate urban hustle.
QUOTATION BANK (USEFUL FOR ESSAYS)
• “Be liked and you will never want.” – Willy’s credo.
• “The man who makes an appearance… gets ahead.” – Salesmanship ethos.
• “You can’t eat the orange and throw the peel away—a man is not a piece of fruit!” – Humanist protest.
• “Attention, attention must be finally paid to such a person.” – Linda’s moral injunction.
• “The jungle is dark but full of diamonds.” – Ben’s temptational voice.
• “I am Willy Loman, and you are Biff Loman!” – Identity assertion vs. dime-a-dozen reality.
• “We’re free… free and clear.” – Linda’s tragic epilogue, situational irony.
EXAM ESSAY POINTERS
• Analyse transparent set as physical manifestation of psychological permeability; compare to memory plays (e.g., Glass Menagerie).
• Discuss how Miller uses monetary figures (commissions, loans, prices) to quantify anxiety.
• Evaluate the moral ambiguity of Linda—caretaker or enabler?
• Debate Happy’s closing vow: cyclical entrapment vs. potential reinvention.
RAPID-FIRE REVISION Q&A
What colour was the ’28 Chevy? – Red.
Exact sum Willy asks Howard for to survive weekly? – \$65\$50$$).
Three historical exemplars Linda cites (late bloomers)? – Thomas Edison, B. F. Goodrich, one “was deaf.”
What examination threatens Biff’s graduation? – Regents math.
Insurance inspector’s finding on car crashes? – Deliberate, not accidents.
“A salesman is got to dream, boy. It comes with the territory.” — Charley
Use these notes as a scaffold: plug quotations into thematic essays, cross-reference symbolism, and track Willy’s deteriorating chronology for character analysis.