Death of a Salesman

The Woman is one of the characters who appears only in Willy’s mind. Similar to his brother Ben, the Woman is part of a memory or a hallucination that plagues Willy. While Ben appears as if he is...

The following quotation is important because it shows how and why the relationship between Willy and Biff turned sour: BIFF: You fake! You phony little fake! You fake! (Overcome, he turns quickly...

Throughout the play, Biff is portrayed as a kleptomaniac who began stealing various items as a child and was never punished for his actions. In one of Willy's memory scenes, Biff steals a football...

In Arthur Miller's classic play Death of a Salesman, Willy Loman is portrayed as a delusional, unsuccessful salesman who struggles to cope with his failures and form meaningful relationships with...

Dave Singleman is Willy’s oft-cited aspirational hero of the sales industry. Singleman is representative of the old world of salesmen, one in which personality and connections determines success...

Biff's assessment of his father's dreams is ultimately validated by the play at large. He argues his father's dreams were wrong because they were shallow, focusing only on a meaningless, empty idea...

Bill Oliver is one of Biff Loman's former employers. He is introduced to the plot when Biff and his brother, Happy, tell their father that they're considering going into the sporting goods...

In any story, the climax is the moment of highest dramatic tension, usually when the main antagonistic forces within the narrative come to a head. In Death of a Salesman, the climax occurs when...

Willy brings up his memories of Dave Singleman while he is in Howard's office trying to talk his boss into letting him work in the New York area rather than having to cover all of New England. What...

"You can't eat the orange and throw the peel away" is a metaphor and obviously a very poor one. That is exactly what you do with an orange:you eat the orange and throw the peel away. You do the...

Willy has the illusion that he is well-known and well-liked mainly because he knows many people. As a traveling salesman he has to be friendly, amusing, and entertaining. But all of his...

The most ironic thing about Linda's speech is when she says that she and the family are now "free." In a financial sense, that's perfectly true. Now that Linda's finally paid off the mortgage, a...

This is a symbolic expression, by which Willy means that his world is being destroyed. He is financially hard-up, he is on the verge of losing his long-term job as a salesman, and he is nervous and...

Willy says over and over that the secret to his "success" is that he is "well liked." This term is a cover, however, a placeholder for the truth Willy cannot explain about his life -- that the...

The first technique is one called "mimesis" or imitation. The basic form of drama is imitative in that actors on stage pretend to be imaginary characters, rather than standing up in propria persona...

As was mentioned in the previous post, Ben Loman is Willy's successful older brother. Ben Loman made a fortune discovering diamond mines in Africa and appears in Willy's imagination throughout the...

Willy's point is that success (not being "in want") is based on getting other people to like you. As a salesman, he has to be the typical gladhander, conveying an amiable personality in order to...

When it comes to assigning blame for Willy Loman’s death, there might be more than one option. One party that can be held responsible is Willy himself. After all, Willy didn’t die in a mass...

Arthur Miller's famous play Death of a Salesman deals with the fall of Willy Loman, a traveling salesman, who lives in Boston, Massachusetts, with his wife Linda. He also has two grown sons, Happy...

In Willy's hallucination/memory, Biff shows off the football he stole from the locker room and Willy initially tells him to return it. Willy then praises Biff's actions by telling his son that the...

At Willy's grave, Linda utters the phrase "we're free" over and over again in reference to the fact that she has just made the final payment on the house. These words close out the play and are...

Biff is locked in a cycle of deception and dysfunction in his life and his relationships with others, particularly his father. He has come back home after a failed attempt to live away from his...

One of the most influential scenes is act 2, scene 3, which is where Willy goes to Charley's office and ends up talking to Bernard, Charley's son. This scene is important because this marks the...

Happy subscribes to his father's belief that appearance and personality are the essential aspects necessary to have success in the business world. As a delusional, conflicted salesman, Willy Loman...

Biff knew that his father would question whether he had actually gone to see Bill Oliver to ask for a loan. His impulse to take the expensive pen may have been motivated consciously or...

The first thing you need to analyze to find symbolic meaning in Willy Loman’s name is his last name. Broken down, it is “low man.” In the play, Willy is an unsuccessful traveling salesman who is...

This quote refers to Willy Loman's brother, who found his fortune in Africa in the diamond mines. Willy's brother worked hard and made his fortune early, while Willy worked hard and still hasn't...

This quote attempts to elicit some tribute to the man, and not the salesman, Willy Loman. The play Death of a Salesman, by Arthur Miller, bases is theme in the eternal quest for the so-called...

Willy has had a competitive relationship with Charley ever since they have been neighbors. This has been for a long time, long enough for Biff and Happy to think of their father's friend as Uncle...

A prominent theme in Death of a Salesman is the myth of the American Dream. Though Willy Loman has worked hard for decades, he is unable to raise his socioeconomic status. As he closes in on the...

When Biff suggests that Happy leave home and head out West with him, Happy initially seems interested but declines the offer. Happy seeks gratification from others and would rather become a success...

Biff steals things because he is a kleptomaniac. He essentially cannot help himself when he steals Bill Oliver's fountain pen and runs out of the room. Willy has raised Biff to be a selfish,...

In this scene, Willy has an imaginary encounter with his dead brother Ben. No matter how real the details of Ben's story, Ben represents to Willy the material success that he longs for but that has...

The jungle represents the modern, cut-throat world of business competition in which some, like Ben, might triumph while others, like Willy, go under. It is a jungle in the sense that people are...

The relationship between Charley and Bernard is the kind which Willy wishes he had with Biff. Father and son get along very well, both on a personal and professional level. In addition to Charley's...

The seeds in Death of a Salesman have a dual significance. Taken literally, they represent seeds, as Willy says, to plant and grow a garden. Willy wants to grow carrots, peas, beets and lettuce in...

What seems especially ironic in Death of a Salesman is that Willy Loman is a failure but he keeps advising his sons about how to be a success. He was advising them how to be a success when they...

After Biff tells his father that he has a meeting early in the morning with Bill Oliver, Happy intervenes and says that he has a wonderful idea. Happy grabs Biff and tells him that they will go...

There isn't really all that much difference between Willy Loman's idea of the American Dream and anyone else's. The real distinction lies in the fact that Willy is seriously deluded as to his...

It would be a toss-up between Biff and Linda as to who suffers the most from Willy's delusions, but in the end, I would side with Linda—though she is also an enabler. Linda sees Willy's problems...

Biff's idea of the American Dream is to own a ranch out west and farm. He doesn't want to follow his father's path of trying to be a great salesman and (supposedly) end up rolling in easy money. To...

The American "Everyman" in Death of a Salesman, Willy Loman aspires to financial and social status represented by the respect and admiration of those with whom he works and those in his...

In Death of a Salesman the phrase "Casting off" is used during a conversation where Linda and Willy are discussing their sons, who have come back to live with them. WILLY: Figure it out. Work a...

When Linda has a confidential talk about Willy with their two sons, she tells them with characteristic feminine simplicity what is the plain truth. No, a lot of people think he's lost...

One of the themes of Death of a Salesman is clarified by Biff in the Requiem. Based on his new understanding of life, his father, and himself that he has gained over the course of the play, Biff...

Linda tries to protect and support Willy in every way, constantly looking after his physical welfare and propping up his sagging ego and self-esteem. She also runs interference between Willy and...