Act One

• Introduction: Past & Present

  Miller’s structuring of Death of a Salesman is unique in the free alternation between past and present.
• Structure

  • Miller’s structuring of Death of a Salesman is unique.
  • A two-act play with a coda (concluding passage) at the end (in the form of the short Requiem scene), the play freely alternates between past and present, all depending on Willy Loman’s psychological state at that moment in the play.
• Miller's intention

  • Willy’s memories and imaginings help to drive the plot forward: as Miller himself said of his play, when he first sat down to write it he only knew that “if I could make him remember enough he would kill himself.”
• Act One: The Present

  The ‘present’ of the play takes in the final 24 hours of Willy Loman’s life.
• The present

  • The ‘present’ of the play takes in the final 24 hours of Willy Loman’s life.
  • Willy enters the house in the middle of the night and the rest of Act One shows us Linda, Charley, Happy & Biff all getting up to investigate why Willy has abandoned his trip.
• Staging

  • The action alternates between the kitchen, the boys’ bedroom and a brief scene in Willy and Linda’s bedroom.
• Emotions

  • Act One almost ends on a note of excitement and expectancy, with Willy again convinced of his sons’ future success.
  • But Miller undercuts this mood as the lighting on Willy begins to fade and we follow Biff into the kitchen and to the rubber tubing hidden behind the gas heater.
  • Act One instead ends with an atmosphere of impending doom.
• Act One: The Past

  Miller deliberately did not make a neat dividing line between past and present and Willy's memories become increasingly convoluted.
• Memories

  • Willy’s memories are triggered by events in the present.
  • His first memory, of Biff simonising his Chevrolet, is sparked by his discussing his present car with Linda.
  • His memory of The Woman arises from his feelings of inadequacy and Linda’s efforts to console him.
• Affecting the audience

  • We can see the pain, confusion and guilt that these memories cause Willy and audiences may be alarmed at how easily Willy blurs past and present, talking to Ben during his card game with Charley.
• Convergence of past and present

  • It is important to remember that, strictly speaking, these scenes set in the past are NOT flashbacks (although AQA will NOT penalise you for using this term).
  • There is no neat dividing line between past and present.
  • Instead, in Miller’s own words, Willy “is at that terrible moment when the voice of the past is… as loud as the voice of the present.”