Act One

• [towering, angular shapes behind it, surrounding it on all sides.]

  Act 1- Stage Direction Foreshadows isolation Willy endures - trapped inside the 'American Dream'. Nature vs. City Verbs "towering" and "surrounding" create an all-encompassing image of closeness. No freedom.
• [silver athletic trophy stands.]

  Act 1- Stage DirectionMotif for Willy's insignificancy. Always second place.
• [his massive dreams.]

  Act 1 -Stage DirectionForeshadows Willy's hamartia - the dream is too big, conveyed through adjective "massive" - too much to handle. "Massive" could also connote be a great weight or burden. His dreams are big, yes, but also weigh him down. They are 'unachievable' dreams.
• "Work a lifetime to pay off a house. You finally own it and there's nobody to live in it."- Act 1Willy to LindaDistilled one of the darkest aspects of the American Dream.Foreshadows the end of the play (Willy's suicide gives family insurance to play the house)
• "They don't need me in New York, I'm the New England man. I'm vital in New England."- Act 1Willy to LindaHubris - repetition of "I'm".Willy's definition centres around his career.
• "I have such thoughts, I have such strange thoughts."

  Act 1Willy to Linda- Anagnorisis
• "It's a measly manner of existence"- Act 1Biff to HappyAmerican DreamBiff has an extremely defeatist attitude to the capitalist system in the late 1940s.Adverb "measly" connotes something inadequate, insufficient. Mirrors his view of the American Dream = unfulfilling, unjust.
• "to suffer" "devote your whole life"- Act 1Biff to HappyAmerican DreamVerbs "suffer" and "devote" highlight the extent of effort required. Business seems painful to Biff.
• "desire to be outdoors with your shirt off"- Act 1Biff to HappyAmerican DreamNature vs. CityWork with his hands - path Biff wants to take and also, the path Willy should have taken (reference to flute symbolism, seeds symbolism, Ben)
• "shipping clerk, salesman, business of one kind or another"- Act 1Biff to HappyAmerican DreamListing and derogatory language, conveys the monotonous idea of the 'Dream'.
• "All I can do now is wait for the merchandise manager to die"- Act 1Happy to BiffRepresents the corrupt side to Willy and the American Dream.
• "I don't know what the hell I'm workin' for"- Act 1Happy to BiffAmerican Dream - uncertain future.Contrasts to certainty of working with your hands, link to Willy in a mobile concurrency talking to Ben about Biff's success not being able to "feel it with your thumb like timber".
• "My own apartment, a car, and plenty of women. And still, goddammit, I'm lonely."- Act 1Happy to BiffLonely side to Willy and American Dream. Link to 'The Woman' - theme of betrayal.
• "Always have to get ahead of the next fella."- Act 1Biff to HappyIdea of competition is draining and unfulfilling. Represents Willy's fate.
• "I don't know what to do about him, it's getting embarrassing."- Act 1Happy to BiffEstablishes Willy's loss of status.
• "It's a punching bag!"- Act 1Mobile ConcurrencyHappy to BiffMotif of machismo culture.
• "I borrowed it from the locker room.""Coach'll congratulate you on your initiative."- Act 1Mobile ConcurrencyBiff to Willy + Willy to BiffKleptomania - Biff's hamartia - foreshadows later with Bill Oliver and the "fountain pen".Willy's response shows his misunderstanding.
• "Boston is the cradle of revolution. A fine city!"- Act 1

  Mobile Concurrency

  Willy to Biff and Happy Ironic as Boston is the place where Willy has his affair with 'The Woman'.

  Betrayal and guilt is associated here.

  Boston is also where Biff discovers Willy's true self - a man he looked up to.
• "just for you, I'm going to break through for a touchdown"

  Act 1

  Mobile Concurrency

  Biff to Willy

  Biff's admiration for Willy.

  Juxtaposes when Biff discovers Willy's infidelity which gives him no pathos - "You fake! You phony little fake!"
• "so anaemic"- Act 1

  Mobile Concurrency

  Willy to Bernard

  Pathetic and corrupt side to Willy, bullying a young boy.
• "He's liked, but he's not well-liked"- Act 1

  Mobile Concurrency

  Willy about Bernard and Charley

  Cult of personality.

  Flawed - believes success is being "well-liked" - this comes back to haunt him, when Bernard is successful and goes to "The Supreme Court" and goes to Charley to get money.
• "Just because he printed University of Virginia on his sneakers doesn't mean they're going to graduate him Uncle Willy!"- Act 1 Mobile Concurrency

  Bernard to Willy

  Voice of reason

  Tragic he has to tell Willy the truth - hard work - not "well-liked".
• "A hundred and twenty dollars! My God, if business don't pick up I don't know what I'm gonna do!"- Act 1

  Willy to Linda

  (about the Chevrolet money)

  Anagnorisis

  Repetitive exclamatory - shows his shock

  Hope that he appears to be facing reality (only momentarily)
• "next week, you'll do better"

  "Oh, I'll knock 'em dead next week. I'll go to Hartford. I'm very well-liked in Hartford."- Act 1

  Linda to Willy

  Willy to Linda

  Boosts his ego - gets him excited. Doesn't help matters (innocent and loving however).Violent verb choice "knock" - machismo/competition culture.
• "Willy, you're the handsomest man in the world."- Act 1

  Linda to Willy

  Superlative "handsomest" shows her love and care. Ironic as this startles Willy's guilt of his betrayal. Stage directions follow to expressionistically demonstrate his guilt - [laughter of a woman].
• "I get so lonely - especially when business is bad and there's no one to talk to."- Act 1

  Willy to Linda

  Begin to feel pathos for Willy - business and the capitalist world he is in is "lonely". However, his means of addressing this eradicates all pathos, through his affair with expressionistic device of 'The Woman'.

  Uses competitive world of business as an excuse.
• "Thanks for the stockings. I love a lot of stockings."- Act 1

  Mobile Concurrency

  'The Woman'

  Symbolism of stockings show Willy's betrayal.
• 'I'll see you next time in Boston."- Act 1

  Mobile Concurrency

  'The Woman'

  Setting of Boston shows Willy's corrupt side. Juxtaposes mention of Boston to Biff when he was younger as a "fine city!"
• "I won't have you mending stockings in this house!"- Act 1

  Willy to Linda

  Symbol of stockings - betrayal.

  Rare luxury for women post-war, as they were expensive.

  Highlights value and importance.

  Ironic and tragic.
• "You want him to be a worm like Bernard? He's got spirit, personality"-Act 1

  Mobile Concurrency

  Willy to Linda (about Biff)

  Rhetorical question shows the idea of knuckling down for his exams is absurd to Willy.

  Simile/animalistic imagery dehumanises Bernard.

  Again, all about "personality" for Willy.
• "The man knew what he wanted to do and went out and got i! Walked into a jungle, comes out, aged twenty one, and he's rich!"- Act 1

  Willy (to himself after mobile concurrency - in kitchen)'Ben' represents Willy's misappropriation of the 'Dream'.

  Ben made his fortune in Africa and striking it rich in diamond mines - ironic, as achieved the 'American

  Dream' in Africa and not America?

  Shows the extent of Willy's misunderstanding.

  Jungle motif - darkness.
• "The woods are burning! I can't drive a car!"- Act 1

  Willy to Happy

  Anagnorisis

  Momentarily, Willy begins to articulate the trouble he is facing. Ben is symbolic of jungles (also 'woods') and diamonds, symbolic of life and success.

  However, when Willy uses this in the form of anagnorisis, it depicts how his life is falling apart, through Miller's metaphor and the verb "burning".
• "I got a job, what the hell are you offering me a job for?"

  Act 1

  Willy to Charley

  Hubris

  Can't accept any help - it is all about success and competition.

  Links to Act 2, after Willy is fired and Howard tells Willy to ask Biff and Happy for help - yet, Willy's hubris overtakes: "I am not a cripple!"
• "A man who can't handle tools is not a man. You're disgusting."- Act 1

  Willy to Charley

  Corrupt side to Willy.

  The machismo-nature is inherent inside Willy. Cannot take a compliment - about competition, as Biff argued, "get[ting] ahead of the next fella" and sees the opportunity to assert his power and influence, when he is really being rude.

  Adjective "disgusting" shows Willy's instability and misunderstanding of the 'Dream' and the grotesque side to Willy (bullying/success/the woman/happy etc.)
• "I only have a few minutes."-Act 1

  Mobile Concurrency/Merging with reality'Ben' to Willy

  Ironic Willy admires 'Ben' so much but 'Ben' does not have the time for Willy.
• 'What's the answer? How do you do it?" -Act 1

  Mobile Concurrency/merging with reality

  Willy to 'Ben'

  Repetitive rhetorical questions creates pathos for Willy, as he is evidently desperate to know how he can achieve success. Yet, even more pathos as he confides in the wrong person, as 'Ben' is Willy's misunderstanding and corrupt nature.

  How he achieved the Dream's emphasis on material success, as the repetitive refrain of 'Ben'; "I was rich".He is the victim here?

  Repeated on page 66 - after fired by Howard.
• "I ended up in Africa." "Principally diamond mines."- Act 1

  Mobile Concurrency/merging with reality

  'Ben' to Willy and Linda

  Corrupt misunderstanding of the 'Dream'.

  Motif of diamonds serve as a dark metaphor for money, greed and the false capitalist allure of the 'Dream' which Willy falsely admired, which also constitutes towards hubris where he cannot except charity from

  Charley in accepting a job; "don't insult me".Linda's exclamatory reply "Diamond mines!" shows Willy's amazement.

  Motif of Africa also shows the corrupt side - symbolic of slavery and exploitation.
• "Why boys, when I was seventeen, I walked into the jungle, and when I was twenty one, I walked out. And by God, I was rich." - Act 1

  Mobile Concurrency/merging with reality

  'Ben' to Biff and Happy

  Willy's misappropriation with the 'American Dream'.

  Capitalist allure of material gain - motif of jungles and diamonds (negative and corrupt).
• "I feel contemporary about myself."- Act 1

  Mobile Concurrency/merging with reality

  Willy to 'Ben'

  Anagnorisis

  Echoes his son Biff.

  Shows the 'Dream' is not the right path.
• "I was rich!" [He goes off into darkness]- Act 1

  Mobile Concurrency/merging with reality

  'Ben' to Willy

  Capitalistic allure of material success.

  Stage direction - Mobile Concurrency ends.