Death of a Salesman

• 'Father was a very great and wild-hearted man' - Willy (MC)


  • Willy's romanticisation of past
  • idolisation of father - symbol of lost greatness
  • establishes yearning for meaning & legacy & highlights inability to reconcile dreams w reality
• 'Dad left when I was such a baby... I never had a chance to talk to him and I still feel kind of temporary about myself' - Willy (MC)


  • abandonment - source of Willy's lifelong uncertainty, lack of ground & struggle to find stability or self-worth
  • left to construct an identity through external validation & illusory models of success - explains his need for role models like Singleman & Ben
• 'Boys, when I was 17 I walked into the jungle, and when I was twenty-one, I walked out. And by God I was rich' 'the jungle is dark but full of diamonds'- Ben (MC)


  • Ben is a figment of willy's imagination.
  • jungle is metaphor for business world - unrealistic that you would survive 4 years in jungle, mirrors how it's unlikely to be successful in business world - reflects toxic allure of success in capitalist world where great reward comes only through great risk, need for sacrifice - W blind to this and uses Ben to feed into his delusions believing everything he says
  • Errors in judgement- chosen the wrong role model
  • errors in parenting - feeds B's corruption to boys
• 'If I'd gone to Alaska that time, everything would be different' - Willy (MC)


  • presented as promised land where everyone would be happy & successful - Willy would finally achieve yearning to be outdoors
  • Willy sees it as a missed opportunity - turned down to pursue is career in selling - error in judgement 
  • creates romanticised vision of what his life could have been - setting reflects Willy's conflict between grand dreams & harsh realities
• 'selling is the greatest career' 'singleman' 'died the death of a salesman'
 - Willy (MC)


  • moment of first error - chooses american dream of business/financial success which shapes false views that working in business is the only way to be successful in life - this blinds him to the reality that taking a different path is what he really needs to be successful
  • fails to recognise working at 84 is reflection of financial struggle - cannot afford to retire - Willy is blind to the truth and romanticises the idea of selling instead
  • idolises death and legacy - tragic that we know w wont have the legacy he dreams of
• Willy belives they will be 'fives time ahead' of Bernard because they are 'both built like Adonises'- act 1 (mc1) 



  • W's key errors in parenting - teaching his sons that physical attractiveness is more valuable than hard work and effort.
  • Links sons to Gods- bringing sons into world of fantasy - feeding message that success is based on fate and chance rather than hard work.
• stage directions: 'laughing with them at the theft' says coach excuses theft 'because he likes you'- Willy (MC)


  • errors in parenting - fills sons w entitlement - they can do what they want if they are popular, projecting a false sense of his own importance onto his son.
  • mistake seen in deluded beliefs are reflected through happy at end of play - cycle of delusion perpetuated through happy
• 'I picked you' - women (MC) 


  • feeds into Willy's chosen image of greatness
  • validates him & makes him feel special
  • the affair isn't just about lust it is about desperately clinging to a version of himself that feels powerful & wanted
• 'This Saturday, Pop, this Saturday - just for you, I'm going to break through for a touchdown.'- Biff (MC)


  • Biff's admiration for father
  • Brief moment of happiness yet undermined by fact that Biff has such a need to impress his father and gain validation from him
  • W's errors in parenting - love is conditional and based on success
• 'I'm sure he'll change it for you' - Willy when Biff fails math (MC)


  • encapsulates W's arrogance & entitlement - perpetuates this onto sons - error in parenting
  • enables Biff's delusion & eventual disillusionment when he realises how Willy's love is laced with illusions that ultimately stunt Biff's growth
• 'You fake! You phoney little fake!' - Biff (MC) 


  • loss of identity as a great father figure
  • disillusionment & loss of admiration from Biff
  • turning point for Biff - begins to see through illusion of success & American Dream
  • beginning of Willy's downfall - son he hoped would carry on his legacy instead sees him as a fraud
• 'I'm vital in New England' 'If old man Wagner was alive I'd been in charge of New York now' - Willy (A1)


  • start of play after Willy has returned home from failed sales trip
  • convincing himself he is important in his job when in reality his company is phasing him out
  • reinforcing self-image of greatness - feels constantly indignant - hubristic patterns of denial - believes he is worth more than he actually is
  • sense of ego & blindness to reality - life is a delusion
  • immediately establishes tragic flaw: inability to accept truth of declining career & aging self
• 'Work a lifetime to pay off a house. You finally own it, and there's nobody to live in it'- Willy (A1)


  • futility of the american dream - critic of capitalism's false promises
  • house contradicts american dream: symbol of success yet brings dissatisfaction - is anything ever enough? is it worth it?
  • idea of a cycle - never reach complete success/happiness
• 'How can he find himself on a farm? Is that a life? A farmhand' - Willy (A1)


  • Willy's disdain for Biff's chosen career - sees this kind of life as unworthy & beneath Biff
  • doesn't understand Biff's true aspirations & refuses to accept who Biff really is
  • Willy sees success only in terms of business status, not personal fulfilment
  • reflection of his denial of his own desires - perhaps subconsciously resents Biff for choosing what he himself was too afraid to choose - tragic because he does not recognise how he is denying true calling to work outdoors - reflected in requiem 'He was so wonderful with his hands'
• They massacred the neighbourhood' 'boxed in' with 'windows and bricks'- Willy (A1)


  • inevitability of decline - being increasingly engulfed by pressures of the capitalist world - sense it will eventually completely take over him - can't escape, sense of entrapment
  • blind to the fact that working in business is causing him suffering
  • not a place of growth but of slow entrapment
  • private setting - reflects reality - place where image of greatness sometimes slips
• 'Dreams are stronger and less acceptable' (SD) 'There's nothing more inspiring or - beautiful than the sight of a mare and a new colt' - Biff act 1



  • Biff's dream to work on a ranch
  • nature is an escape from suffering in capitalist world - place of liberation from pressures of business world
  • Miller suggests what we really need to do is acknowledge the importance of nature to our happiness & that success is not only measured financially - Willy blind to this - results in suffering
• 'everyone around me is so false that I'm constantly lowering my ideals' - Happy (A1)


  • discontent w job
  • sees through artificiality of those around him & recognises their lives are full of lies yet lacks the initiative to act on this realisation - instead lowers ideals in order to adhere to ideals of American capitalist system
  • reflection of Willy - result of being fed idea that business is only path for success
• 'Biff, his life is in your hands' - Linda (A1)


  • places lot of responsibility onto Biff - esp when he is struggling w knowing the truth of his further
  • L overlooks feelings of her sons - W=priority
  • Knows how much Willy idolised Biff when he was younger so assumes their relationship is still the same, she is wrong
• 'So attention must be paid. He's not to be allowed to fall into his grave like an old dog' - Lind (A1)


  • in capitalist world attention is not paid to humans - overworked & exploited - no empathy or emotion - capitalism = villain & Willy is the victim
  • L recognises Willy is not as successful as she or Willy may have falsely believed - he is on path to die so unsuccessful that he's not even considered worthy to be treated like a human - reality of W's situation
• 'You guys together could absolutely lick the civilised world'
 - Willy 


  • denial and delusion - rapid escalation in his ambitions & expectations of success - ease he slips into delusion/denial
  • hyperbolic - reflect his evaluated sense of self and of sons - immediately expects success - hubris - overconfidence in sons' ability blindly ignores their lack of direction & maturity
  • idea creates solution to problems & fleeting moment of happiness but in reality prob won't be as as successful as they believe - sets him & his family up for disappointment - makes tragedy more poignant
• 'He's only a little boat looking for a harbour' - Linda (A2)


  • L recognises W's fragility - contradictory to W's chosen strong image. Creates sense of W being lost in business/personal life and trying to find soundness & security
  • other people like L can recognise what he needs but W can't - frustration
  • L perceptive and understands that W is struggling but doesn't have an answer to it - feels she can't actually help - partly shares blindness as doesn't understand how business causes struggle - insidious nature of lies of AD
• 'You can't eat the orange and throw the peel away- a man is not a piece of fruit' - Willy (A2)



  • Willy is fired by Howard
  • Loss of identity - realisation he is not as successful as he believed he was - yet still doesn't accept it - begging for job
  • ironic as you do actually throw the peel away - shows W's lack of understanding of the capitalist world
• 'The Supreme Court! And he didn't even mention it' - Willy (A2)


  • Willy learns about Bernard becoming a lawyer
  • stark contrast to Biff proves importance of discipline & hard work - he has failed Biff by not teaching him the importance of these qualities
  • charm & popularity not enough to achieve success - willy forced to confront stark reality - sends Willy into deeper emotional collapse - sense of identity tied to belief in American dream is unravelling - failure to accept this truth becomes his tragic downfall, leading him into spiral of self-deception that ultimately ends in tragic death
• 'he walked away. I saw him for one minute' 'I realised what a ridiculous lie my whole life has been' - Biff (A2) 


  • crushing reality
  • Biff realises his past was built on lies
  • cannot live up to father's dreams because those dreams were never grounded in reality
  • leads to final rejection of american dream
• 'I got a job' - Willy 'Without pay? What kind of job is a job without pay?' - Charley

  'Why must everybody like you? Who liked J.P. Morgan?' - Charley 


  • Pride won't allow him to accept help, even when it could save him - would rather die - critique of capitalism which condemns dependancy
  • Charley is practical & successful but Willy still sees himself as superior - rejects reason in favour of fantasy
• Biff is 'quarterback with the New York Giants' 'I sell champagne' - Happy 


  • Happy continues to use women to fill dissatisfaction, inflating reality to impress others
  • links back to act 1 'It's what I always wanted. My own apartment, a car, and plenty of women. And still, goddammit, I'm lonely'
  • sense of emotional emptiness beneath surface of material success - doesn't learn that all he is doing is masking his own dissatisfaction
  • in a destructive cycle of self-deception & misplaced values just like Willy - continues to make the same mistakes
  • Willy's teachings perpetuated onto Happy who is trapped in cycle
• ‘That’s not my father. He’s just a guy’ - Happy 


  • loss of identity as father
  • shame drives him to deny father - cruel
• 'I'd like to buy some seeds' 'I don't have a thing in the ground' - Willy 


  • when leaving restaurant asks Stanley where he can get some seeds
  • desire for control & order - he currently has no financial security, no enduring success, no legacy - seeds represent legacy, growth & future security
  • despite all his effort there is nothing to show for it - image of greatness slips - confronts insecurity
• 'Does it take more guts to stand here the rest of my life ringing up a zero' - Willy to Ben (A2)


  • can't possibly fail in business world - only other option is to die
  • his pride won't allow him to accept a life outside of the American dream
  • the fact that this is said in an appeal to Ben, who exists only in his mind, reinforces how detached from reality he has become
  • tragically believes that only through death can he reclaim dignity
• 'Ben, that funeral will be massive' 


  • delusional until the end
  • ending it for all the wrong reasons - just to prove how well liked he is
  • tragically the audience knows this won't be true
  • feeling of pointlessness & futility in his death
• 'I stole myself out of every good job since high school' 'you blew me so full of hot air I could never stand taking orders from anybody!' - Biff 


  • Biff experiences a kind of anagnorisis - admits failures were rooted in false sense of greatness his father instilled in him
  • willy convinced him being 'well-liked' would be enough & as a result Biff never developed humility, discipline, or ability to accept authority or failure - thought he was above it all
  • Biff learns from tragedy & escapes the family cycle of denial
• 'I am not a dime a dozen! I am Willy Loman' - Willy (A2)


  • despite Biff's attempt to bring Willy to a moment of truth, Willy remains deluded, refusing to accept he is not special & valuable because of his name
  • spent his life consumed by the fear of being ordinary - when forced to confront the painful truth of his insignificance he cannot accept it - so unbearable it drives him to a tragic end
  • makes ending more poignant as he dies clinging to the very illusion that destroyed him
• BIFF: [crying, broken]


  • W learnt nothing
  • B breaks down in a desperate plea for his father to stay & change, yet W sees as confirmation that B wants money when really he just wants his father - confirm his suicide
  • W doesn't understand value of family - completely blind to damage he is causing by senselessly buying into views of AD that you must have money - reasons for death ultimately pointless
• 'But where are all the people he knew?' - Linda 


  • no one at funeral - confirms W's errors
• 'He was so wonderful with his hands' - Linda (requiem)


  • Willy so blindly devoted to american dream he never considered any other path could also provide him success & fulfilment
  • if he chose to work outdoors he could have potentially reached happiness - would not have had this tragic outcome
• 'He had the wrong dreams' 'He never knew who he was' - Biff 


  • summarises Willy
  • chased an illusion while remaining a stranger to himself
  • drive to be someone he wasn't blinded him to the simple, real things that could have brought him peace
  • might have lived a content life if he hadn't been so consumed by pride & illusion
  • Biff sees clearly, but Willy never could - gap between what was and what could have been makes ending so deeply poignant
  • but hopeful in sense that biff recognises errors & breaks cycle
• 'Nobody dast blame this man' - Charley (requiem) 


  • compassionate acknowledgement of Willy's humanity
  • final moment of grace and empathy, recognising that Willy, for all his delusions and mistakes, is not to blame for the larger forces that shaped his life
  • life is not one of absolute failure, but of someone tragically misled by false dreams & pressures of society
• 'I made that last payment on the house today. Today, dear. And there'll be nobody home'
 - Linda (requiem)


  • link to act 1 - house which was a symbol of hope, success & future becomes a bitter reminder of unfulfilled dreams & a lifetime wasted in pursuit of false ideals
  • worked whole life to pay off - whole existence pointless
  • ending brings sense of tragic emptiness - dream officially collapsed