Willy

• 'His exhaustion is apparent.' 'Thankfully lets his burden down.'

  • Sacrifices physical and mental health to the pursuit of the dream.
  • Subverts the typical tragic hero of high status.
• 'She admires him...his massive dreams.'

  Hamartia

  Linda is devoted to him
• 'I'm tired to the death.'

  • Foreshadowing
  • Hyperbolic sentence
  • Sacrifices health
• 'I have such strange thoughts.'

  • Vulnerable, comfortable enough to confide in Linda.
• 'I'm vital in New England.'

  Desires to be respected and needed

  Hubris
• Willy calls America the 'greatest country in the world.'

  Devoted to the American dream

  Patriotic
• 'He loses himself in reminiscences.'

  Struggles to distinguish past and present

  Mentally unstable and stuck in the past.
• 'You're my foundation and my support, Linda.'

  Moment of recognition, she fuels him.
• 'Bernard is not well-liked.'

  Associates being liked with material prosperity.
• 'You are going to be five times ahead of him.'

  • Dramatic irony as he becomes successful
  • Criticism of the American dream
• Willy repeats 'you picked me?'

  • The woman heightens his ego
  • Grants him temporary affection, his error of judgement.
• Willy has proverbs 'a man who cannot handle tools is not a man.'

  • Archaic ideology seeps into the way he raised his children.
• Willy asks Ben 'what's the answer' but the tragedy is that there is no answer.
• 'Business is bad, it's murderous.'

  • Tragic myopia prevents him from acknowledging this for himself.
• 'A man is not a piece of fruit.'

  • Miller criticises capitalism
  • Howard's company drained Willy of value and disposed of him now he's no longer useful.
• 'Willy on his knees.'

  • Dramatic positioning of Willy kneeling puts him below Biff, insinuates that Biff will become more successful.
• Willy labels his suicide as the 'perfect proposition.'

  • Ben appears at a time of vulnerability
  • Sees his suicide as a business transaction
  • Willy at the point of no return and beyond restoration
• Willy says (assured, with rising power) 'it's like a diamond.'

  • Elevated, final act of success
  • Ensures his family will be financially free
  • Increasing assurance
• Biff presents the hose and Willy feels 'caged, wanting to escape.'

  • Moment of vulnerability and remains ignorant.
• Willy's demeanour changes from 'full of hatred' to 'deeply moved' and 'astonished.'

  • True source of happiness is Biff liking him
• Requiem - Miller isn't condemning Willy, but granting him a token of remembrance to pay tribute Willy's legacy.
• "I realised that selling was the greatest career a man could want"
• "He died the death of a salesman"
• "When he died, hundreds of salesmen were at his funeral"
• 'Quiet, earnest but self-assured.'
• "What's the secret?'

  Willy seeks answers from people who have succeeded but to his boys, presents himself in that way.
• "What happened in Boston, Willy?"

  'Willy looks at him as an intruder'

  Dramatic tension
• 'Genuinely shocked, pained and happy'

  Willy discovers Bernard's case at the Supreme Court
• "I've got a job."
• "I just can't work for you, Charley."

  Willy refuses a way out, his hubris prevents him from taking the job
• "You end up worth more dead than alive"

  Willy's anagnorisis
• "The woods are burning"
• "He's a fine man, very hard man to see"

  Willy continues to interrupt Biff, which demonstrates his excitement. A sense of pathos, here.
• Repetition of "are you spiting me?"
• Biff calls Willy a "fine, troubled prince...a hard-working, unappreciated prince."
• "Bernard wouldn't give you the answers?"
• 'Biff remains motionless, tears falling.'
• "How dare you cry?"
• "You gave her mama's stockings!"
• "You fake! You phony little fake! You fake!"

  Biff's diminished motivation as he is betrayed by Willy. Drains him of all the faith he had and Willy's façade slips.