Hello and welcome to the Discourse. Death of a Salesman is probably the most successful and much talked about stage play by Arthur Miller that was first performed in 1949. It is a two-act play in which the story of protagonist Willy Loman is depicted using a montage of his arguments, memories, and dreams. It is a tragedy of the common man. In the same year (1949), Arthur Miller wrote and published his essay Tragedy and the Common Man in which he presented his reason to make an ordinary American man the subject of a theatrical tragedy. He suggested that the modern world is not gullible, it is more skeptical about the idea of heroes. Thus, the audience cannot understand how tragedy with its tragic hero is relevant to the modern world. On the other hand, Miller argued that the world is full of heroes. According to Miller, a hero is anybody who is willing to lay down his life in order to secure his ‘sense of personal dignity. It doesn’t matter what his social status or background is.
Death of a Salesman is a prime example of Miller’s thoughts on the tragedy. Willy Loman is a traveling salesman. His tragedy is brought about partly by his own actions, but the desperate situations in which he finds himself because of the harsh, competitive, and unforgiving world of sales also are responsible for that. In a world where if he cannot make money as a salesman, he has to think of something else to acquire money so that he can provide a two-time meal to his family and offer a secured adobe. In the Tragedy of the Common Man, Miller argues that theatrical tragedy is dependent on a common ‘man’s total compunction to evaluate himself justly.’ However, while trying to do so and maintaining his dignity, the tragic hero often loses his life. Such a tragedy will prompt the audience to think about what is wrong with society and situations and how they can be changed for the better. The story offers a contrast between the American dream and American reality.
Characters of Death of a Salesman:
Willy Loman is a 63 years old traveling salesman. He has recently lost his job. He is unstable, insecure, and self-deluded. Linda Loman is Willy’s loyal and loving wife Willy is a responsible family man who loved his family, but he had an extramarital affair once that he broke pretty soon. Linda knows and understands realities better than Willy but she remains passively supportive of Willy. She wishes her grown-up sons Biff Loman and Happy Loman help their father. Biff Loman is Willy’s 32-year-old son. He was a football star in his school but dropped out because he couldn’t pass the math exam. He is well-built and handsome. Happy Loman is Biff’s younger brother. He is not happy within himself but pretends to be happy in front of all others. He always tries to win the approval of his parents but miserably fails. Charley is Willy’s neighbor. Charley and Willy do not like each other much, yet, they are friends. Charley cares for Willy and tries to help him. Bernard is Charley’s son. He used to be a huge fan of Biff during his school days. He isn’t as well-built and handsome as Biff is. But he is a successful lawyer. Ben Loman is Willy’s elder brother who became a rich diamond merchant after his tour to Africa. He died years ago but Willy keeps remembering him and has hallucinations of him. Howard Wagner is Willy’s boss who fires him from the job.
Summary of Death of a Salesman:
The play begins as Willy Loman returns home from his tour. Linda notices Willy is confused, disturbed, and tired. Willy met an accident and had to return halfway through his tour. As Linda worries, Willy tells her that nothing has happened but says that he doesn’t remember all of the details of his trip. Linda tells him that he should rest for a while. She tells him that he should now change his job as a traveling salesman and should work in New York. Willy says that he feels he is not needed in New York. He says that had Frank Wagner been alive, Willy might have been in charge of New York. But Frank’s son Howard Wagner is his current boss and Howard doesn’t like him much. Linda informs Willy that both of their sons Biff and Happy are at home as Happy has arranged a double date for them. She tells Willy not to lose his temper on Biff. Willy on the other hand says that he feels Biff has some resentment against him.
In the other room, Biff is discussing with Happy. Biff is 34 years old well-built handsome guy while Happy is two years younger. Happy is equally good looking but he is not self-assured. Biff says that Willy’s health is deteriorating. He complains that Willy continues to mock him, but Happy says that he merely wants Bliff to live up to his potential. Bliff isn’t too sure of his potential. He says that he tried more than a dozen jobs since he left home before the war but was fired from all of them. He wonders if he can do any job. He reminisces about the countryside, herding cattle, and dreams about farming land. Happy says that he has many girls, and he maintains a car, yet he feels unsatisfied. He says that he doesn’t respect any girl he has seduced till now and he is still longing for a girl of character like their mother to whom he may marry. Bliff thinks that he may try going back to Bill Oliver for whom he worked in the past.
Willy, on the other hand, is thinking of the past when Bliff and Happy were kids. Happy complains that he is losing weight while Bliff shows a football to Willy that he took from the locker room. Willy is happy about Bliff’s success at football field and says that one day, Bliff will have a bigger business than Charley’s because while ‘Charley is liked, he is not well-liked.’ At the same time, Bernard enters their home and says that he is worried that Bliff will fail math class and will not be able to attend UVA. Willy isn’t worried at all, he tells Bernard not to be a pest and go away. He then tells Bliff that like Charley, Bernard is liked, but not well-liked. He says that Bernard will not succeed in business despite his good grades as Bliff can because success in business depends on personality and not grades. He says that Bliff has a much better personality than his.
The scene changes and we see a woman with a scarf in a hotel room. Willy tells her that he gets lonely and worries about his business. The woman says that she chose Willy because of his sense of humor. Willy promises the woman that he will see her the next time he visits Boston.
The scene changes again as Willy meets Bernard and asks him to give answer keys for the Regent’s exam to Bliff. Bernard however refuses to do so as it is a state exam. Linda complains about Bliff being too harsh against girls and Willy scolds her and asks if she wants his son to be a worm like Bernard.
Willy returns to the present as Happy approaches him. He tells Happy how he met an accident on his tour. He wonders why he didn’t go to Africa with Ben, his elder brother who got hold of some diamond mines in Africa and made huge riches. Happy reassures Willy and says that he will make him retire decently. Charley visits their home and plays cards with Willy. He offers a job but Willy refuses. Willy tells Charley that his elder brother died in Africa a few weeks ago. Willy then starts hallucinating while imagining Ben visiting him and asking about their mother. Charley leaves him alone.
Willy continues his imagination of the past when he introduced Ben to his sons. He then sees Charley reprimanding him for letting his sons steal from a nearby construction site. Willy tells that his sons are fearless. Charley chides that such fearlessness often leads people to imprisonment to which Ben retorts that such fearless characters succeed in the stock exchange.
In the present time, Bliff and Happy ask their mother for how long Willy is talking to himself like this? Linda answers that this has been going on for years. She complains Bliff that he is not helping his father at all. She informs them that recently Willy tried to kill himself by driving his car off the bridge. She says that earlier too Willy tried to commit suicide by hooking a tube up to the gas heater in the basement. She says that Willy is not a great man but he is a human being and he needs attention. Bliff understands the situation and promises that he won't argue with his father anymore and will go to Bill Oliver to talk about a sporting goods business he may start with his brother Happy. Willy feels good about this and claims that had Bliff stayed with Bill Oliver, he would be on the top by now.
The next day, as Willy is sitting in the kitchen with Linda, she asks him to talk to his boss to let him work in New York so that he may get rid of his traveling job. Willy goes into the past again. He visited Howard Wagner's office where he showed his new wire recorder. Willy asks Howard to let him work in New York as it is the time he should get settled. Howard says that Willy is doing good as a traveling salesman and refuses to listen to him as he walks away. As Willy is still in his office, he thinks had Howard’s father been his boss, he would have listened to him. He accidentally puts on the wire recorder and is startled by its voice. He shouts for help. As Howards returns to his office, he gets angry at Willy and fires him from the job.
As Willy gets back to the current time, he decides to visit Bernard at his office. He asks Bernard what led Bliff to failure while he was a promising football star? Bernard asks why Willy didn't make Biff to go summer school so that he could go to UVA. Bernard pinpoints the timing of Biff's failures to his visit to his father in New England, after which Biff burned his UVA sneakers. He wonders what happened during that visit. Charley enters the office at the same time and offers a job to Willy as he knows he has lost his job. Willy refuses again out of his pride and Charley chides him. Willy says that a man is worth more dead than alive. As he leaves the office, he says that though he doesn’t like Charley but Charley is the only friend he has got.
From the office, Willy goes to the restaurant where his sons are having a double date. Happy refuses to recognize his father in front of the girls as he has told them lies about him being a successful businessman and Bliff being a successful football player.
Willy goes into the past again as he sees himself in the hotel room at Boston with the same woman. Bliff visits him in Boston and begs his father to talk to Mr. Birnbaum to change his marks in maths and allow him pass the exam. At the same time, the woman enters the room from the bathroom. She is half-naked. As Bliff sees her, he realizes that his father is having an affair. Willy makes the woman go away and admits the affair to Bliff but promises that the woman meant nothing to him and that he was lonely. Bliff has lost confidence in his father and he runs away.
As Willy returns to the present, a waiter informs him that his sons have left him alone. He goes back to his home. When Bliff and Happy return home, Linda accuses them of leaving Willy alone. She asks them if they even care if their father lives or dies? Bliff and Happy feel sorry and Happy says that he will soon marry and settle in life. Willy is planting some seeds in the garden as he dreams of his own funeral. Ben tells him that he will be a coward if he commits suicide. Willy faces Bliff and says that Bliff has ruined his life in spite of his father and refuses to take the blame for Bliff’s failure. Bliff gets angry again and confronts his father. He tells Linda that it was not Willy who attached the rubber tube to the gas heater but it was him. He further tells that his parents couldn’t contact him for three months when he left home because he was in jail. As he admits all this, he starts crying and embraces Willy and says that he and Bliff are ordinary men, they are not heroes. But Willy says that Bliff can still prove his mental and succeed in life. He is happy that his son cried for him. He starts talking to Ben in his hallucination and rushes out of his house in his car. He meets an accident and dies. At his funeral, only his two sons, wife Linda, and neighbor Charley is present. Linda wonders where are other people. He cries at his grave and tells how she succeeded to pay the loan on their home through his insurance money. Bliff says that Willy had wrong dreams but Charley says that a salesman must dream and that for a salesman there is no rock bottom in life. Bliff says that he will leave the city and asks Happy to accompany him. But Happy says that he will stay in New York and prove that his father did not die in vain. Everybody leaves for the house but Linda remains there at Willy’s grave, telling him, how she paid back the loan on their house in full.
No comments:
Post a Comment