Death of a Salesman.
Arthur Miller
1. Death of a Salesman is a 1949 stage play by American playwright Arthur Miller, premiering on Broadway and winning the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the Tony Award for Best Play.
2. The play is a two-act tragedy told through memories, dreams, and arguments, centered on Willy Loman, a struggling traveling salesman slipping into senility.
3. Major themes include the American Dream, truth and illusion, disillusionment, infidelity, and family dynamics.
4. The play is set in Brooklyn in 1949, primarily in the Loman family home, surrounded by urban apartment buildings.
5. Willy Loman returns home exhausted from a failed sales trip and seems mentally unstable, worrying his wife, Linda.
6. Linda suggests that Willy ask his boss, Howard, to assign him a job in New York so he doesn’t have to travel anymore.
7. Willy is frustrated with their older son, Biff, who is 34, jobless, and directionless despite a once-promising high school football career.
8. Biff had lost his scholarship chances after failing math and never recovered academically or professionally.
9. Biff and his younger brother, Happy, discuss their childhood and Willy’s mental decline, including his frequent daydreams.
10. Willy becomes angry at Biff and Happy for not living up to his expectations, prompting the brothers to fabricate a business plan to appease him.
11. The next day, Willy asks Howard for a job in New York, but Howard refuses, instead firing Willy and suggesting he needs rest.
12. Biff meets his former employer, Bill Oliver, hoping to get a loan or job, but Oliver doesn't remember him and rejects him.
13. In a moment of shame and impulsiveness, Biff steals a fountain pen from Oliver’s office.
14. Meanwhile, Willy visits Charley’s office, where he meets Bernard, now a successful Supreme Court lawyer with a family.
15. Bernard reveals that Biff planned to attend summer school to fix his grades until something changed after a trip to Boston.
16. Charley offers Willy a job, but Willy’s pride makes him refuse; still, Charley gives him money to cover his insurance.
17. At dinner with his sons, Willy grows agitated when Biff tries to tell him the truth about his failures; instead, Willy retreats into a memory.
18. In the flashback, Biff finds Willy with another woman in a Boston hotel. This affair shatters Biff’s admiration and trust in his father.
19. Back home, Biff tries to confront Willy with the truth of their ordinary lives, breaking down emotionally. Willy misinterprets this as forgiveness and hope.
20. Willy has one last hallucination with his brother Ben, who “approves” of Willy’s suicide plan to leave Biff insurance money. Willy drives off and crashes his car. At the funeral, only close family and Charley attend. Linda is heartbroken yet free of debt, and Biff rejects the business dream, while Happy vows to continue Willy’s legacy.
