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Willy Loman
|
| » a salesman, busy on the road |
| » beyond his 60s |
| » "quietly dressed" |
| » impatient |
| » dreamer, talks to himself |
| » absent-minded |
| » aggressive |
| » hot-tempered |
| » contradicts himself |
| » confused |
| » disappointed |
| » hopeless |
| » loves nature |
| » nostalgic |
| » narrowed in his perceptions of the environment |
| » makes an exhausted, tired appearance ("tired to the death" 8,8 moody) |
| » is the main character
of the play and
often considered its tragic hero |
| » The sixty-something failing salesman grows increasingly insane throughout Death of A Salesman , eventually ending his life in suicide. |
| » Willy tries to persuade himself and others that he and his sons are successful, but in the end, Willy is unable to live up to his own expectations (and those of his rich brother Ben, who expects Willy to do much more with his life than he has). |
| » All in all, Willy is little more than a failure and a crazed lunatic living in the past. |
| » Many critics, however, believe that Miller has portrayed Willy as a tragic hero. |
| |
Willy's attitude towards his sons is coined by
|
| » criticism as he wants a settled, regular life for them |
| » narrow - mindedness, as he doesn't give them the freedom they probably need |
| result: even more frustrations, conflicts |
| |
Willy's point of view
|
| » pround of his boys |
| » proud of his own respect and his stories of his success |
| » he met the mayor of Providence |
| » he can park his car in any street in New England, the cops protect it like their own |
| » he puts his own higher than the people around him (30,25) |
| |
Linda Loman
|
| » is Willy's wife and the boys' mother |
| » admires her husband |
| » she is mediate / mediator |
| » considerate |
| » loving mother and wife |
| » respectful |
| » optimistic |
| » obedient and submissive |
| » keeps her family together |
| » she takes Willi as he is without mourning |
| » she does not like his imbalance, his cruelties, although she can cope with his dreams and longings |
| » she is Willi's "foundation" (page 15, line 2) |
| » she has a very loyal behaviour |
| » Throughout the play, she serves as the enabler for Willy to live in his fantasy world. |
| » tries to protect Willy from the harsh reality of their lives because she finds it too hard to get to the root of his problems. |
| |
Biff Loman
|
| » 34 years old |
| » well-built |
| » handsome |
| » motivated / commited |
| » different conceptions of life |
| » less self-assured, crestfallen (12,1) |
| » his facial expression is "worn" (16, 22f.) |
| » different jobs, from which he likes the ones requiring his muscles (farmhand) (22) |
| » is the grown-up son of Willy and Linda Loman |
| » gone from job to job, never finding any lasting happiness or success. This displeases Willy, who, after never finding success himself, places the burden of success on the shoulders of Biff. |
| » Eventually Biff realizes "what a ridiculous lie [his] whole life has been," seeing that his father has immersed himself in nothing but illusions. |
| |
Happy Loman
|
| » 32 years old |
| » tall, strong |
| » the younger brother of Biff |
| » keen on woman / gives the impression of being content |
| » content |
| » successful as he wanted to |
| » he has a lot of sex-appeal |
| » overdeveloped sence of competition |
| » never risks as much as his brother |
| » with a bit of guilty feelings |
| » superficial |
| » an apartement of his own, a car plenty of woman (21, 22ff) |
| » easily bribed |
| » everyone around him is not reliable |
| » a happy-go-lucky-type of person |
| » he also can't find success or happiness like Biff |
| » After living in the shadow of Biff throughout his childhood, Happy tries to mask his lack of self-confidence by surrounding himself with women and pretending that all is well. |
| » After his father dies, he tries to carry on his unrealistic notions of success. |
| |
Biff and Happy and their present situation
|
| » lonely, frustrated |
| » have lacked a challenge in their lines |
| » have never achieved anything really serious |
| » still searching for their identity and for a purpose in life (20, 20ff; 20,27 - 21,2; 21,8; 21,20) |
 dreaming of buying a ranch / dreaming of working together |
| |
The boys attitude
|
| » in a well mood |
| » faszinated in talking with their father and faszinated by the stories of Willy |
| |
Ben
|
| » is Willy's older brother |
| » is rich |
| » left Willy at an early age to make his fortune in Alaska and Africa (the wild frontiers). |
| » Many critics believe that Ben is nothing more than a figment of Willy's imagination, yet to Willy, Ben is very real. |
| » Ben is the driving force behind Willy's idea of success. Willy feels that, like his older brother who has struck it rich with diamond mines in Africa, he must establish himself as a rich and powerful businessman in New England. |
| » in many ways, Ben is the symbol of the standard of success that proves too hard for Willy and his sons to match. |
| » "When I was 17 I walked into the jungle. When I came out I was rich." |
| |
| information given in the text |
qualities / character traits |
historic points (facts, ideas, values present in US history) |
| pp. 31-36 |
time: born appr. in 1870 |
| » "an aura of far places about him" |
» always on the move |
» industrial expansion, monopoly capitalism |
| » always in a hurry |
» thirst for adventure |
» pioneering adventurousness |
| » left his family in order to find his father in Alaska |
» love of freedom
» negative individualism |
» mobility (in order to take advantage of new possibilities) |
| » ended up in Africa |
» adventurous strength |
» value of self-reliance |
» properties in Alaska,
many enterprises |
» possesses the key to success |
|
» his success formula:
"When I was 17 ... I was rich"
(p.33) |
» self-made man
» creed of success, energy, hardiness |
embodies the myth of success
and
infinite possibilities (American Dream) |
» advises Biff:
"Never fight fair with a strainger.
You'll never get out of the jungle that way." |
» alertness, stamina, hardiness, physical strength,
degenerating into ruthlessness |
» Social Darwinism
("survival of the fittest") |
| |
| pp. 92, 93; 97 |
discussing the suicide plan with Willy:
» "And twenty thousand - that is something one can feel with the hand, it is there." (p. 92)
» "Remarkable proposition, but you've got to be sure you're not making a fool of yourself". (p. 93) |
» pragmatic
» realistic |
» cut-throat competition of the early captains of industry (e.g. Carnegie, Rockefeller, Morgan, Vanderbilt and Harriman)
» pragmatism |
|
| |
Charley
|
| » Loman's neighbor |
| » Willy's only friend |
| » offers Willy a job when the old salesman is fired, but Willy can't bring himself to work for Charley, since this would be admitting failure. |
| » Throughout the play, Charley tries to give Willy constructive criticism, hoping to get him on the right track. Thus, Charley symbolizes the reality that Willy never acknowledges. |
| |
Howard Wagner
|
| » Howard becomes the owner of Willy's company after his father dies |
| » Howard is not sympathetic with Willy when the salesman asks for a New York job, telling him that there's no place for him in New York |
| » Miller uses Howard to represent the cruel nature of capitalism. |
| |
Bernard
|
| » is Charley's son |
| » is
a childhood friend of Biff |
| » Unlike the Lomans, Bernard is rooted in reality and eventually becomes a successful lawyer. |
| » In many ways, Willy sees Bernard as the competition to Biff (as he sees Charley as his own competition). |
| |
Willy's father
|
| Information given in the text |
qualities / character traits |
historic points (facts, ideas, values present in US history) |
| pp. 34/35 |
time: |
1885 onwards |
| » disappeared when Willy was a baby (~1885) |
rugged individualist |
approx: |
1886 gold rush in Alaska
1890 closing of the border |
| » great and wild-hearted man |
life close to nature |
value of absolute individualism |
| » travelled across the country in a wagon |
love of freedom |
independence |
| » sold his own flutes |
"salesman" like Willy,
but creative and inventive |
|
nonconformity |
| » "made more in a week than a man like you could make in a lifetime |
successful |
peddler-pioneer spirit
value of self-determination |
| myth of the last frontier |
| p. 57 |
|
| » lived many years in Alsaka |
gold rush |
| » adventurous man |
adventurous |
| » "there's a little streak of self-reliance in our family" |
self-reliant |
value of self-reliance and individual integrity |
|
| |
Dave Singleman
|
| Information given in the text |
qualities / character traits |
| pp.57/58 |
|
| » salesman like Willy |
| » Willy's model: " ... I realized that selling was the greatest career a man could want." |
successful |
| » made his living by calling his buyers on the phone |
personality |
| » was remembered, loved, helped by so many different people |
popular |
| » hundreds of salesmen and buyers attended his funeral |
comradeship
gratitude
respect |
 |
code of
values |
|
Stanley
|
| » a friend of Happy |
| » a waiter at
Frank's Chop House |
| |
The woman
|
| » Willy's misstress |
| » When Biff sees her in his father's hotel room, he loses respect for his father and his dream of going to college dies. |
| |
Miss Forsythe and Letta
|
| » two young women whom Happy and Biff meet at Frank's Chop House |
| » may be
prostitutes |
| |
Jenny
|
| » Charley's secretary |