Death of a Salesman

''Death of a Salesman'' is a 1949 stage play written by American playwright Arthur Miller. The play premiered on Broadway in February 1949, running for 742 performances. It is a two-act tragedy set in late 1940s Brooklyn told through a montage of memories, dreams, and arguments of the protagonist Willy Loman, a travelling salesman who is disappointed with his life, and appears to be slipping into senility. The play contains a variety of themes, such as the American Dream, the anatomy of truth, and infidelity. It won the 1949 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and Tony Award for Best Play. It is considered by some critics to be one of the greatest plays of the 20th century.

Since its premiere, the play has been revived on Broadway five times, winning three Tony Awards for Best Revival. It has been adapted for the cinema on ten occasions, including a 1951 version from an adaptation by screenwriter Stanley Roberts, starring Fredric March. In 1999, '' New Yorker'' drama critic John Lahr said that with 11 million copies sold, it was "probably the most successful modern play ever published."

Background

The genesis of the play was a chance encounter between Miller and his uncle Manny Newman, a salesman, whom he met in 1947 in the lobby of a Boston theater that was playing ''All My Sons''. Writing in a critical study of the play, author Brenda Murphy observed that Manny "lodged in his imagination and created a dramatic problem that he felt compelled to solve."

Miller later recounted that when he saw Manny at the theater, "I could see the grim hotel room behind him, the long trip up from New York in his little car, the hopeless hope of the day's business." Without acknowledging Miller's greeting or congratulating him on the play, Manny said "Buddy is doing very well.'" Buddy was Manny's son, and Manny saw Miller and his older brother as "running neck and neck" with his two sons "in some race that never stopped in his mind." When visiting Manny as a youth, Miller felt "gangling and unhandsome" and usually heard "some kind of insinuation of my entire life's probable failure." Seeing him again in Boston, Manny was "so absurd, so completely isolated from the ordinary laws of gravity, so elaborate in his fantastic inventions," and so much in love with fame and fortune that "he possessed my imagination."

Manny's subsequent death shortly after their encounter was by suicide, which also was the cause of death of two other salesmen Miller had known. One of Manny's sons told Miller that Manny had always wanted to create a business for his two sons. Learning that transformed Manny, in Miller's mind, to "a man with a purpose."

The sudden appearance of Manny returned Miller to an idea for a play about a salesman that he had considered years before. He also had new interest in the simultaneousness of the past and present that was evident at their meeting, as it was plain that he and his cousins were viewed by Manny as they were when they were adolescent competitors many years earlier. This inspired Miller to "do a play without any transitions at all, dialogue that would simply leap from bone to bone of a skeleton that would not for an instant cease being added to, an organism as strictly economic as a leaf, as trim as an ant."

In creating Willy and the other characters, Miller also drew on his relationship with his father as well as another salesman. Miller was himself the model of the young Bernard.

Characters

* William "Willy" Loman: The titular salesman. The product he is selling is never disclosed. He is 63 years old and unstable, insecure, and self-deluded. He vacillates between different eras of his life throughout the play, and re-imagines them as if they were real. Willy's age and degrading mental state has him appear childlike and reliant on others for support, coupled with his recurring flashbacks to various moments of his life. His first name, Willy, reflects this childlike aspect as well as sounding like the question "Will he?" His last name gives the feel of Willy's being a "low man", someone who will not succeed; however, this popular interpretation of his last name was dismissed by Miller.
* Linda Loman: Willy's loyal and loving wife. Linda is passively supportive and docile when Willy talks unrealistically about hopes for the future, although she seems to have a good knowledge of what is really going on. She chides her sons, particularly Biff, for not helping their father anymore, and supports Willy lovingly even though Willy sometimes treats her poorly, ignoring her opinions over those of others. She is the first to realize that Willy is contemplating suicide at the beginning of the play, and urges Biff to make something of himself, while expecting Willy to help Biff do so.
* Biff Loman: Willy's elder son. Biff was a football star with a lot of potential in high school, but failed math his senior year and dropped out of summer school when he saw Willy with another woman while visiting him in Boston. He wavers between going home to try to fulfill Willy's dream for him as a businessman or ignoring his father by going out West to be a farmhand where he feels happy. He likes being outdoors and working with his hands, yet wants to do something worthwhile so Willy will be proud of him. Biff steals because he wants evidence of success, even if it is false evidence, but overall Biff remains a realist and informs Willy that he is just a normal person and will not become a great man.
* Harold "Happy" Loman: Willy's younger son. He has lived in the shadow of his older brother Biff most of his life and seems to be almost ignored, but he still tries to be supportive toward his family. He has a restless lifestyle as a womanizer and dreams of moving beyond his current job as an assistant to the assistant buyer at the local store, but he is willing to cheat a little in order to do so, by taking bribes. He is always looking for approval from his parents, but he rarely gets any, and he even goes as far as to make things up just for attention, such as telling his parents he is going to get married. He tries often to keep his family's perceptions of each other positive or "happy" by defending each of them during their many arguments, but still has the most turbulent relationship with Linda, who looks down on him for his lifestyle and apparent cheapness, despite him giving them money.
* Charley: Willy's somewhat wisecracking yet kind and understanding neighbor. He pities Willy and frequently lends him money and comes over to play cards with him, although Willy often treats him poorly. Willy is envious of him because his son is more successful than Willy's. Charley offers Willy a job many times during visits to his office, yet Willy declines every time, even after he loses his job as a salesman.
* Bernard: Charley's son. In Willy's flashbacks, he is a nerd, and Willy forces him to give Biff test answers. He worships Biff and does anything for him. Later, he is a very successful lawyer, married, and expecting a second son – the same successes that Willy wants for his sons, in particular Biff. Bernard makes Willy contemplate where he has gone wrong as a father.
* Ben: Willy's older brother who became a diamond tycoon after a detour to Africa. Though long dead, Willy frequently speaks to him in his hallucinations of the past. He is Willy's role model, although he is much older and has no real relationship with Willy, preferring to assert his superiority over his younger brother. He represents Willy's idea of the American Dream success story, and is shown coming by the Lomans' house while on business trips to share stories.
* The Woman: A woman, whom Willy calls "Miss Francis", with whom Willy cheated on Linda.
* Howard Wagner: Willy's boss. Willy worked originally for Howard's father Frank and claims to have suggested the name Howard for his newborn son. However, he sees Willy as a liability for the company and fires him, ignoring all the years that Willy has given to the company. Howard is extremely proud of his wealth, which is manifested in his new wire recorder, and of his family.
* Jenny: Charley's secretary.
* Stanley: A waiter at the restaurant who seems to be friends or acquainted with Happy.
* Miss Forsythe: A girl whom Happy picks up at the restaurant. She is very pretty and claims she was on several magazine covers. Happy lies to her, making himself and Biff look like they are important and successful. (Happy claims that he attended West Point and that Biff is a star NFL player.)
* Letta: Miss Forsythe's friend.

Plot

The play takes place in the present day, 1949. The setting is the Loman home in Brooklyn, which is hemmed in by apartment buildings.

Willy Loman returns home weak after a botched business trip. Worried over Willy's state of mind and recent car accident, his wife Linda suggests that he ask his boss Howard Wagner to allow him to work in his home city so he will not have to travel. Willy complains to Linda that their son, Biff, has yet to do something with his life. Despite Biff's potential as a high school football star, he failed in mathematics and was therefore unable to enter a university.

Biff and his younger brother, Happy, who is temporarily staying with Willy and Linda after Biff's unexpected return from the West, reminisce about their childhood together. They discuss their father's mental degeneration, which they have witnessed in the form of his constant indecisiveness and daydreaming about the boys' high school years. Eventually, Willy walks in, angry that the two boys have never amounted to anything. In an effort to pacify their father, Biff and Happy tell him that Biff plans to make an extraordinary business proposition the next day.

The next day, Willy goes to ask Howard for a job in town while Biff goes to make a business proposition, but they both fail. Howard boldly refuses to give Willy a New York job, despite Willy's desperate pleas. Willy then loses his temper and ends up getting fired when Howard tells him he needs a long rest and is now no longer allowed to represent the Wagner Company, while Biff waits hours to see a former employer who does not remember him and turns him down. Biff impulsively steals a fountain pen. Willy then goes to the office of his neighbor Charley, where he runs into Charley's son Bernard, who is now a successful lawyer about to argue a case in front of the Supreme Court. Bernard tells him that Biff originally wanted to go to summer school to make up for failing math, but something happened in Boston when Biff went to visit his father that changed his mind. Charley then offers Willy a do-nothing job, but Willy repeatedly refuses. Charley then reluctantly gives the now-unemployed Willy money to pay off his life-insurance premium, and Willy shocks Charley by remarking that ultimately, a man is "worth more dead than alive."

Happy, Biff, and Willy meet for dinner at a restaurant, but Willy refuses to hear the bad news from Biff. Happy tries to get Biff to lie to their father. Biff tries to tell him what happened as Willy gets angry and slips into a flashback of what happened in Boston the day Biff came to see him: Willy had been in Boston for work, and Biff went to visit him to ask Willy to convince his teacher to curve Biff's failing math grade. Willy was in the middle of an extramarital affair with a receptionist, when Biff arrived unexpectedly at the hotel room, and saw the woman, who was half-dressed. Biff did not accept his father's cover-up story, and angrily dismissed him as a liar and a fake before storming out. From that moment, Biff's views of his father changed and set him adrift.

Biff leaves the restaurant in frustration, followed by Happy and two girls that Happy picked up, leaving a confused and upset Willy behind. When they later return home, Linda angrily confronts them for abandoning their father while Willy remains outside, talking to himself. Biff tries to reconcile with Willy, but the discussion quickly escalates into another argument. Biff conveys plainly to his father that he is not meant for anything great, insisting that both of them are simply ordinary men meant to lead ordinary lives. The argument reaches an apparent climax as Biff hugs Willy and begins to cry as he tries to get Willy to let go of his unrealistic expectations. Rather than listen to what Biff actually says, Willy appears to believe his son has forgiven him and will follow in his footsteps, and after Linda goes upstairs to bed, lapses one final time into a hallucination, thinking he is talking to his long-dead brother Ben. In Willy's mind, Ben "approves" of the scheme Willy has dreamed up to take his own life in order to give Biff his life insurance money to help him start a business. Willy exits the house, and Biff and Linda cry out in despair as the sound of Willy's car blares up and fades out.

The final scene takes place at Willy's funeral, which is attended only by his family, Charley and Bernard (who does not speak during the scene). The ambiguities of mixed and unaddressed emotions persist, particularly over whether Willy's choices or circumstances were obsolete. At the funeral, Biff retains his belief that he does not want to become a businessman like his father. Happy, on the other hand, chooses to follow in his father's footsteps, while Linda laments her husband's decision just before her final payment on the house.

Themes

Reality and illusion

''Death of a Salesman'' uses flashbacks to present Willy's memory during the reality. The illusion not only "suggests the past, but also presents the lost pastoral life." Willy has dreamed of success his whole life and makes up lies about his and Biff's success. The more he indulges in the illusion, the harder it is for him to face reality. Biff is the only one who realizes that the whole family lived in the lies and tries to face the truth.

Tragedy

Miller creates his own version of a traditional tragedy by including aspects like comparing characters to Greek icons and centering the focus of the play on the life of a common man in ''Death of a Salesman''. Willy Loman was a common salesman who was image driven and appearance was everything to him. He noted how appearance was a leading factor in sales, so Willy felt his sons were destined to have great success. In Terry Thompson's academic journal, he explained how Willy Loman compared his sons to Hercules and that they were "built like Adonises" (Miller 33). This equalization to higher beings tied in the one of the traditional aspects of tragedies. In typical tragedies, the story was focused on royal beings with Oedipus and Orestes complexes. Arthur Miller wanted to show that the common man and those with status were more equal than people usually thought. They had the same mental processes and emotions to similar situations. Mankind cherishes tragedies so Miller felt that he should create a tragedy that resonates with his audiences to allow them to feel pity and fear for the characters since the audience may be feeling the same feelings in their own lives. A tragedy captivates the audience and should evoke feelings similar to those that are felt by the characters of the story.

Writing in ''The New York Times'' in 1999, journalist John Tierney observed that the mental illness suffered by Loman was a "biochemical abnormality" that was "not the sort of tragic flaw that makes a classic play." But he noted that "Mr. Miller and his admirers have grander explanations for the death of a salesman. Willy's fate is supposed to be partly a result of his own moral failings, in particular the adulterous affair that his son is traumatized to discover. When Willy kills himself, he is haunted by the memory of his infidelity and by the fear that it ruined his son's life." But Tierney expressed skepticism that one affair would lead to "such ruination," and said that "to certain Manhattanites, it may be comforting to imagine that vulgarians like him and Manny Newman are hopelessly stuck across the river."

Reception

In the United States

''Death of a Salesman'' first opened on February 10, 1949, to great success. Drama critic John Gassner wrote that "the ecstatic reception accorded ''Death of Salesman'' has been reverberating for some time wherever there is an ear for theatre, and it is undoubtedly the best American play since '' A Streetcar Named Desire''." Eric Bentley saw the play as "a potential tragedy deflected from its true course by Marxist sympathies."

In the United Kingdom

The play reached London on July 28, 1949. London responses were mixed, but mostly favorable. '' The Times'' criticized it, saying that "the strongest play of New York theatrical season should be transferred to London in the deadest week of the year." Eric Keown, theatre critic of '' Punch'', praised the production for its "imagination and good theatre-sense", noting that "Mr. Elia Kazan makes a complicated production seem extraordinarily natural."

In Germany

The play was hailed as "the most important and successful night" in Hebbel Theater in Berlin . It was said that "it was impossible to get the audience to leave the theatre" at the end of the performance. The Berlin production was more successful than New York, possibly due to better interpretation.

In India

Compared to Tennessee Williams and Samuel Beckett, Arthur Miller and his ''Death of a Salesman'' were less influential. Rajinder Paul said that "''Death of a Salesman'' has only an indirect influence on Indian theatre practitions." However, it was translated and produced in Bengali as ''Pheriwalar Mrityu'' by the theater group Nandikar. Director Feroz Khan adapted the play in Hindi and English by the name "Salesman Ramlal" played by Satish Kaushik and with the role of his son portrayed by Kishore Kadam.

In China

''Death of a Salesman'' was welcomed in China. There, Arthur Miller directed the play himself. As Miller stated, "It depends on the father and the mother and the children. That's what it's about. The salesman part is what he does to stay alive. But he could be a peasant, he could be, whatever." Here, the play focuses on the family relationship. It is easier for the Chinese public to understand the relationship between father and son because "One thing about the play that is very Chinese is the way Willy tries to make his sons successful." The Chinese father always wants his sons to be 'dragons.'

Productions

The original Broadway production was produced by Kermit Bloomgarden and Walter Fried. The play opened at the Morosco Theatre on February 10, 1949, closing on November 18, 1950, after 742 performances. The play starred Lee J. Cobb as Willy Loman, Mildred Dunnock as Linda, Arthur Kennedy as Biff, Howard Smith as Charley and Cameron Mitchell as Happy. Albert Dekker and Gene Lockhart later played Willy Loman during the original Broadway run. It won the Tony Award for Best Play, Best Supporting or Featured Actor (Arthur Kennedy), Best Scenic Design (Jo Mielziner), Producer (Dramatic), Author ( Arthur Miller), and Director (Elia Kazan), as well as the 1949 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award for Best Play. Jayne Mansfield performed in a production of the play in Dallas, Texas, in October 1953. Her performance in the play attracted Paramount Pictures to hire her for the studio's film productions.

The play has been revived on Broadway five times:
* June 26, 1975, at the Circle in the Square Theatre, running for 71 performances. George C. Scott starred as Willy.
* March 29, 1984, at the Broadhurst Theatre, running for 97 performances. Dustin Hoffman played Willy. In a return engagement, this production re-opened on September 14, 1984, and ran for 88 performances. The production won the Tony Award for Best Revival and the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Revival.
* February 10, 1999, at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre, running for 274 performances, with Brian Dennehy as Willy. The production won the Tony Award for: Best Revival of a Play; Best Actor in Play; Best Featured Actress in a Play ( Elizabeth Franz); Best Direction of a Play ( Robert Falls). This production was filmed.
* February 13, 2012, at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre, in a limited run of 16 weeks. Directed by Mike Nichols, Philip Seymour Hoffman played Willy, Andrew Garfield played Biff, Linda Emond played Linda, and Finn Wittrock played Happy.
* September 17, 2022, at the Hudson Theatre, for a limited engagement of 17 weeks. Directed by Miranda Cromwell, Wendell Pierce plays Willy, Sharon D. Clarke plays Linda, Khris Davis plays Biff, André De Shields plays Ben, and McKinley Belcher III plays Happy. Pierce and Clarke reprise their roles from the 2019–20 West End production.

It was also part of the inaugural season of the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1963.

Christopher Lloyd portrayed Willy Loman in a 2010 production by the Weston Playhouse in Weston, Vermont, which toured several New England venues.

Antony Sher played Willy Loman in the first Royal Shakespeare Company production of the play directed by Gregory Doran in Stratford-upon-Avon in the spring of 2015, with Harriet Walter as Linda Loman. This production transferred to London's West End, at the Noël Coward Theatre for ten weeks in the summer of 2015. This production was part of the centenary celebrations for playwright Arthur Miller.

The play ran until Saturday, 4 January 2020 at the Piccadilly Theatre in London, starring Sharon D. Clarke and Wendell Pierce.

Adaptations in other media

* 1951: American film adapted by Stanley Roberts and directed by László Benedek, who won the Golden Globe Award for Best Director. Nominated for Academy Awards for Best Actor in a Leading Role ( Fredric March), Best Actor in a Supporting Role ( Kevin McCarthy), Best Actress in a Supporting Role ( Mildred Dunnock), Best Cinematography, Black-and-White, and Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture.
* 1960: Soviet film, directed by Theodore Wolfovitch as ''You Can't Cross the Bridge''.
* 1961: Swedish film ''En Handelsresandes död'' starring Kolbjörn Knudsen and directed by Hans Abramson (in Swedish).
* 1968: German film ''Der Tod eines Handlungsreisenden'' starring Heinz Rühmann and directed by Gerhard Klingenberg.
* 1966 (CBS): TV film starring Lee J. Cobb, Gene Wilder, Mildred Dunnock, James Farentino, Karen Steele, and George Segal and directed by Alex Segal.
* 1966 (BBC): TV film starring Rod Steiger, Betsy Blair, Tony Bill, Brian Davies, and Joss Ackland and directed by Alan Cooke.
* 1979: Swedish film ''En Handelsresandes död'' starring Carl-Gustav Lindstedt and directed by Bo Widerberg (in Swedish).
* 1985: American film starring Dustin Hoffman, Kate Reid, John Malkovich, Stephen Lang, and Charles Durning and directed by Volker Schlöndorff.
* 1996: American film starring Warren Mitchell, Rosemary Harris, Iain Glen, and Owen Teale and directed by David Thacker.
* 2000: American film starring Brian Dennehy, Elizabeth Franz, Ron Eldard, Ted Koch, Howard Witt, and Richard Thompson and directed by Kirk Browning.
* 2008: Play within the American film ''Synecdoche, New York'', starring Philip Seymour Hoffman.
* 2015: Radio drama, starring David Suchet and Zoë Wanamaker, directed by Howard Davies, and broadcast on BBC Radio 3.
* 2016: Play within the Iranian/French film '' The Salesman'' (Forushande), acting as counterpoint to the main plot. Starring Shahab Hosseini, Taraneh Alidoosti, Babak Karimi, and directed by Asghar Farhadi.

Awards and nominations

Original Broadway production

1975 Broadway production

1984 Broadway production

1999 Broadway production

2012 Broadway production

2019 West End production

See also

* Happy Lowman

References

Further reading

Editions

* Miller, Arthur ''Death of a Salesman'' (Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1996) . Edited with an introduction by Gerald Weales. Contains the full text and various critical essays.

Criticism

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External links

''Death of a Salesman'' Summary
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1949 plays
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