Death of a Salesman Flashcards
Act 1: Give quotes to describe setting at start:
“A melody is heard”
“aware of towering angular shapes”
“blue light” “angry glow of orange”
“small, fragile seeming home”
“an air of the dream clings to the place, a dream rising out of reality”
“The flute plays on”
Act 1: Willy quote about being tired
“I’m tired to the death”, “[The flute has faded away. He sits on the bed beside her, a little numb]”
- dream fading
Act 1: Stage direction to demonstrate Willy’s mistreatment of Linda and Linda’s sensitivity to Willy
“[with casual irritation]: I said nothing happened.”
“[very carefully, delicately]: Where were you all day? You look terrible”
- fem crit
Act 1: Quotes to show Willy’s chaotic mind about thoughts and seeing
“No, I see everything” - irony
“I absolutely forgot I was driving” “I might’ve killed somebody”
“I have such thoughts, I have such strange thoughts”
- disturbed psyche
Act 1: Willy quote about capitalism and buying a house
“Work a lifetime to pay off a house. You finally own it, and there’s nobody to live in it”
- capitalism
Act 1: Willy prioritises money over Biffs happiness
“How can he find himself on a farm? Is that a life?”
- ironic; both want to be outdoors
Act 1: says Biff is lazy later contradicts
“Biff is a lazy bum!” later says “he’s not lazy”
Act 1: Willy about Biff getting “lost”
In the greatest country in the world a young man with such personal attractiveness, gets lost.
Act 1: Willy gets angry about cheese LATER linda’s patience
“[with infinite patience]”
Act 1: Biff and Happy introduced how does the stage directions describe them?
“Biff” “a worn air and seems less self-assured”
“Happy” “Sexuality is like a visible colour on him, a scent that many woman have discovered”
Act 1: How does Happy describe women?
“Boy, there was a pig!” “[They laugh, almost crudely]”
- fem crit
Act 1: Biff soliliquay about his desires vs expectations
“To suffer fifty weeks of the year for the sake of a two-week vacation”
“all you really desire is to be outdoors”
- Marxist; american dream
Act 1: Biff speech - desire of outdoors vs comes back to Willy’s expectation
“there’s nothing more inspiring or - beautiful than the sight of a mar and a new colt”
“What the hell am I doing … twenty-eight dollars a week!”
- ecocritical; nature vs urbanisation sense of freedom
Act 1: Happy expresses he isn’t happy
“goddammit, I’m lonely”
- capitalist society and the American Dream has not brought him any happiness “it’s what I always wanted”
Act 1: Happy talks about his conquests of married women
“ruined her” “he’s the third executive I’ve done that too” “I don’t want the girl, and, still I take it” - contradictions; fem crit
Act 1: [music insinuates itself] Willy praises Biff for cleaning car
“polish the car”
“Show him how you do it, Biff! You see, Happy?”
- car: american dream + consumerism
Act 1: Willy bad father about theft of ball
“[laughing with him at the theft]”
Act 1: Willy insults Bernard
“What an anemic!”
“Bernard can get the best marks in school” “when he gets out in the business world” “you are going to be five times ahead of him”
“Be liked and you will never want”
Act 1: Willy’s price in how much money he made - truth revealed by Linda
“sellin’ thousands and thousands”
“five hundred gross in Providence and seven hundred gross in Boston”
L: “commission … Two hundred- my God”
Act 1: Willy’s insecurities + Linda’s responce - laugh heard
“I’m fat. I’m very-foolish to look at”
“They do laugh at me. I know that”
“The handsomest” then
“From the darkness is heard the laughter of a woman” - flashback, analepsis
Act 1: evidence for affair
“She squeezes his arm, kisses him”, slapping her bottom”
- contrast to relationship with Linda “stockings”
“[The woman bursts out laughing, and Linda’s laughter blends in]
Act 1: Tells Linda off for mending stockings
“They’re so expensive”
“[angrily, taking them from her]” “I won’t have you mending stockings in this house! Now throw them out!”
Act 1: Linda + Bernard informs Willy of all of Biff’s crimes/ things he is doing wrong his responce:
lots going on at once; willy’s guilt
“I’ll whip him!” - repeated
“[The woman’s laugh is heard]”
- “Shut up!”, “Get outa here!” - denial
- B: “if he doesn’t buckle down he’ll flunk math!”
- “[exploding at her] There’s nothing the matter with him” “He’s got spirit, personality-“
“Linda, almost in tears”
“Why is he stealing?”
Act 1: stage direction about leaves; change in set when he explodes at Linda
“wilting and staring. The leaves are gone”
Act 1: Willy describes ben
“That man was a genius”
“walked into a jungle … and he’s rich”
Act 1: Willy offended when Charley being nice starts being mean
“What the hell you offering me a job for?”
“I got a good job”
- delusion
“You’re disgusting” - aggresive; mental health
Act 1: Past merging with present ben vs charley
“Did you call me Ben?”
Act 1: Ben’s “businesses”
“diamond mines”
- blood diamonds; corrupt
“Never fight fair with a stranger, boy” “You’ll never get out of the jungle that way”
Act 1: meets ben - sympathy created
- Ben left him, so did father
“[glancing at his watch]”
“No, Ben! Please tell me about Dad”
“He played the flute”
“made more in a week than a man like you could make in a lifetimes”
Act 1: Linda’s response to ben
“[withdrawing her hand coldly, frightened]”
Act 1: Willy’s desperation to keep Ben
“Watch this, Ben!”, “[longingly] Can’t you stay a few days?”
“Dad left when I was such a baby and I never had a chance to talk to him”
“[They are at opposite ends of the stage]”
- moments of Charley’s dialogue demonstrate W being ripped away from memory
Act 1: Linda tells biff he has a negative impact on Willy’ she’s sassy
“when you come home he’s always the worst”
“You can’t just come to see me, because I love him [threat of tears]”
Act 1: Biff criticises Willy to Linda
to Linda: “always wiped the floor with you”
“He’s got no character” “spewing out that vomit from his mind”
Act 1: Linda famous quote/ speech
“I don’t say he’s a great man. Willy Loman never made a lot of money”
“he’s a human being, and a terrible thing is happening to him. So attention must be paid”
“The man is exhausted”
- tragic hero; everyman
Act 1: Linda creates sympathy for willy - knows he pretends money from charley is his pay
“Why shouldn’t he talk to himself”
“When he has to go to Charley and borrow fifty dollars a week and pretend to me that that it’s his pay?”
Act 1: Linda criticises Biff
“one a philandering bum”
“That’s all you are, my baby”
Act 1: Linda’s reveal + responsibility for Biff
“He’s been trying to kill himself”
“I live
from day to day”
“Biff his life is in your hands!”
Act 1: Willy gets excited at Biff and Happy’s delusion plan; tells linda to shush
“That is a one-million-dollar idea!”
“You guys together could absolutely lick the civilised world”
- keeps telling Linda to shut up “Stop interrupting!”
- Biff defends “[furiously] Stop yelling at her!”
- Willy: [beaten down, guilt ridden]
Act 1: Linda’s response to Biff defending him
“What’d you have to start that for?”
- accepts treatment
Act 1: Linda concerned about Oliver remembering Biff
“I’m just wondering if Oliver will remember him”
- voice of reason; foreshadowing
W: “Remember him, What’s the matter with you, you crazy?”
Act 1: ending set + stage direction
stage directions:
“gas heater begins to glow… blue flame beneath red coils”
- Biff takes tubing
Act 2: Music at start
“Music is heard, gay and bright”
Act 2: Linda’s quote about seeds
“not enough sun”
“nothing’ll grow any more”
- symbolic of leaving a legacy; realistic
Act 2: 1940’s credit society
“last payment on the mortgage”
Act 2: Linda talking to Biff on phone; ominous lines
“I’m not afraid anymore”
“he’s only a little boat looking for a harbor”
“She is trembling with sorrow and joy”
“you’ll save his life”
Act 2: Willy gets fired:
Set design
“small typewriter table”
“wire-recording machine”
- specific props, consumerism
Act 2: Willy gets fired:
repeatedly shut down by Howard
“Sh, for God’s sake”
later:
“I don’t have a single solitary spot”
Act 2: Willy gets fired:
desperation to keep job
“all I need to set my table is fifty dollars a week”
“desperately” “desperation is on him now”
“angrily”
“There was respect and comradeship and gratitude”
- polytheistic tricolon
Act 2: Willy gets fired:
Howard as villain
“kid”
“business is business”
“[barely interested] Don’t say”
“Howard has not looked at him”
“moving away, to the right”
Act 2: Willy gets fired:
quote about promises; socialist message
“There were promises made across this desk!”
“a man is not a piece of fruit” - people not disposable; socialist message
“banging his had on the desk”
Act 2: Willy gets fired: now defeated
Howard: “pull yourself together”
“light … grows very bright and strange”
“leaping away with fright, shouting” “machine, which continues nasally, childishly”
“Shut it off! Shut it off!”
“grasping HOWARD’s arm”
“Willy stares into space, exhausted”
Act 2: Biff about to do baseball match “greatest day of his life”
- how does Willy react to Charley’s joke
“[kidding] is that so?”
“Who is Red Grange?”
“Put up your hands” x2
- “music rises to a mocking frenzy”
- switch to willy and Bernard in present
Act 2: Willy asks Bernard what his secret is
“Bernard -[He is so full of emotion”
“[small and alone]: What - What’s the secret?”
“desperately: Your were his friend”
Act 2: Bernard questions Willy about how Biff didn’t enrol into summer school after witnessing his affair
Willy’s responce
“Willy stares in silence”
“What happened in Boston. Willy?”
“[Willy looks at him as at an intruder]
“[angrily] Nothing”
Act 2: Charley reveals Bernard is going to argue a case in front of supreme court
Willy’s responce:
“[genuinly shocked, pained and happy]: No! The Supreme Court!”
… “And he didn’t even mention it” - humble
Act 2: Willy keeps refusing job from Charley
“I don’t want your goddamn job!”
“When the hell are you going to grow up?”
“You big ignoramus “I’ll rap you one!” “kindly, going to him”
Act 2: Willy sus quote about worth when dead - later stage direction ominous
” Funny, y’know?” “you end up worth more dead than alive”
“nobody’s worth nothin’ dead”
“Willy stands still, dreaming”
Act 2: Willy quote about Charley as friend
“[on the verge of tears] Charley, you’re the only friend I got. Isn’t that a remarkable thing?”
Scene at restaurant:
setting
“raucous music” “red glow appears”
- loud, noisy
- danger;anger hellish; aggressive
Happy bigs up brother - lies
- overconfident: orders…
“big cattle man”
- reality ranch hand
“a couple of nice lobsters?”
- wealth
“I think he pulled off a big deal today”
- acting too soon
Happy’s misogyny in restaurant scene
“strudel’s coming’.”
“[staring directly at her profile Ooooooo … Stanley”]
- objectification
Happy lies to girl
“Biff is quarterback with the New York Giants”
“one of the greatest football players in the country”
Happy cringe with girl
“Don’t try, honey, try hard”
stanley “shaking his head in bewildered admiration”
Biff’s realisation when he talks to oliver
“How the hell did I ever get the idea I was a salesman there?”
“I realized what a ridiculous lie my whole life has been”
Biff admits he stole Oliver’s pen
“[with great tension and wonder]
- he can’t believe life a lie
“I took his fountain pen”
Biff struggling to tell Willy truth keeps postponing telling him
“Pal…”
“his breath keeps breaking the rhythm of his voice”
- tension builds
Biff and Willy argue in restaraunt scene before biff’s admission: big reveal about willy
B: “I was a shipping clerk”
W: “[angrily]”
“I was fired today”
“the woman has suffered”
Happy’s flaw dishonesty in restaurant scene with Biff and Willy
W: “he gave you a warm welcome?”
“Sure, Pop, sure!”
Restaurant: Willy keeps interrupting Biff for ages: until Biff ends with
then change in set
“Well, he kinda-“
“He’s a fine man.”
- repeated
“I can’t talk to him!” - says to happy
“a single trumpet note jars the ear” - tone change
Back to past after restaurant:
Willy angry at Biff for flunking math
brief switch to present and Biff’s admissio
“No, no. You had to go and flunk math!”
“[Wildly.] Math, math, math!”
“he wouldn’t see me. … [He continues unheard”
- willy’s chaotic mind and guilt
Willy’s realisation of what happened with Biff and Oliver; Biff lies out of fear for Willy
“You stole Bill Oliver’s fountain pen!”
- later makes link with the past: “I’m not in my room!” + operator
- chaotic mind again
- Biff concerned “Horrified”
“desperately” lies to Willy that “Oliver talked to his partner”
Willy and Biff argue at the restaurant about why Biff’s future; Biff explains why he did it
“You don’t want to be anything, is that what’s behind it”
“Why did I go? Why did I go! Look at you! Look at what’s become of you!”
“[Off left, THE WOMAN laughs.]”
Willy strikes Biff in restaurant scene
“Strikes Biff”
“You rotten little louse!”
Biff and Happy argue at restaurant: Biff emotional “help”
“Hap, help him! Jesus . . . help him . . . Help me, help me, I can’t bear to look at his face! [Ready to weep”
Happy tells girls thats not his dad; clearly in need of help
“No, that’s not my father. He’s just a guy.”
- both happy and Biff have left the restaurant; left willy
Setting change from restaurant to affair in boston
“knocking” - tension
“raw, sensuous music”
“she is in a black slip”
- contrast to linda; youth
Women criticises Willy; what does willy say prior
“I’m so lonely”
“you ruined me”
- fem crit; virginity?
“you are the saddest, self-centred soul I ever did see-saw”
“she laughs. he kisses her”
… “As knocking is heard”
Biff enter’s affair scene tension is created hasn’t yet seen women: admits what he did?
“I flunked math”
- ironic
“Bernard wouldn’t give you the answers?”
Moment of anagnorisis (women)
[WILLY looks at BIFF, who is staring open-mouthed and horrified at THE WOMAN.]
- silence creates pathos
Willy’s monologue after Biff see’s hes cheating shifts in tone
“What’s the matter? [BIFF remains motionless, tears falling.]”
[BIFF doesn’t move]
“I gave you an order. … How dare you cry!”
“[Putting his arm around BIFF.] Now look, Biff, when you grow up you’ll understand about these things. “
woman: Empathy for Biff created
“Dad…”
“[infected by it] Oh my boy”
Willy excuses his infedelity
“She’s nothing to me, Biff. I was lonely, I was terribly lonely.”
Biff comment about stockings + fake
“You—you gave her Mama’s stockings!”
“You fake! You phony little fake! You fake!”
- betrayal
Pathos created for willy in restaurant with stanley
+ ominous line
“Here—here’s a dollar.”
- stanley supports him lies about his son’s paying
“here’s some more, I don’t need it anymore”
Willy’s comment about seeds to stanley asks about seed store
“I’ve got to get some seeds.”
Scene with Linda and Happy + Biff: he brings flowers: linda angry
“She rises ominously and quietly”
- he backs up “afraid”
“[She knocks them to the floor at BIFF’s feet.]” - flowers
Scene with Linda and Happy + Biff:
she turns attention to Biff
“Don’t you care whether he lives or dies?”
Linda tells them both to get out
“Get out of here”
“Pick up this stuff, I’m not your maid anymore. Pick it up, you bum, you!”
“You’re a pair of animals!”
- happy doesn’t and biff does
Willy stage directions planting seeds
“He is carrying a flashlight, a hoe, and a handful of seed packets.”
“measuring off the distance with his foot.”
- simplicity of it
Willy talking to imaginary ben debating suicide continued delusion
“Ben, a man has got to add up to something.”
“Remember, it’s a guaranteed twenty-thousand-dollar proposition.”
keeps repeating “the woman has suffered”
“Ben, that funeral will be massive!”
Willy’s guilt towards what he did to linda
“no I don’t want to see her” - repetition
Biff say’s he’s leaving: Willy’s mood swings; won’t accept blame for how Biff turned out
“Good-bye.”
“May you rot in hell if you leave this house!”
“don’t you dare blame it on me!”
- Willy won’t accept blame
Biff reveals the hose: willy’s responce
“[Caged, wanting to escape.] I never saw that.”
“no pity!”
- willy is “going to hear the truth”
Biffs admissions of his crime and consequence
“I stole a suit in Kansas City and I was in jail.”
- tells linda to “stop crying”
willy continued focus on “fault”
Key points of Biff’s monologue
“the sky” “I saw the things that I love in this world.”
“I am not a leader of men, Willy, and neither are you.”
“[At the peak of his fury.] Pop, I’m nothing! I’m nothing, Pop.”
“he breaks down, sobbing, holding on to WILLY”
- climax
“why is he crying?”
Pathos created at end for WIlly but sense he hasn’t got biff’s message
” Isn’t that—isn’t that remarkable? Biff—he likes me!”
“LINDA: He loves you, Willy!”
“HAPPY: [Deeply moved.] Always did, Pop.”
“that boy is going to be magnificent!”
ben “Yes, outstanding, with twenty thousand behind him.”
cyclical reference to act 1
“Go on, you look awful tired.” - Willy
Willys death
“As the car speeds off, the music crashes down in a frenzy of sound, which becomes the soft pulsation of a single cello string.”
- frenzy of sound
- soft pulsation of a single cello string
Funeral -
Linda wondering why so few people at funeral
happy doesn’t grow up
biff does
“But where are all the people he knew? Maybe they blame him.”
charley: “It’s a rough world, Linda. They wouldn’t blame him.”
happy: “He had a good dream”
Linda monologue at end
“Help me, Willy, I can’t cry.”
“I made the last payment on the house today. Today, dear.”
“[A sob rises in her throat.] We’re free and clear. [Sobbing more fully, released.] We’re free”
- repeated
