She in turn reminds Biff that he’s a boy no longer. The diamond fob watch which Ben gave him, and which Willy pawned, stands for what Willy might have achieved.īack in the present, Biff is concerned about their father’s habit of talking to himself. He advises Biff to “never fight fair with a stranger, boy.” Linda does not approve.

There is a scene where Ben mock-fights with Biff, defeating him with a trick.

Ben stands for the kind of opportunities – “tremendous in Alaska” – that Willy aspires to. Willy has given her stockings – like the ones his wife is now mending.īernard’s father, Charley, comes from next door to play cards with Willy, having “heard some noise.” Willy imagines his brother Ben, and continues a dual conversation with him and with Charley. In the background we hear the presence of another woman. paying a smaller amount over a period until the debt is clear). Linda reminds Willy of the reality of their various debts from hire purchase (i.e.

Willy sees his own sons in favourable contrast to Bernard, the scholarly boy next door – “you’re both built like Adonises,” he tells them, whereas Bernard is “a worm.” The boys admire Willy’s tales of life on the road, a much more glamorous view of “selling” than we sensed at the start of the play. He is sure of Biff’s sporting prowess, even that he’ll be forgiven for “borrowing” a ball from the coach. We fade into the past, with Willy giving advice (rendered ironic by what we’ve already heard) to his two young sons, about girls and schooling, and how to polish a car! Willy has bought them a punch –bag. They exchange reminiscences about the jobs they’ve had and the women they’ve met, with a strong sense of having wasted their lives. Biff and Happy, sharing a bedroom as they did when children, overhear their parents’ conversation. Willy laments how the neighbouring buildings are increasingly boxing them in. Their sons, Biff and Happy, no longer young men, are back home too. Concerned for him, Linda encourages him to look for work in New York and give up travelling. Willy enters, exhausted, carrying “two large sample cases.” He has come back early, having had difficulty maintaining the concentration to drive. For example, Miller states: Whenever the action is in the present the actors observe the imaginary wall-lines.But in the scenes of the past these boundaries are broken. The stage directions indicate a fluidity of time and space which is characteristic of the play. Willy’s father sells flutes, and this sound will be heard at key moments in the play. The actual drama begins with the sound of a flute. The play, as a written script, opens with very detailed stage directions.

Get your head around the plot by reading our act by act breakdown. By lucycarrick03gmailcom | Wednesday 1st of February 2023

Death of a salesman act 1 script