 First performed in 1949, premiering in Philadelphia
 Won the Pulitzer Prize, achieved critical acclaim and
ran for 742 performances on Broadway
 Considered to be playwright Arthur Miller’s
masterpiece
 Examines the myth of the “American
Dream”
 The work mixes realism and emotional
issues without descending to melodrama
 Arthur Miller was born in New York in 1915
 Miller worked his work through the University of
Michigan during the Great Depression
 Among his other works, “The Crucible” (1953) is well
known for its satirical view of the McCarthy hearings
and the Red Scare
 Miller was accused of being Communist, but his
conviction was overturned on a technicality
 Miller was briefly married to movie star Marilyn
Monroe
 Arthur Miller died in 2005
 View the play in the context of the Great Depression of
the 1930’s and the end of World War II in 1945
 While all but nonexistent today, traveling salesmen
were common during the era
 Television had been invented but not yet ubiquitous,
the most frequent sources of entertainment were
radio, movies and staged plays
 Audiences continue to be drawn to the pathos of the
protagonist, Willy Loman
 The play is considered a recognized element of
American culture
 Appearances vs Reality: Willy’s frequent flashbacks
suggest he is losing grip on reality. What appears to be
true, or wishes to be true, often is not
 Individual vs Society: Willy fails because he cannot
stop living in a reality that does not exist, which dooms
him to fail in the reality that does exist
 Individual vs Self: Willy’s perception of what he
should be is continually at odds with what he is
 The American Dream: Willy’s lack of education
dooms him to failure. Seen as an indictment of the
American Dream as represented in the 1920’s
 The play is set in the urban areas of New York and
Boston
 While grounded in realism, the play includes
expressionism, specifically when it depicts imaginary
sequences and characters’ internal thoughts and
emotions
 The play is cyclical rather than sequential, told often
through flashbacks
 The play is largely the representation of what takes
place in the mind of Willy Loman during the last two
days of his life
 The end of World War II in 1945 created an
unprecedented period of economic growth in the
United States
 Housing and non-farming incomes grew, but the
economic situations of the poor did not
 Inflation caused economic challenges and lowered the
value of what little money the poor were able to save
 Economic growth resulted in many consumers using
credit for the first time. Until this era, individuals paid
cash for major purchases other than their homes
 The onset of the Cold War led Americans
to
prove that capitalism was a more
effective
than Communism
 Rather than being motivated by a strict moral code,
many Americans became more concerned with what
others thought of them
 Ben: Willy’s brother, who appears only through Willy’s
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imagination
Bernard: Charley’s son and Willy’s only supporter
outside the family
Biff: Willy’s elder son, a former high school football
idol who caught his father in an affair
Charley: Willy’s only friend who eventually becomes
Willy’s sole source of cash
Happy: The younger of Willy’s two sons who grew up
in the shadow of his brother
 Linda: Willy’s long-suffering yet devoted wife; the
only major female character in the play
 Willy: The salesman around whom the play is
constructed
 Identify Willy Loman’s personality and character. What
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influences have shaped his views? How does Arthur
Miller convey Willy’s outlook and emotions?
How do Biff and Hap’s adult lives show the influence of
their childhood as seen in flashbacks?
How does Willy’s love of what he terms “personality”
conform to Howard’s idea that “business is business”?
How does Miller begin and end flashbacks, memories
and hallucinations and why?
To what extent is Willy responsible for Biff’s difficulties
in life? Find examples of Willy’s “hot air” in the play.