The Death of a Salesman is a play by Arthur Miller. It was first published and performed during the same year, in
1949. The play was a tremendous hit running numerous performances in New York. It won both the Pulitzer Prize and the New York Drama Critics Circle Award.
The plot relates to the tragic story of Willy Loman, a
salesman. Willy is not the great success that he claims to everyone, especially to his family and friends. For 35 years, he has tried to earn money and recognition on the road, and as a true salesman, always measures his worth by the volume of his sales. Having grown older, he slowly loses his energies and the strength to go on. His trips decrease along with the passing of days. His family worries about him – his wife Linda, and his two grown sons, Biff and Happy. As the story progresses, Willy is eventually fired from his job as he no longer brings the business performance he used to give.
Willy begins to hallucinate about significant events in his life: he remembers encouraging his sons to lie if it makes them succeed and be accepted by workmates and supervisors; he also remembers the pathetic scene of being discovered with a prostitute by his older son, who arrives unexpectedly at his hotel room seeking fatherly advice; and another, he has imaginary conversations, this time, with his brother Ben, the truly successful one. The story ends with Willy deciding that he is worth more dead than alive, thinking of the insurance money that his family will benefit from. Having made up his mind, on his last trip, he kills himself in his car. A tragic act of desperation from
hopelessness of lifetime dreams. Justification of the hero's act is much left to the reader's reflective thoughts, if his action is motivated by hopelessness, cowardice, or self-preservation.