Compiled Version— Francis Hodge Analysis– Dramatic Action and Characters
Death of a Salesman – Arthur Miller
Unit Delineation
Act I
UNIT 1 — "Setting the Stage"
The Inciting Incident
The inciting incident, Willy Loman's return home, begins Death of a Salesman. This Monday evening when Willy returns, the audience sees him for the first time, exhausted, irritated, and appearing to be victim of a serious conflict.
- Willy returns home — Linda wakes
- Linda wakes — Linda questions
- Linda questions — Willy explains
- Willy explains — Linda suggests
- Linda suggests — Willy justifies
- Willy justifies — Linda concedes
Summary of Action – Willy returns home unexpectedly to a concerned wife, who makes suggestions regarding his current employment situation.
Unit 2 – "PMS"
- Willy inquires (of sons) — Linda explicates
- Linda explicates –Willy bitches
- Willy bitches — Linda defends
- Linda defends — Willy revokes
- Willy revokes — Linda dotes
- Linda dotes — Willy rants
- Willy rants — Sons awaken
3. Meeting the sons
4. First Flashback – Touchdown Biff
5. First Flashback – Bernard's ejection
6. First Flashback – Hubby Encouragement
7. First Flashback – Bottoms up!
8. First Flashback – Stockings
9. First Flashback – Biff's defects
10. Bedtime for Dad
11. So Sensitive
12. Second Flashback – Uncle Ben's Return
13. Second Flashback – Alaska Talk
14. Second Flashback – Impressing Uncle Ben
15. Second Flashback – Laughing at Charley
16. Second Flashback – Goodbye Ben
17. Linda wants some sleep
18. Biff Awakens
19. Slipper-less Walk
20. First precursor of trouble
21. The Loman Line
22. Getting into bed
23. Saying Goodnight
ACT II
1. Brand new day
2. No Country for Old Men
3. Third Flashback – Callous Ben
4. Third Flashback – Bye diamonds
5. Third Flashback – King Biff
6. Third Flashback – Red Grange
7. Bernard's turn to Speak
8. Playing Hard to Get
9. Fine dining
10. Cover Girl
11. Oliver's Twist
12. Family Feud
13. Fourth Flashback – Alerting Linda
14. Confessing to Pop
15. Fifth Flashback – Cheater
16. Fifth Flashback – Caught in the act
17. Cleaning up the Mess
18. Mom's fury
19. Sixth Flashback – Ben's Chat
20. Biff's Pull
21. Spiteful Exit
22. Putting it all on the Table
23. Seventh Flashback – Back again
24. Suicidal Salesman
25. Funeral day
Requiem
1. No resolve
Characters
| Name | Desire | Will | Moral Stance | Decorum | Adjectives |
| Willy | To live the American Dream, be well liked, attractive, and a good family provider. | STRONG: Willy blinds himself for the entire play with his delusions, and will not give in to anyone, even going so far as to kill himself for his son. He is willing to sacrifice everything. | Lives by the moral code of others. He follows the morals of Dave Singleman, and aspires to be exactly like him. He has a huge sense of duty to his family. | Thinks that appearance is very important. He also wants to be well liked. Plain suits (ie: average traveling salesman), blue collar, aged | Naïve, determined, caring, hopeful, wishful, driven, disillusioned, blinded, stubborn, childish, older, worn down. |
| Linda | To be a good wife and mother. | MEDIUM: She is extremely supportive of Willy, especially to his sons, but her desire is so simple, that she does not need much will to accomplish it. | Duty to husband and family. Sacrificial. | Dresses like a housewife. Always in the kitchen. | Downtrodden, miserable, devoted, liar, housewife, dutiful, loyal. |
| Biff | The American Dream, to be well liked and successful. | Starts MEDIUM, then becomes STRONGER at end of play: initially believed everything his father told him about how to be successful, but when these things don't work out, Biff realizes his father's errors and changes his own ways and starts to become a happier person because of it. | Follows ALL of Willy's values, and has not developed any of his own. Moral stance is more apt to change than Willy though, because Biff realizes how blinded they are. | Attractive, strong, broad-shouldered, living in Willy's shadow. | Failure, attractive, athletic, stupid, thief, disillusioned, hopeful, caring, eldest. |
| Happy | He wants his father, Willy, to approve of him, and to be equal to Biff in Willy's eyes. | WEAK: Happy has a weak will because he wants to be very different from his farther, but is so blinded by his father's ideals and philosophies that he, himself does not even realize it. He aspires to be nothing like his father, because he recognizes Willy's failures, but in the end cannot escape the family ties. | Rejects his father's ways and everything to do with him, tries to live life differently. | Unattractive,
overweight |
Youngest, somewhat responsible, a player, blinded, well-built, ambitious, self-centred, vain, hedonistic. |
| Charley | The American Dream, to be successful and respected, but he does so in a very different way from Willy. | STRONG: Charley knows who he is, where he comes from, and what he wants€¦ and he doesn't care what others think of him. | He knows his place in the world and will not let anyone else sway that. He tries to help Willy realize his delusions. | Businesslike dress, nicer suits that Willy, confident. | Practical, not superficial, friendly, caring, successful, practical, ethical. |