Act 1 Part 1 (c.1942)
Willy Loman has returned home, troubled, because he continues to lose concentration whilst on the road. His speech is full of inconsistencies and contradictions, at time irate and illogical, at times conciliatory. His wife, Linda, is infinitely patient with him, constantly soothing and reassuring him. Already in this scene we are aware of Willy's materialism being the major cause of his approaching lunacy.
Willy expresses his dissatisfaction at the path which his son, Biff, has taken in life: "he has yet to make thirty-five dollars a week!" Willy is a dreamer who cannot distinguish between his dreams and reality. The dreams that Willy has are intended to move in the audience recognition of the difficulty in achieving the American Dream.
Act 1 Part 2 (c.1942)
Here the focus is on the two boys, Biff and Happy. Their names are intended to evoke a picture of happy suburban life. In reality, they are both having difficulty bringing direction to their lives. The boys are talking in their bunk beds. Whilst they talk, they hear Willy muttering to himself downstairs. Biff describes the hurt he feels at his father's scorn for him and the distance between them. Biff is a wanderer, never happy to stay in one place when spring arrives. Happy, although materially successful, feels that his wealth has gained him nothing - he still feels alone. The boys are angry that their father's vocal reminiscences can be heard by their mother.
Act 1 Part 3 (c.1928)
Willy is lost in dreams. He is remembering a time when he returned from a trip to find the boys polishing the car. It is obvious that Biff is Willy's favourite - he ignores Happy to play with Biff, a schoolboy football star, and warns him to be careful with the girls who will undoubtedly want to go out with him. Willy defends Biff's theft of a football from his college locker room, saying: "he's gotta practice with a regulation ball, doesn't he?". This is an early sign of Willy's skewed logic and values. However, he promises not to be away so much, and to take the boys with him next time he goes on a business trip around New England.
Act 1 Part 4 (c.1928)
Bernard, Charley's son and a friend of Biff comes over to remind Biff that they were supposed to be studying together. Willy takes Biff's side: "What're you talking about? With scholarships to three universities they're gonna flunk him?" The recurrent them of being "well liked" comes up here:
"Willy: Bernard is not well liked, is he?
Biff: He's liked, but he's not well-liked"
Happy, meanwhile, is a chubby child, desperately trying to gain his father's attention with limited success: 'I'm losing weight, you notice, pop?'
Act 1 Part 5 (c.1928)
A warm and close picture is portrayed of Willy and Linda's relationship. Biff is desperate to be his mother's favorite also, and offers to help her with her washing. Willy brags to Linda about his successes on a trip to Boston and Providence. He wildly inflates the figure, but has to confess when Linda interrogates him more closely. The couple has spiralling debts, and Willy worries that he is not well liked, talks too much, and is a failure. Linda adds to Willy's eventual madness by constantly reassuring him that he is a success: when the myth becomes too difficult to sustain, Willy cracks. As Willy speaks kindly to Linda, a woman appears, and the scene becomes more and more surreal. Linda has been mending some old stockings and as the woman leaves, she thanks Willy for the stockings he gave her. The woman makes Willy feel he is all the things that he hopes he might be: rich, funny, well liked. The fact that he is cheating on the devoted Linda is incidental to Willy's need to be seen to be a success.
Act 1 Part 6 (c.1928)
When the woman leaves, Willy returns to his dreams of happy times with Linda and the boys. He tells Linda that she mustn't mend her silk stockings, that he will buy her a new pair. Again, Willy based the future on promises and not on present action. Bernard returns to look for Biff. Willy threatens to whip Bernard when the child refuses to let Biff cheat from him. Willy is descending further into a state of delusion when the lights come up to signify a return to the present.
Act 1 Part 7 (c.1942)
Happy comes downstairs to make sure that Willy is well. Willy seems more rational, commiserating with himself over missed opportunities:
'Why didn't I go to Alaska with my brother Ben that time! Ben! That man was a genius, that man was success incarnate!'
Willy once again descends into madness after Happy offers to help him financially in his retirement. Charley comes in to see Willy. He is a large, solid man - the antithesis of the bent and weak Willy Loman. Willy and Charley play cards together. Willy will not accept Charley's offer of a job. As they converse, Ben appears to Willy in a vision. Charley does not understand Willy's apparent lunacy and, after Willy abuses him about the card game, he leaves.
Act 1 Part 8 (c.1928)
Willy and Ben talk. Ben has been turned into a mythical figure by Willy - representing everything that he is not. Willy questions Ben about his success and their parents. Happy and Biff come downstairs and Willy is desperate to show Ben that the boys have grown well. Ben describes the way he made his fortune:
"Why boys, when I was seventeen I walked out into the jungle, and when I was twenty-one I walked out. And by God I was rich"
Willy persuades his brother that he is raising his children in the correct fashion:
"That's just the way I'm bringing them up, Ben - rugged, well-liked, all-around"
Charley comes in wearing his underwear and talks in a stream-of-consciousness style about the crime rate in the area. The scene descends into farce, with each character soliloquizing on their own personal hobbyhorse.
Act 1 Part 9 (c.1942)
Linda finds Willy still delirious in the yard. Biff asks what is wrong with his father. Linda replies that it was the arrival of Biff which precipitated Willy's latest turn. Willy cannot learn to accept that one of his children has not been a success in the traditional sense of the word. In a moving scene between mother and son, Linda tells Biff that he can no longer come home to visit her. Biff resents the fact that his father has created a rift between himself and Linda. Linda tells Biff that she fears that Willy is trying to kill himself. She has found a rubber tubing attached to the gas pipe.
Act 1 Part 10 (c.1942)
Biff and Willy argue over Biff's lack of success. Happy tells Willy that Biff is going to contact Bill Oliver, the owner of a sports shop from which Biff was fired after stealing a crate of basketballs. Willy becomes ecstatic and gets carried away with Biff's preparations for the interview. Biff and Willy argue again, however, after Willy shouts at Linda.
Act 1 Part 11 (c.1942)
Linda joins Willy in the bedroom. He descends into a deep depression. Biff and Happy enter to bid their parents goodnight. Willy is obsessed by Biff's meeting with Bill Oliver and continues to give him advice. At the end of the act, Biff descends into the kitchen and removes the rubber tube from the gas mains. There is a sense of the morbid and ominous claustrophobia of the apartment as the act closes.
Act 2 Part 1 (c.1942)
Biff has gone to see Bill Oliver and Willy sleeps in late. Willy is in buoyant mood, considering buying some seeds (the audience is made to feel that this points to a non-suicidal frame of mind - he is planting something which he will harvest in the future). Linda reminds him that although they have bills to pay, the next payment on the mortgage will be their last, and finally they will own the house. Biff speaks to Linda on the telephone, and she tells him how happy Willy is.
Act 2 Part 2 (c.1942)
Willy is visiting Howard, the head of the Wagner Company, to ask for a job in New York. Howard tells Willy that he couldn't find him a place. Willy pleads with Howard, reminding him of his long service and the promises Howard's father had made to him. Willy gets angry and Howard departs. When Howard comes back in, Willy says he is quite happy to work in Boston. Howard rejects this and says that he can't represent the company anymore. He suggests that Willy might ask his sons for help. The changing world that excludes the dreaming salesman becomes clear to the audience.
Act 2 Part 3 (Dream)
Ben appears to Willy. He is in a terrible rush. Ben again offers Willy a job in Alaska, but Linda tells Willy that he has great prospects at the Wagner Company. Willy tries to explain to Ben the satisfaction he gets from his job:
"that's the wonder, the wonder of this country, that a man can end with diamonds here on the basis of being liked!" Ben leaves as Willy becomes increasingly hysterical.
Act 2 Part 4 (c.1928)
The young Bernard rushes in. They are all going to watch Biff in his big football game. Charley and Willy argue.
Act 2 Part 5 (c.1942)
Willy has gone to visit Charley in the City. Bernard's secretary tells him that Willy is outside talking to himself. Bernard shows many signs of affluence and Willy asks him what the secret is. He wonders why Biff couldn't make a success of himself. Bernard remembers that once Biff went to visit Willy in Boston. When he came back, the two fought a great deal and Biff seemed unhappy. Willy tells Bernard not to talk like that.
Act 2 Part 6 (c.1942)
Charley enters and tells Willy that Bernard is going to the Supreme Court to plead a case. Charley offers Willy a job, but Willy refuses, saying that he already has one. Willy finally confesses to having been sacked, and Charley again offers him a job, and tells him that being well-liked is not that important. Willy says that a man is worth more dead than alive. Charley gives Willy some money to pay his insurance and Willy leaves.
Act 2 Part 7 (c.1942)
Happy and Biff eat together. Biff's meeting with Oliver was not a success. Oliver kept him waiting for six hours and then only spoke to him for one minute. Biff realized what a mess he had made of his life and how pointless it was trying to repair things. Biff wants to explain this to Willy, but Happy discourages him.
Act 2 Part 8 (c.1942)
Willy arrives at the restaurant. He is frantic to hear about Biff's interview. Willy tells the boys that he has been fired. He then imagines with what fondness Bill Oliver would have greeted Biff. Biff becomes angry declaring, "I can't talk to him!"
Act 2 Part 9 (c.1942)
The young Bernard appears in Willy's mind and reminds him the Biff failed maths. Willy accuses Biff of this and Biff becomes more and more frustrated, wanting to tell Willy what happened today. Two girls come and pick up Happy, who, as his name suggests, is a hedonist, living only for the moment. Willy hears a woman calling to him to come and open the door. Biff leaves and the girls and Happy follow him.
Act 2 Part 10 (c.1928 - c.1942)
Willy and a woman are in a hotel room in Boston. A knock on the door. It is Biff, coming to tell his father that he failed maths. The woman comes out and demands the stockings that Willy promised her. Willy pleads with Biff for understanding when the waiter interrupts in the present. Willy asks where he can buy some seeds.
Act 2 Part 11 (c.1942)
Biff and Happy arrive home with flowers for Linda. She is angry at the way they treat their father. Willy is outside in the garden planting seeds.
Act 2 Part 12 (c.1942)
Willy is planting and discussing with Ben the prospect of killing himself and leaving Linda the insurance money. Like the seeds in the garden, Willy wants to leave something tangible to his family. Willy talks about how glorious his funeral will be - people will come from all over New England.
Act 2 Part 13 (c.1942)
Biff comes out to see Willy. Willy wants to know about Bill Oliver and they argue. Willy tries to make amends. Biff breaks down.
Act 2 Part 14 c.1942)
Willy is amazed that Biff has cried. He now has great faith in Biff. Ben and Willy talk long into the night about the proposal. Willy turns to go inside. Ben reminds Willy:
"Time William, time."
A car drives off into the night.
Requiem
Willy's funeral. No one has come. Biff says that Willy had all of the wrong dreams. Linda waits by the graveside to bid her husband farewell.
"I made the last payment on the house today. Today, dear. And there'll be nobody home. We're free and clear. We're free… We're free…"