Once upon a time, playwright Arthur Miller (some time husband of Marilyn Monroe) set out to disprove one of the fundamental theories about the Tragic Hero — specifically, that the Tragic Hero must be royalty, nobility, or some other type of great man who has far to fall (which he does) and much to lose (which, again, he does). Miller intended to write a play with an Every Man, a low man, as the Tragic Hero. He may instead have created an entirely different archetype, the "pathetic hero". Either way, in doing so, he wrote what is often considered the greatest American play.Willy Loman is an aging, washed-up salesman obsessed with the concept of greatness and convinced that being liked is the most important thing. Biff is his younger but equally washed-up son, once a high school sports hero with a bright future, now a perennially unemployed loser. The play follows the family's attempts to make one last grab at the American Dream.It's a very stagy play, since it's from Willy's dreamy, hallucination-and-flashback-ridden perspective. They managed to turn it into a very faithful, satisfactory movie, with Dustin Hoffman as Willy and John Malkovich as Biff.
This play provides examples of the following tropes:
American Dream: Deconstructed as the pursuit of this is ultimately what leads to Willy and his sons' failures. In the end, Biff rejects the American Dream, convinced that it will only lead him to ruin.
Anachronic Order: The past and present get put in a blender, and set to puree. There aren't even any scene changes between them, just sepia-toned or other lighting switching on. This is probably because Willy is starting to go insane.
Also, the actors stop caring about the walls in flashbacks.
An Aesop: You don't have to follow the American Dream, just find something you want to do and be good at it.
Fatal Flaw: Willy is in love with a dream and never recognizes that it doesn't match up to reality. He obsesses over irrelevancies and his own (prominent, but ultimately meaningless) flaws rather than the false promises of society that lead him to where he is.
Flashback Effects: The stage instructions explain how Willy's imagination works on stage.
"Whenever the action is in the present the actors observe the imaginary wall-lines, entering the house only through its door at the left. But in the scenes of the past these boundaries are broken and characters enter or leave a room by stepping 'through' a wall onto the fore-stage."
Some readers, however, expect the title to be a metaphor, or otherwise consider it too obvious of a giveaway, so they will get mad if you ruin the surprise.
I Coulda Been A Contender: Willy is convinced that he could have been running the New York office if his old boss hadn't died.
Immediate Self Contradiction: Willy Loman falls prey to this trope, calling Biff a "lazy bum" and then later saying "There's one thing about Biff—he's not lazy."
Know When to Fold 'Em: Willy doesn't. He's really not cut out to be a salesman at all and would have had a far better life as a construction tradesman. On the other hand, this is the lesson that Biff learns by the end of the play.
Lonely Funeral: For Willy. He was liked... but not well-liked.
Meaningful Name: People frequently interpret Loman as "low man", but actually Miller took the name from The Testament of Dr. Mabuse: "What the name really means to me is a terror-stricken man calling into the void for help that will never come."
Willy's "hero" is salesman "Dave Singleman" who devotes his whole life to selling, living and dying a single man.
Subverted with "Happy" who never does seem to be truly happy.
The Minnesota Fats: Uncle Ben is this to Willy; he seems to symbolize "greatness" that way.
Tragic Hero: Unlike a Tragic Hero, Willy Loman is a "pathetic hero" because he learns nothing from his ordeal or mistakes, maintaining his belief in the power of popularity to the end, nor does his death somehow make life better for those he leaves behind (as his hallucination of his dead brother tells him, they won't honor his insurance policy in the case of a suicide). But because of the play's popularity, it took Miller years of defending his success in creating a Tragic Hero out of the common man to admit he failed with Willy Loman and that Biff really should have been the protagonist (especially since he does learn something).
Well Done Son Guy: Young Biff but he loses faith in his father, and in life, when he catches Willy in an affair.
Wham Line: "Pop, I'm a dime a dozen and so are you!"
Who's Laughing Now?: Bernard is, once he becomes a successful high-flying lawyer. Willy Loman, who once looked down on him, comes crawling to him for help.
Averted in that Bernard is not cruel or condescending, and gives Willy advice.
Yank the Dog's Chain: For just a moment, it looks like Biff is going to get a job and sort out his life. But no.
This turns out for the best though, since it helps him realize what he wants in life and not be trapped in a delusion like Willy.
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