"Death of a Salesman"

By Jonas Kleine, Sofia Semenova, and Lydia Bauer

Adaptation:

Willy – tired from travelling long distances – visits Howard (employer) to ask for a single working spot in New York City, accepting the consequence of a lower salary

-at first, Howard nearly ignores Willy, paying more attention to his new recorder which he boasts of
-when it gets to Willy’s issue, Howard explains calmly there is no such solitary spot for Willy -Willy first begs Howard to understand his situation; when Howard refuses again, Willy gets desperate trying to convince Howard with his long history in the company
-Willy tells the story of how he got into business met his idol, then being a salesman became his big dream
-when Willy finally realizes Howard is not willing to help him prepares for another trip -instead, Howard reveals to Willy he was going to fire him
-Willy is shocked, does not want to give up his job because he is the breadwinner of the family and needs the job to survive
-Howard does not care, leaves the room with the excuse of him having an urgent meeting -Willy is left alone in the office, becoming smaller and smaller in his chair, then the spot goes out

Outward appearance

Howard:
36 years old
wears a wedding band
expensively dressed, well-cut suit; hand-made shoes; short, perfectly styled hair; well-shaved; expensive watch --> he can afford it; proud of what he achieved; wants to show his reliability to possible customers
cliché of the perfect business man
very smooth, no distinctive features, one of many business man --> a similar scene could happen anywhere (in any economic branch) at the moment
looks relaxed, nearly bored, is disturbed by Willy

Willy:
60 years old
wears an old fashioned but tidy-looking suit facial expression: tired and exhausted

The office
* two black leather chairs facing each other over a well-polished, sterile-looking desk in the middle of the room --> impersonality of the relationship between boss and employee, the desk as a barricade between them
* an untouched glass of water --> brought by the secretary
* family portrait on his desk, everybody smiling, Howard puts an arm around his wife --> image of the perfect family in contrast to Willy’s life
* a small flower in a vase as an attempt to brighten the room
* small silver plaque stating “Howard Wagner, CEO”
* very impersonal, sparely furnished room
* big window showing the best view of a city’s skyline (New York or Frankfurt/Berlin/Hamburg for a contemporary German audience) representing all the possibilities Howard can still reach and which are locked for Willy
* no music, but the constant ticking of an alarm clock on Howard’s desk
* people’s voices and the ringing of a phone can be heard in the background from behind the office door --> to show Howard’s importance, the way time is valuable in business life
* the sky is clouded, looks very grey; there is nothing special about the weather as it is just an everyday situation for Howard
* soft mist starts during the scene as it is raining to show Willy’s hopelessness, desperation

Lighting
-cold, dimmed light (with a hint of blue in it); cold, impersonal atmosphere -light only includes the area of the table; rest of the stage is not lit
-by the end of the scene the stage is dark, only one cold bright spot on Willy

Way of acting:

Howard:
voice: mid-low, stable, bugged undertone, dominance by raising his volume
body language: sincere but friendly facial expression and gestures; keeps distance by leaning back in his chair; having his phone or a pen in his hands all the time
superior role --> interrupting Willy; being busy all the time

Whole image
-young businessman who has worked his way up, but is looking into an even more successful future
-sympathetic, but a long distance to his employees (which Willy represents here) remains
- always in a rush, being busy with the company

Willy:
voice: rough, quiet and shaky at the beginning --> needs to restart sentences, over use of „look“ „well“, filled with despair in the end, almost begging
body language: dominated by insecurity, „playing with his hands“ , needs to brace himself on a chair (tiredness)

Whole image
-old disillusioned man seeking for help from his employer
contrast to Howard: not self-confident; being aware of his lower position refers to the issue of old workers being dismissed from the job market, not appreciated; Howard representing the bright flourishing future; Willy representing the “dying” old generation without opportunities
-tired, hoping to find some rest in a fixed working spot

Analysis:

One crucial topic of Arthur Miller’s play is the critique about the achievement-orientated society. He illustrates it as a society in which people are working their fingers to the bones to achieve something but in fact are only used to make profit. This issue is expressed in the scene when Willy visits his boss Howard in his office to ask for a favour for the first time during his work in the company, but is instead fired – despite of all his efforts in support of the company for several decades. As work in Germany is more and more underappreciated we thought that precisely this provocative scene clearly underlines the fact that the German society is turning into a society of ignorance on the social needs of people.

The scene takes place in a bright office with many windows and a big desk; it should create the picture of a stereotypical Western society’s office. There is no specification what branch of the economy this office belongs to because the scene in our interpretation could take place in any branch of the economy: in a hospital, a bank, a car company or anything else – the message provided by this scene affects many areas on the job market. The setting and characters should leave as much identification-potential as possible.

There are a few props in the office which will be explained in the following lines: The sterile furnishing is meant to underline the impersonality at the working space, the desk between both actors is meant to build up a metaphorical barricade to underline the distance between both parties. Through the windows one can see the skyline of a typical German city; as it is Howard’s office it highlights the fact that the world and all its opportunities are open to him. A constant ticking of an alarm clock is heard, which produces a stressed atmosphere and depicts that time is running out for Willy as well as it shows the permanent time pressure in modern societies.

The two acting characters are representing opposite sides of the working world, their way of acting and their outward appearance shall underline their certain roles.

Therefore Willy Loman is representing the usual working man; his job is not specified in any detail, so that everyone can identify with him. His whole picture is that of an old, failed man seeking for help from his employer, demanding something from him for the first time. His distinctive self-consciousness realized by his shaky voice and his body language conveys his inferiority towards Howard. Moreover it is a symbol for the distance between employer and employee which is also underlined by the fact that although both characters have known each other for a long time the say “Mr. Loman” and “Mr. Wagner”. Furthermore his doubtful behaviour shows that even Willy knows that his demand is unlikely to be achieved, demonstrating that it is not self-evident anymore that companies care about their workers. His old suit is on one hand an expression of the old man being passed by the modern times and is moreover an allusion to his issue of Willy not being able to adapt to the present as he is a man who is permanently floating in nostalgia, withdrawing from reality.

Howard Wagner is representing the bosses of today’s Western societies: self-confident, knowing what they want and profit-oriented. The fact that he is also a loving father and husband is highlighted by the photos of his family and his warm appeal seen on these photos. This double-sided characterization shows that loving and caring people in private life can act in inhumane ways in their jobs and is highlighting that compassion, human feelings and even moral values are only present in familial circles but hardly in economy. During the whole scene Howard is not really interested in Willy’s demands; he is checking documents and typing on his smart phone which supports the image of a company that is not interested in the well-being or sorrows of its members. The recurrent interruptions he makes are supporting his superior role.

When Howard goes for his meeting Willy is left alone in the office, the light goes out and there is just one spot on Willy who now stands alone and broken in the dark. This picture is a metaphor for the helplessness in which employees are often left in today’s Western societies. After a few seconds this spot goes out as well hinting that Willy gave up all his hope and will commit suicide in the end of the play.