Scene 1

Info

• page: 74-80
• place: the house of the Lomans in Brooklyn, New York
• time: in the morning
• people: Linda and Willy Loman

Content

• The Loman couple is having breakfast and their sons have already left to meet Oliver for business. Willy feels reborn and is in good spirits. He starts making plans for the future with Linda, among other things he would like to buy a house with land and also his sons Biff and Happy should get a home of their own
• The protagonist also plans to meet his boss Howard that day to ask for a transfer to the office. Willy seems in good spirits that Howard will grant him the office job. Linda points out to her husband that he should ask for an advance on his salary since they are broke again
• Willy learns from his wife that Biff is inviting him to dinner. The father is very happy about the invitation of his son and can hardly wait until the evening
• Meanwhile, Willy has left and Linda takes a call from Biff, who tells her he is still waiting for Oliver. The mother doesn't elaborate on her son's message but tells him that Willy is already feeling better today and asks Biff to be especially nice to his father at dinner

Scene 2

Info

• page: 81-90
• place: Howards office
• time: at daytime
• people: Willy Loman, Howard

Content

• Willy makes good on his announcements to ask his boss Howard for a job in the office today and shows up at his boss's office a little later. Howard, however, is very busy; he has bought a new recording device and is more interested in playing Willy the recordings of his family than in listening to his employee's request
• After Howard has gone on at length about the advantages of the recorder, it occurs to him that Willy is supposed to be in Boston on a business trip
• Willy sees this as an opportunity to ask for a transfer to the office, noting that he is getting too old for the long trips across the country. Howard, however, has no sympathy for the older gentleman and claims that all the positions in the office have already been filled and that he cannot use Willy in the bureau
• Willy responds to Howard's dismissive attitude by dredging up some long-ago anecdotes. For one thing, Howard was an infant when Willy was already working in the company, and for another, it was still possible for a salesman in his day to sell a lot from home, so that one didn't have to leave one's own four walls when he became old
• Willy's boss can't sympathize with his employee's confused tales of the good old days. Under the pretext of still having appointments, he leaves Willy. Willy thinks of Howard's father Frank, who in his opinion was a much better boss than Howard. While he's musing, he accidentally turns on the recording device, and since he can't turn it off by himself, Howard has to come back and turn it off
• Willy realizes that he can't change his boss's mind, so he suggests that he go to Boston after all. Howard, however, fires the longtime employee because he no longer trusts Willy to adequately represent the company. The boss also remarks that the Loman sons could take care of their father in the future and that Willy should soon bring back the company's sales products

Scene 3

Info

• page: 90-93
• place: Howard's office, the house of the Lomans in Brooklyn, New York
• time: at daytime
• people: Linda, Willy and Biff Loman, Uncle Ben

Content

• Willy, who is shocked and at the same time resigned by his boss's dismissal, remains pensive in the office. His brother Ben asks him to accompany him to Alaska, he'd need some support
• Linda, who tells Willy about his new plans to travel to Alaska with Uncle Ben, tries to talk her husband out of this plan. She reminds Willy that he once dreamed of making a fortune as a salesman with just a few phone calls a day
• Biff and Happy enter the scene and Willy takes Biff's promising career as a professional athlete as an example that being a successful businessman in life is all about popularity and connections
• Ben leaves the scene

Scene 4

Info

• page: 93-96
• place: the house of the Lomans in Brooklyn, New York
• time: at daytime
• people: Willy, Biff and Happy Loman, Bernard, Charley

Content

• Once again, Willy finds himself daydreaming, transported back to a shared experience with his sons and Bernard
• It's an important and crucial football match from Biff, which Willy is watching with Happy and Bernard. Bernard wants to dress like Biff so that he will not be denied entry to the stadium later
• Willy tells biff to give everything because it is a very important match. The young football player promises his father to dedicate a touchdown only to his father
• Charley, the neighbour, appears and ridicules Willy's son's upcoming game. He says that the pitch will certainly be closed and that he would rather play cards with Willy
• Willy then emphasises once again that Biff will become a promising professional footballer

Scene 5

Info

• page: 96-101
• place: Charleys office
• time: during the daytime
• people: Willy Loman, Bernard

Content

• Shortly after Howard gives Willy notice, Willy goes to Charley's office to borrow some money. By chance, the protagonist meets Charley's son Bernard, who now has his own family and a lucrative job
• Willy engages Bernard in a conversation about his success and asks his son's former classmate why Bernard and not Biff have become successful
• Bernard replies that he never understood why Biff never attended summer school despite his poor grades. He also says that it seems to him that Willy had a bad influence on Biff's performance. As Biff's classmate, Bernard continues, he had the impression that Biff did not lack passion or ambition
• Willy reacts dismissively to this accusation and seems to have his mind elsewhere. Then, however, he behaves very snottily towards Bernard, so that one can assume that he must have perceived the side blow

Scene 6

Info

• page: 101-105
• place: Charleys office
• time: during the day
• people: Willy Loman, Charley, Bernard

Content

• In the meantime, Charley has also turned up and doesn't miss the opportunity to proudly mention that his son works as a lawyer at the Supreme Court
• Bernard's professional success makes a great impression on Willy and after Bernard leaves Willy wonders why Bernard himself did not tell him about working at the Supreme Court
• The neighbour does not like the fact that Willy wants to borrow more money than usual from Charley. Instead, he repeatedly offers Loman a job for which he does not even have to leave the house. Although Willy had asked his boss Howard for exactly such a job shortly before, he turns down Charley's offer. Charley cannot and will not understand Willy's defiant behaviour and gets suitably upset about it
• Willy then tells his neighbour that, incomprehensibly for him, he has just been fired. Charley tells Loman that a salesman's impression is not everything, but that salesmanship also plays a significant role. He then offers Willy another job, but Willy refuses again
• The scene ends with Charley giving the stubborn Willy his money before the protagonist leaving the scene

Scene 7

Info

• page: 105-113
• place: a restaurant
• time: evening
• people: Happy and Biff Loman

Content

• Before Willy joins his sons Biff and Happy for dinner together, Happy is already helping the restaurant staff arrange the tables and ordering lobster and champagne
• A woman appears who introduces herself to Happy as a model and whom he tries to win over. To give a better impression, Happy claims he is a champagne salesman
• Biff arrives at the restaurant but is not interested in making Happy's acquaintance, and so the brothers soon turn their attention to Oliver, whom they've initially had planned to meet
• Biff reports to his brother that he has waited in vain for six hours outside the office of the businessman Oliver. When Oliver finally left his office, he bumped into Biff, whom he could no longer remember as a former employee. Frustrated by the failed meeting, Biff steals Oliver's fountain pen and then takes off
• However, the meeting did bring about a realisation in Biff: he had never been a salesman and it had now also become clear to him why no one had ever wanted to lend him money. He was simply not cut out for this kind of job and now he had to come to terms with that
• Happy tries to dissuade Biff from telling her father what a failure the meeting with Oliver was and instead suggests telling the father that the meeting has been postponed until tomorrow

Scene 8

Info

• page: 113-124
• place: a restaurant
• time: evening
• people: Willy, Biff and Happy Loman, two women

Content

• When Willy enters the restaurant, Biff doesn't want to delay the inevitable for long and over a double scotch he wants to tell his father directly about the disastrous meeting with Oliver
• When Biff tries to make his father understand that he was an unimpressive employee for Oliver and not a promising businessman, Willy rebuffs him. He only wants to hear the good news that evening, as he has already had enough bad news that day due to his dismissal
• Biff nevertheless tries to convey the facts as truthfully as possible, but Happy repeatedly intervenes in the conversation and softens the true circumstances in such a way that in the end Willy only hears what he wants to hear
• Biff becomes displeased at the unplanned turn of the conversation, as he wanted to confront his father with the truth, but Willy is already back in one of his daydreams and completely absent-minded
• In his daydream, Bernard comes to Lomans to tell Linda that Biff, having failed his maths exam, is now on his way to Boston to see Willy
• Biff, who in the meantime has told the true version of the meeting with Oliver, finishes his story just as Willy wakes up from his reverie. When Willy asks where his son got the noble fountain pen, the latter answers truthfully that he stole it from Oliver. Willy, who is becoming increasingly confused and can hardly distinguish reality from dreams, does not notice his son's answer
• When Biff realises that his father is absent, he begins to tell him Happy's made-up version of the lie about the meeting with Oliver. However, he also remarks that he will not be able to attend the "postponed" meeting tomorrow because he has stolen the pen. Father Loman then becomes very angry because he considers the meeting between the two men to be extremely important and father and son argue with each other once again
• Two women sit down at the table of the three men, who turn out to be prostitutes. Willy's confused state worsens and he thinks he recognises "the Woman" in one of the women. Barely in control of his senses, he asks for the bathroom and Biff shows him the way
• Biff, who returns to the table with his brother Happy, accuses him of inaction in the difficult situation with their father. After Biff has left the restaurant, Happy justifies his brother's behaviour towards the two women as exhaustion but also gets up to go after Biff

Scene 9

Info

• page: 124-130
• place: a restaurant
• time: evening
• people: Willy Loman

Content

• In this scene, Willy is in a daydream in the bathroom of the restaurant. He imagines himself in a hotel room with the unknown woman he has dreamt of before
• When there is a knock at the door, Willy takes his lover into the bathroom and is surprised to find Biff standing at the door
• In Willy's dream, the schoolboy Biff asks his father to put in a good word for him with his maths teacher, as he had failed the exam with just 4 points too low
• Biff suspects that the teacher has it in for him because he once aped him and the teacher overheard this

Scene 10

Info

• page: 130-134
• place: a restaurant, the house of the Lomans in Brooklyn, New York
• time: evening
• people: Willy Loman, Stanley

Content

• After Willy has woken up from his daydream again in the restaurant, Stanley helps him to his feet. Willy gives him another dollar with the comment that he doesn't need the money now, then asks for a shop that sells flower seeds and leaves
• Shortly afterwards, Biff and Happy arrive at home (it is the late evening). Happy has flowers with him and walks around the house. After a while he finds Linda. But she doesn't want the flowers and throws them on the floor. She accuses them both of not being interested in how Willy is doing. She finds it repulsive that Biff and Happy just left and left Willy in the restaurant. Linda does not want them to go to Willy again and makes it clear that they are no longer welcome in the house
• Biff, however, insists on talking to Willy. He then hears him outside and Linda explains that Willy is working in the garden in the middle of the night

Scene 11

Info

• page: 134-138
• place: the house and garden of the Lomans in Brooklyn, New York
• time: morning
• people: Linda and Willy Loman

Content

• While Biff and Happy are in the house talking to Linda, Willy is in the garden sowing seeds for vegetables. He imagines he is talking to Ben, but this time it is not a simple memory of an earlier conversation. The whole dialogue is created anew in Willy's head
• Willy talks about how he has a "plan" that will bring in a lot of money - 20,000 dollars (a lot at 50 dollars a week). The reader is first left in the dark as to what exactly this plan is, although it can already be guessed at: Willy wants to kill himself and thus send the premium from his life insurance policy to his family
• With this in mind, Ben also points out that the bonus might not be paid in full. He also advises not to make it look too stupid or too cowardly because that could be taken negatively by Biff
• Soon after, Biff appears. He tries to make it clear to Willy that he is leaving now and will not be coming back. Since he and Willy have always broken up in the past, he wants to make it as peaceful as possible this time. After some urging, Willy is finally persuaded to come to Linda's house

Scene 12

Info

• page: 138-147
• place: the house of the Lomans in Brooklyn, New York
• time: during the day
• people: Linda, Willy, Biff and Happy Loman

Content

• The scene now changes to the Lomans' house, where Biff, Linda and Willy are. Later, Happy also appears. Biff explains to Willy that he will leave and not come back. He thinks that this will be the best thing for Willy. He should just forget about him completely and maybe, in time, get his worries out of his head. Linda also agrees that this is the right thing to do
• Only Willy looks at things a little differently. For him, it's as if Biff were throwing his life away as soon as he left. He would make himself an inhuman if he voluntarily lived like a commoner. But Willy goes further: Biff would put a knife through his heart if he left. Biff would also be full of contempt towards him
• In return, Biff accuses Willy of having no idea who his sons are. He suggests that he is more of a person who wants to work in the open air and that this became clear to him shortly after the visit to Bill Oliver. He is not much of a leader of people, he says, but just someone you employ for a dollar an hour - and Willy, in his view, also belongs to this class of people
• Biff breaks down crying shortly afterwards. He begs Willy to finally give up his dream of having a big, successful son - to set him free, so to speak
• After Biff has gone to his room, his father realizes that his son must love him very much. Willy comes to this conclusion because Biff started crying when he tried to convince his father that he had no great plans as a salesman in him
• Although the protagonist is touched by his son's emotional reaction, he does not seem to want to give up the dream of the "successful Biff" and continues to ponder it in his imagination
• In his daydreaming, Willy's brother Ben appears to him and confirms that Biff will soon be a rich man - but only because of the life insurance policy Willy has taken out. Furthermore, Ben hints that further drastic steps are now needed to make Biff inherit life insurance. Between the lines, he means that someone would have to commit suicide for the insurance to be paid out in the first place
• Willy's wife realises that her husband is once again in a reverie and wants to join him in the bedroom. Loman asks his wife to go ahead and he will join her in a moment. As a farewell, he kisses Linda one more time
• When Willy is alone with Ben, he reassures his brother that he wants to take the necessary step for his son Biff and that Biff will appreciate his father's sacrifice
• The protagonist euphorically starts walking towards the outside of the house. Suddenly he notices that Ben has disappeared, which scares him a little. Nevertheless, he gets into the car and drives off, accompanied by the frightened shouts of Linda and Biff. In the next shot, the Lomans are seen getting ready for the funeral and standing in front of Willy's grave