Act Two - Part 5
Willy’s
memories are interrupted by Stanley, the waiter, who tells him that the boys
have left the restaurant with the girls. Willy
calls Stanley a good boy and pays him, even though the boys have already paid
the bill, and then Willy asks if there is a store nearby where he can buy some
seeds. Stanley tells him of a
place, and Willy rushes off.
Biff
and Happy return to the house, to find an outraged Linda who tells them to pack
and leave the house for good. She
cannot understand how they can be so callous with Willy and how they could have
left him in the restaurant all by himself.
She accuses them of not caring whether or not Willy dies.
Biff insists on seeing him one last time, despite Linda’s protests.
She finally says that he is planting seeds in the garden.
Outside,
Willy is measuring the proper distance between seed plantings.
Ben appears to him and Willy starts telling him about his great twenty
thousand-dollar proposition (to kill himself and have Linda collect on the
policy), but Ben tells him that he might not get the money at all if the
insurance company will not honor it. Ben
says it might be considered a cowardly thing, but Willy says it is not, compared
to living the rest of his life and “ringing up a zero.”
Ben relents, saying that indeed $20,000 is something much more than $0.
Willy then starts talking about the funeral, which he expects people from
all over New England will attend, and he is hopeful that Biff will see the great
attendance and have to respect him. Biff
will no longer be able to be spiteful towards Willy, which Willy believes Biff
has been his whole life. Ben says
that Biff would nonetheless call Willy a coward, but then Ben leaves, saying
that he will think about Willy’s proposition.
Biff
comes outside and tells Willy that he is leaving, but unlike past times when he
has left in anger, he wants to go with Willy to tell Linda about what happened
and leave on a better note. Willy
still refuses to believe what Biff has been telling him and starts to ask about
his appointment with Bill Oliver. Willy
says he does not want to see Linda, and he quickly walks into the house to get
away from Biff. Biff follows him
and extends his arm to shake with Willy, saying good bye for good, but Willy
cannot shake his hand and instead keeps bringing up Bill Oliver.
Biff makes his way to leave, and Willy finally shouts after him that he
may rot in hell if he leaves the house. Biff
asks what Willy wants from him, and Willy starts shouting at him that Biff is so
hateful and says that Willy will not be to blame for Biff’s destruction.
At
this, Biff whips out the rubber house and tells Willy that he is laying
everything on the line. Willy tries
to pretend that he has never seen that before, but Biff is relentless, saying
that no one has any pity for Willy anymore and that it is finally time to face
the truth. He says that no one has
ever told the truth in this house for ten years.
Biff starts to fill every one in on his unfortunate situations in the
past, saying that he has stolen himself out of every good job he has ever had.
Moreover, when he stole the pen, he finally realized what a fake he was
being, since he does not want to be a salesman at all, yet he has kidded himself
for too long. Willy gets extremely
outraged at Biff, and they look like they are really to attack each other, but
Happy stands in the middle of them.
Biff
finally breaks down and tells his father that he is nothing and why can Willy
not see that? He starts to cry,
holding on to Willy, saying that he is what he is and no more.
Willy is dumbfounded to see Biff crying and holding on to him.
Biff manages to tell Willy that he should burn his phony dreams before
something awful happens, and then he rushes to his room.
Willy is shocked at what has just happened, and he is suddenly happy to
know that Biff has loved him all this time.
Willy had thought all this time that Biff was being intentionally hateful
towards him, but now he thinks that Biff will be magnificent.
Ben
reappears and says that the $20,000 proposition is feasible, and Willy is
delighted, since $20,000 will make Biff even more magnificent.
Happy and Linda head up to bed, with Happy mentioning again how he will
do good with his life and get married and run the department where he works.
Linda does not want to leave Willy alone, but Willy tells her he will be
right up. All the while, in the
background, Ben is reminding Willy that it is time to do the deed.
Willy
goes outside and starts mumbling to himself, telling Biff how he should play
football and then talking to the audience for a short time.
He is interrupted by Linda’s calling, which shocks him into
accomplishing his task. There is the sound of
speeding car driving away from the house.
Soon, Happy, Biff, and Linda realize what has happened (Willy has killed
himself) and then don mourning clothes and stare at an imaginary grave in the
middle of the stage.
