Act One - Part 3
Willy
is then shocked back to reality and he laments how many people he meets just do
not like him very much, which is one of the reasons why he cannot sell very much
merchandise at all. Linda
discourages this negative talk and builds up Willy’s ego again.
To the side of the stage appears the image of another woman, who is
laughing and dressing herself. At
this image, Willy tells Linda that he misses her so much on the road, but then,
he and the other woman are caught in conversation, and she explains that she is
having an affair with Willy because he is such a joker.
She has to go, and thanks Willy for the gift of stockings, but Willy begs
her to stay. As her image fades,
Willy frantically tells Linda that he will make things up to her, but Linda does
not know about what he is talking. Willy
sees that Linda has been mending her old stockings and he snatches them away
from her, telling her that she deserves more than old stockings.
She puts them back in her pocket nonetheless.
Just
then Bernard comes again and looks for Biff to study.
He is saying that he cannot just give Biff the answers this time, since
this is a state exam and he could get in serious trouble.
Willy threatens to whip Bernard, and Linda attempts to agree with
Bernard, but Willy is outraged. He
says he does not want Biff to be a book worm like Bernard, but rather some one
with a lot of spirit and personality. As
Willy fades back to the current time, he is saying that he always told Biff
decent things.
In
the present time, Willy appears to have been talking to himself all this time.
Happy comes downstairs to see how Willy is doing, and Willy starts
talking about his brother Ben, who got rich by just walking into the jungle and
came out, at age 21, a complete success. Happy
tries to tell Willy that he will retire Willy and take care of him so that he no
longer has to work, but Willy scoffs at that idea, saying that Happy cannot even
take care of himself. Willy starts
to shout that he needed Happy that night, when he could not drive the car
anymore, but where was Happy then? Just then, their neighbor Uncle Charley walks in and asks if
everything is all right.
Charley
signals to Happy to leave them alone, and asks Willy if he wants to play cards. Charley offers Willy a job, but Willy is insulted and
refuses. Willy starts to talk about
his sons and how he has nothing to offer them, but Charley tries to tell him
that his boys will be okay. Charley
then tries to ask Willy about the ceiling he put up in the living room, but just
then, Willy’s brother Ben appears on the scene, a product of Willy’s
imagination.
Ben
is in a rush, but Willy tries to talk with him about his upcoming trip to
Alaska. Charley cannot understand why Willy is talking to someone
else who is not in the room. Willy
gets frustrated at Charley during the card game and tells Charley to leave.
When Charley is gone, Willy starts asking Ben a whole series of
questions, particularly about how he got so successful.
The whole family comes on stage to talk with Ben.
Willy asks Ben to tell them about their father, and Ben describes him as
a flute maker and salesman all over the country.
Willy is delighted, and boasts to Ben that he is raising his sons to be
rugged just like their father was. Ben
tells Biff to hit him in his stomach as hard as he can, but as soon as Biff gets
close, Ben trips him and Biff falls over. Ben
explains that Biff should never fight fair with a stranger, otherwise he will
never get out of the jungle that way. Ben
makes his way to leave, but Willy continues to try to prove himself, saying that
the boys and he will start to rebuild the stoop that very minute.
Happy asks again if Willy has noticed that lost weight, but again Willy
ignores him.
