Act Two: Key Events 5-6 Quotes
English Lit: AQA A Level Death of a Salesman, topic 11.2.9
Act Two: Key Events 5-6
Here are two quotations showing key events in Act Two:
Key quotation 5
- Biff rages as he could not see Bill Oliver.
- “I even believed myself that I’d been a salesman for him! And then he gave me one look and - I realized what a ridiculous lie my whole life has been. We’ve been talking in a dream for fifteen years. I was a shipping clerk.”
- Like Willy in the previous scene, Biff has undergone a moment of self-realisation, now able to see the “lie” and “dream” he has blindly accepted.
Key quotation 6
- When Biff tries to explain what happened with Bill Oliver, Willy gets angry and starts hearing voices in his head:
- “I’m not in my room!... I’m not there, stop it!”
- As Miller himself said, Willy is now “at that terrible moment where the voice of the past is… as loud as the voice of the present.”
Test yourself on Act Two: Key Events 5-6 Quotes
Who is talking to Willy at this moment?
“I’m not in my room!... I’m not there, stop it!”