1. Know more about the characters. Choose from the following words or expressions to complete the character sketches on Willy & Biff.
Willy Loman is 1) who believes that success comes from being well liked, and he 2) this belief in his sons, Biff and Happy, who were his brightest hopes in life. Although Willy encouraged their success, he 3) to instill any sense of integrity or morality in the boys, and it leads to their ultimate failure in his eyes. As Willy grows older and realizes that he has failed to meet his own 4) as a salesman, his life seems wasted. His sons are 5) ; he’s no longer able to provide for his family; no one knows him anymore, and he feels like 6) . He decides that the best thing he can do for his family is to award them the money from his life insurance policy by killing himself.
Biff Loman is Willy’s 7) . As the oldest son, Biff is the personification of all of Willy’s dreams, and as a teenager, he 8) his father. Biff was everything Willy wanted him to be — star athlete, popular with the girls, well liked all around. Willy ignored his petty 9) because he was a hometown hero. Being well liked wasn’t enough to help Biff graduate from high school; failing his math class was the beginning of his adult failures, and his inability to hold a job. When Biff went to Boston to tell his father that he wasn’t graduating and found Willy with another woman. This 10) Biff’s image of his father; Willy’s successful life has only been a lie. Their relationship 11) . As an adult, Biff 12) from job to job, a failure in Willy’s eyes; after Biff comes home and ruins another opportunity for success, he realizes that his life has been a lie; he no longer wants to become something he’s not.
2. Fill in the blanks with proper Stage Directions and act the following scene out with your partner paying particular attention to the stage directions.
Stage Direction: Part of the script of a play that tells the actors how they are to move or to speak their lines.