Willy Loman In the play, Loman reveals his past in scenes from his memory that the audience is challenged to judge for accuracy. Loman had succeeded in large part due to popularity, which is a value he attempted to instill in his sons. Although the play was performed earlier in Philadelphia, the February 10, 1949 Broadway opening is considered the debut and on February 11, Brooks Atkinson of "The New York Times" said the following: "Mr. Cobb's tragic portrait of the defeated salesman is acting of the first rank. Although it is familiar and folksy in the details, it has something of
Willy Roper he suffers a mental breakdown and refuses any contact with Pauline, which devastates her. Not content with putting Arthur in prison, Willy spends the beginning of 1996 trying to woo Pauline in his absence. Her son Mark Fowler is furious at the amount of time Willy and Pauline spend together, but Pauline finds Willy to be a great comfort and refuses to stop seeing him socially. Following his mother's death in April 1996, Willy asks Pauline to go on holiday to Jersey. Mark correctly figures out that his real motive is to put the stolen money in an off-shore account