Character analysis
The Woman
in Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller
The Woman is a minor yet significant character in Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman, appearing only in Willy Loman's fragmented memories instead of the play's current events. She works as a buyer's secretary in Boston and has been involved in an affair with Willy. Her character is largely defined by the moment when Biff catches her in Willy's hotel room. In that flashback, she comes out of the bathroom laughing and wearing the silk stockings Willy gave her—a detail that stings more since Linda is home mending her own old stockings. The Woman is shown as lively and flattering; she tells Willy he is "the saddest, self-helpingest man I ever did see," laughing freely and enjoying the attention and gifts he offers. She embodies Willy's desperate craving for outside approval and his readiness to jeopardize his family's financial stability (the stockings he gave her were intended for Linda) for a brief sense of significance. Her role in the play is almost purely symbolic: she stands as evidence of Willy's self-deception and moral downfall. When Biff sees her, the idealized image he has of his father is irreparably shattered, leading to the loss of ambition and direction that marks Biff's adult life. The Woman is provided no background or depth beyond this one scene; she functions in the narrative as a reflection of Willy's vanity and the consequences of his decisions.
Connected characters
- Willy Loman
The Woman is Willy's mistress in Boston. He courts her with silk stockings and charm, using the affair to feed his ego and feel like a man of consequence. She is the embodiment of his betrayal of Linda and the direct cause of his rupture with Biff.
- Biff Loman
Biff discovers The Woman in Willy's hotel room when he travels to Boston after failing math. The shock of this discovery destroys Biff's worship of his father and, by Miller's account, derails the entire trajectory of Biff's life — making her absence from the present action no less consequential.
- Linda Loman
The Woman never meets Linda, yet she is her dark counterpart. The silk stockings Willy gives The Woman are the same luxury he denies Linda, who must mend her own — a visual motif Miller uses to underscore Willy's misplaced priorities and Linda's quiet, unacknowledged sacrifice.