Did Doyle want to Die? (Spoilers)

Good question...
I don't think he had a deathwish although it's obvious he hated his life.
He was an alcoholic with a low self esteem and to compensate for it, he was an incredible prick.
I think his serene attitude at the end of the movie was because he was so drunk that he was on the verge of passing out.

The idiot Doyle made a point to say that he wasn't afraid of anything or anybody, especially 'retards'. He is so used to cowing people that he doesn't believe Karl would actually do it.

I was confused too by what seemed like his acceptance of the death.

He's an aggressive jerk who lashes out at all around him.
He clearly thought Karl was a menace (the hammer incident).

So why on earth when someone holding a HUGE knife says that he's going to kill him - did he make NO MOVE or not scream at all?

That made no sense to me.

There's nothing to suggest that Doyle was actively suicidal, but you're right that there's a certain streak of self-loathing in his tantrums (especially after his fight with the band members).

Most likely, the reasons for Doyle being so passive before being killed by Karl were A) extreme drunkenness and B) not taking Karl seriously as a threat. In the case of B, we really can't blame a man for not taking a deadpan "I aims to kill you with [the mower blade'" at face value, especially when drunk.

I watched this movie yesterday, after having seen it several times in the past, and wondered about that too. However, I do not think the character of Doyle had a death wish. I believe he considered Karl 100% harmless (at least to him)and the hammer scene just reinforced Doyle's conviction that Karl was a harmless simpleton, who feared him too much to ever try anything. Karl himself says to Frank "Doyle would just whup the tar out of me".
Doyle knew Karl worked on lawnmowers, so Karl having the blade wasn't great cause for alarm for the drunked up Doyle. I also do not think that Doyle genuinely felt his life was crummy, he considered himself a bigshot construction man and I think the stress he referred to was mostly just a made-up excuse to drink and be an a-hole. At one point Doyle tells Frank and his mom that he just came by to "give them a little dose of sunshine or happiness in their lives"..or something to that effect. Doyle may have been delusional haha.
The scene at the house with his band does kind of lend to the speculation that perhaps all wasn't well with Doyle's mental make-up. Interesting character study.

I also noticed for the first time yesterday that in the final sequence of events before Karl kills Doyle, everyone that Karl talks to says out his name, "Karl..." as Karl leaves with no response. Mrs Wheatley, as she visits with Karl in the yard returning with the fried chicken for Doyle says it, Frank says it as Karl gives him his books and leaves him in the woods, and Vaughan says it when Karl pays him a final visit and tell's him "that boy lives inside of his own heart", and then Doyle's last word was "Karl..". kind of a delayed observation on my part. What does it mean?

Almost all of the characters are interesting. Of course, none moreso than Karl.
When Karl returns to his childhood home, the music and photography is hauntingly captivating. Karl tells his father "I studied on killin you- studied it a good deal" which is interesting because he already has killed his mother and is about to kill Doyle. So, while Karl is basically good, he is bad, too. Something that he is made aware of by Frank, who reminds Karl that the Bible says you will go to hell if you kill. Maybe that is why he decides to go ahead and kill Doyle- since he figures he's already headed to Hades. Maybe that should be more obvious to me. I don't know. Very good movie though. A movie where you could probably connect all the dots in several different ways and still be right.

I believe Doyle was very drunk at the time and therefore sedated and calm. Also, up until the moment, I don't believe he EVER expected Karl to actually do it, but just stand there like he did before with the hammer. After all, Karl had never done anything before other than warn Doyle not to touch Frankie, which provoked a verbal attack by Doyle that kept Karl quiet and Doyle satisfied that he had the "retard" under his thumb. The rising of his voice in a questioning/warning way before Karl hits him tells me that Doyle, at the last moment, knew something was going to happen to him.

Either way, Billy Bob Thornton and Dwight Yoakam did an EXCELLENT job in that scene.

A nice point but could you perhaps not put spoilers in the subject title? Just because you put (spoiler) after telling the ending doesn't mean you've somehow not spoiled the film!

He did not want to die. He was drunk with slow thought processes and reflexes.