Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller

Death of a Salesman raises many issues, not only of artistic form but also of thematic content. Dramatically speaking, the play represents Arthur Miller's desire to modernize the tragedy of Aristotle described in the Poetics. Aristotle held that tragedy portrayed the downfall of a king or noble, whose fall from grace was the result of a tragic flaw—generally held to be hubris, or an excessive amount of pride. Miller, on the other hand, believes that tragedy—or the individual's desire to realize his or her destiny—is not solely the province of royalty (Dukore, 59). It also belongs to the common man—in this case the “low man,” as in Willy Loman.

On its most basic grade, Death of a Salesman depicts the disintegration of Willy's character as he desperately searches for the instant in his memory when his world started to disclose. The play's activity is propelled mainly by Willy's volcanic relationship with grown child Biff, who is every inch the failure that his dad is. Willy's grandiose dreams of happiness and material success conflict with the reality of his failures as a salesman, as a husband to his wife Linda, and as a father to his two boys, Biff and Happy (Murphy, 33). The alternation between present activity and presentations of Willy's delusional “memories” types the play's thematic center.

Chief among these themes is an indictment of the capitalist nature of the American Dream—the belief that through the pioneer virtues of hard work, perseverance, ingenuity, and fortitude, one might find happiness through wealth. Implicit within this dream, however, is the assumption that money leads to fulfillment, regardless of the type of work that one does in order to attain it (Miller, 18). While Willy himself was never successful as a salesman, he remains confident that his son Biff ...