Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller

Introduction

Death of a Salesman is a modern tragedy depicting the last days in the life of Willy Loman. When the action occurs in the present, the drama is realistic, both psychologically and emotionally. When the action is set in the past, however, the drama becomes dreamlike. Thus, in the scenes in which Willy's sons, Biff and Happy, are in high school, only Willy can see them.

Discussion

Death of a Salesman raises many issues, not only of artistic form but also of thematic content. Dramatically speaking, the play represents 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, 35) believes that tragedy—or the individual's desire to realize his or her destiny—is not solely the province of royalty. It also belongs to the common man—in this case the “low man,” as in Willy Loman.

Willy's tragic flaw stems from the fact that he has misinterpreted the American Dream, the belief that one can rise from rags to riches. For Willy, the success of that dream hinges on appearance rather than on substance, on wearing a white collar rather than a blue one. It is this snobbery, combined with a lack of practical knowledge that leads to his downfall.

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. While Willy himself was never successful as a salesman, he remains confident that his son Biff will be able to make it big in business because of his good looks and his past glory as a high school football star. Willy makes the error of celebrating popularity over know-how, style over substance. He taught Biff that being “well-liked” would carry the day, thus ignoring the damaging truth that Biff's habit of petty theft—whether it was lumber from a nearby construction site or a football from the locker room—would ultimately lead to the boy's downfall (Miller, 36).

The way in which this theme informs the ...