Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller

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Death of a Salesmanby Arthur Miller

• Contexts for Consideration
• from http//www.teachit.co.uk

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CONTEXT OF THE PLAYWRIGHT

• Born Oct. 1915 in NY into Jewish Polish family
• 1929, during Depression, fathers business
  ruined, and family moved into house in Brooklyn
  (thought to be model for DoS house)
• Played (American) football in youth, worked in
  car warehouse to make money

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CONTEXT OF THE PLAYWRIGHT

• Attended U of Michigan, majored in English,
  presented w/playwriting award (along with
  Tennessee Williams)
• Returned to NY wrote for radio
• Married college sweetheart, had 2 children
• Exempt from being drafted into US Army because of
  injury
• Married Marilyn Monroe 1956, divorced 1961

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CONTEXT OF THE PLAYWRIGHT

• 1957 brought before US Committee on Un-American
  Activities, called to explain Communist
  tendencies Convicted of contempt for refusing to
  name names
• 1962 remarried
• 2005 died
• MAJOR PLAYS All My Sons, Death of a Salesman,
  The Crucible, A View from the Bridge, After the
  Fall

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CONTEXT OF THE AMERICAN DREAM

• Hard work-courage-determination combination will
  result in prosperityValues came to America with
  early European settlers and passed down thru
  generations
• 2nd half 19th century distinct possibility of
  fortune w/relatively little effort, as long as
  one could invest in land
• Early prospectors bought cheap land w. of Rockies
  in search of gold
• American Dream driving force in Gold Rush
  immigration that followed

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CONTEXT OF THE AMERICAN DREAM

• Irish Potato Famine, other problems in Europe
  encouraged mass migration to US
• People fled problems at home for freedom
  financial security they heard existed in US
• End of 19th, early 20th century real-life
  stories of figures such as John D Rockefeller
  emerging
• Humble beginnings
• Going on to control vast corporations and
  fortunes
• Successes suggested that talent, intelligence,
  willingness to work would make dreams come true

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CONTEXT OF THE AMERICAN DREAM

• Streets are paved with gold
• More legal immigrants each year into America than
  any other nation
• Drawn to work in industrial cities Chicago, New
  York, Detroit
• Depression
• Cause of major hardship to millions
• Seemed to be reverse of American Dream

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CONTEXT OF THE AMERICAN DREAM

• End of WW 2
• Young American families moved to suburbs to live
  life of perfect family
• Rise of hippie values in 1960s
• Rejected this ideal, but didnt kill it off
  entirely, especially among older generation

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AMERICAN DREAM--faults

• Misleadingimpossible for everyone to gain
  prosperity simply thru hard work determination
• Consequence those who do not achieve believe
  they are at fault
• Additionally, poor penalized because their
  poverty is seen as proof of their laziness
• Also, ignores fact that family one is born into,
  as well as traits such as natural intelligence,
  have bearing on potential success in life

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THEATRICAL CONTEXT

• 1947, Arthur Miller saw Streetcar Named Desire
• Impressed at mixture of realism and expressionism

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REALISM

• Artistic mvmt. started in France, 19th c.
• Sought to accurately portray characters,
  situations, problems
• Language close to natural conversation
• Costumes contemporary
• Sets 3-dimensional, lifelike
• Plays usu. about social problems

• Ibsen
• Chekhov
• Shaw

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EXPRESSIONISM

• Reaction to Realism, Began in 20th c.
• Sought to portray inner psychological life of
  characters
• Concentrated on subjective view of world rather
  than objective
• Plot, structure, characterisation less important
  than dialogue
• Lighting used to create atmosphere

• Williams
• ONeil
• Wilder
• Scandinavian playwrights

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Death of a Salesman as combination

• Reality of events, but also Willys turmoil
• Willys past experience acted out
• Appearances of characters from the past in
  Willys present
• Miller Not flashbacks literally that terrible
  moment when the voice of the past is no longer
  distant but quite as loud as the voice of the
  present
• There are no flashbacks in this play but only a
  mobile concurrency of past and present because
  in his desperation to justify his life Willy
  Loman has destroyed the boundaries between now
  and then.

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THEATRICAL CONTEXT--TRAGEDY

• Serious play which represents disastrous downfall
  of central character usu. protagonist dies
• Aristotle Action which is serious and complete,
  w/protagonist achieving catharsis (purification)
  thru incidents which arouse pity and terror
  Protagonist led to this point thru hamartia
  (error), which often takes form of hubris
  (excessive pride)

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THEATRICAL CONTEXT--TRAGEDY

• Traditionally, protagonist is of high status
• Protagonist has character defect or tragic flaw
  which brings about downfall
• TO WHAT EXTENT DO YOU CONSIDER DEATH OF A
  SALESMAN A MODERN TRAGEDY?