preview

Death Of A Salesman Compare And Contrast Essay

Decent Essays
Open Document

Death of a Salesman is a play written by Arthur Miller in 1949. In 1966 CBS created a film adaptation of the play. The plot is centered on Willy Loman, an aging salesman who starts to lose his sanity at the end of his career. Willy starts having hallucinations of people and events that have happened in his life. After losing his job, Willy ends up taking his own life to leave behind a pecuniary life insurance payout of $20,000 to his family. The characters’ dialogue is nearly the same in both the Miller and CBS version of the play. However, the actors speak their lines with certain emotions that cannot be properly expressed in writing alone. The appearance of the performers communicated even more information that is not mentioned in the written …show more content…

At the beginning of act two, Willy wakes up to a promising day for him and his sons. He is dressed in a neat black suit and tie. However, Willy suffers several failures and disappointments throughout the day. By the time he is contemplating suicide at the end of the act, Willy’s suit is ruffled, wrinkled, or removed. His slovenly appearance reflects the bedlam occurring in his mind. On the other hand, Charley and Howard are both wearing tidy brown suits. The difference in their appearances highlights the contrasts of mental states between Willy and the two men. Charley and Howard are both sane, accomplished men with successful families. The actors’ facial expressions portray additional information about characters not explicitly stated in the written version of the play. Willy constantly looks disoriented or distracted, and he can never seem to focus on anybody. This gives the impression of a disarrayed mind in a deteriorating state. During the requiem, Linda has a terrible look of grief on her face when she is kneeling over Willy’s grave. The vivid look of misery on her face is more impactful than simply reading about her sorrow. These seemingly small details create a big difference between the written and video versions of the

Get Access