Death of a Salesman - Analysis Essay

In the play, there is no such music or sounds to help portray the emotions of the characters. You only get to imagine how the characters are feeling based on your common

The play starts off with Boy Willie and his friend Lymon heading towards north to Pittsburgh. Their intentions are to sell a truck load of watermelons, and most of all to convince Berniece into selling the piano. Boy Willie knows very well that Berniece will not give up the piano, but resumes with his journey to sell the piano. The piano in this play is the heart of the play. It is the main cause for the tension between Boy Willie and Berniece. The piano has brought upon many grieves to the Charles family, and has caused many lives. The piano is a symbol for every life that it has taken. And for those lives, Berniece resists in letting go of the piano. Even though, it is the most important matter in the family. To Berniece, the piano is also a prize possession because of their ancestors, but most of all she refuses to sell it because their mother polished it everyday after their father died. Berniece accuses Boy Willie of not considering what their mother has done. But even after all that their family has gone through to finally claim the piano, Boy Willie wants to sell it anyway. The piano is the only family value that both siblings can hold on to and pass on to next generations. Boy Willie feels

However, Ben greatly influences the play indirectly through Willy. Willy speaks highly about Ben, such as,

This can be taken as unreliable and his words should not be taken accurately because this business is falling. In continuation, Willy carries himself as highly ranked when talking about himself to others “I'm the New England man”. I'm vital in New England”(Miller 14). He talks to Linda about his job when in reality things are not going great and his career is taking a fall. Willy continues this conversation with Linda with his sons Biff and Happy, as he tells them how much New England needs him because he is so successful.

How can two people watch or read the same story and yet, interpret it completely differently? Does it have to do with the author’s intentions, or maybe it has to do with the viewers’ own backgrounds and ideologies? Whatever the case may be, viewing one piece of work can lead to a wide array of opinions and critiques. It is through the diversity of such lenses that Death of a Salesman, by Arthur Miller has become one of the most well-known plays in modern history. There are many different ways in which a play can be criticized, however, criticisms from the approaches of a Marxist and reader-response will be utilized to further dissect Death of a Salesman. Marxist criticism sees pieces of works as a struggle between different socioeconomic classes; what better way to see Miller’s play than for what it is at face value, the struggle of a middle-class man trying to achieve the American dream (1750). On the other hand, a reader-response criticism comes from either an objective or subjective view; in this case Death of a Salesman will be viewed with a subjective lens based on Willy’s deteriorating mental health (1746).

Willy’s biggest issue with his son is that he let him down by not being any more successful than him. He feels like Biff is failing on purpose just to make him look bad. Although, he has no decent job and is single; Biff has become disoriented about life. Earlier in the play Biff tells Happy, “I tell ya Hap, I don't know what the future is. I don't know - what I'm supposed to want” (Miller266). Biff once looked up to his father as a role model, but lost all faith in him once finding out that he was having an affair. Ever since he has rejected Willy’s commitment of being a husband and also a father. To add to his ruins are Willy’s ideas of how Biff should get ahead in life. Willy taught Biff that popularity was the right way to get to the top, rather than hard-work and dedication. Trying to live by his dad’s standards caused Biff to fail high school and become unable to put forth the effort to become

While in retrospect Ben's life seemed somewhat on the glamous side, being weathy by being in nature making nothing into something. Ben stated "when I was seventeen I walked into the jungle, and when I was twenty-one I walked out. And by God I was rich" (1474). Throughout the storyline Willy constantly gets sidetracked with conversing with Ben always having something to prove. Ben's American dream was more of financial success than material like Willy's. He made it known what Willy's could do to have riches, "There's a new continent at your doorstep, William you could walk out rich. Rich (1491)! Now with that statement makes you wonder what type of riches can you get from just walking outside. He yearns to follow the path of Ben, by going into the wildernesses of Africa and Alaska in search of diamonds, or making flutes and selling them on the frontier as his father did. It was as if Willy wanted Ben's approval for the path he chose and how he was raising his sons. Especially with one conversation he had with Ben, verifying he was a salesman stating "No. Ben. I don't want you to think..."(1475). Willy hung onto every word Ben said just to reassure him that he was doing the right thing by himself and his

Many works of literature have the theme of a failed American Dream, which is the basic idea that no matter what social class an individual may be, they still have an equal ability to achieve prosperity and a good life for their family; however, there has been much debate over whether or not the American dream is still obtainable in modern society. One piece of American literature that substantiates the fact that the American Dream can not be gotten is Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman which describes the tragedy of the average person in America. A number of other writers also draw the inability to capture the American Dream. John Steinbeck demonstrates in his highly acclaimed novel The Grapes of Wrath how hard economic times can

This is what Willy has been trying to emulate his entire life. Willy's need to feel well-liked is so strong that he often makes up lies about his popularity and success. At times, Willy even believes these lies himself. At one point in the play, Willy tells his family of how well-liked he is in all of his towns and how vital he is to New England. Later, however, he tells Linda that no one remembers him and that the people laugh at him behind his back. As this demonstrates, Willy's need to feel well-liked also causes him to become intensely paranoid. When his son, Biff, for example, is trying to explain why he cannot become successful, Willy believes that Biff is just trying to spite him. Unfortunately, Willy never realizes that his values are flawed. As Biff points out at the end of the play, "he had the wrong dreams."

In Theatre Mitu’s “hyper-theatrical” production of “Death of A Salesman” by Arthur Miller many aspects were added to heighten the messages and morals of the story about the American Dream. One major choice was the use of objects to signify characters as well as add to characters. Willy carried a empty, open briefcase. Linda carried a sun parasol. Biff carried football gear. All the other characters are objects themselves. Happ is a punching bag. Charley is a refrigerator door, and Bernard is a bug repellent light. The Women is a fan. Ben is a big light, and the waiter is a champagne bucket. Almost all of the characters excluding Biff, Willy, and Linda are recording voices which creates a degree of separation from the outside world. Happ is somewhere in between by being an actor with a microphone.

The play has a sense of joy in it. Willy’s flashbacks always occur toward the same time where the Lomans were happy. Starting with Biff’s football days in high school. The music in those scenes would make anyone feel like they were on top of the world, just like Biff and Willy felt. Then comes Ben. Ben is Willy’s savior. Always acting like a parental figure, Ben was Willy’s answer to everything. A pure, fast paced song represented Willy’s hopes. The emotions involved in this type of music were mainly enthusiasm, confidence, and courage. Biff’s example of when he decides to go and see Bill Oliver and ask for a loan to start the sporting goods business is a good example of music interpreting confidence. Another bit of confidence is felt when Willy is going to ask Howard for a stationary job in New York.

It affects Biff the most, causing him to give up on his dream of being a football star and never truly find a job that he loves which is the dream that he has instead. Biff walks in on Willy in Boston with a woman and is appalled with his father. “Biff: Don't touch me, you -- liar! Willy: Apologize for that! Biff: You fake!

In the play Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller, Willy is both sympathized with and looked down upon throughout the story. Willy is a very complex character with problems and faults that gain both sympathy and also turn the reader off to him. Willy Loman is both the protagonist and the antagonist, gaining sympathy from the reader only to lose it moments later.

Apart from Willy’s delusion of his own success, he also sees his sons as great successes in the business world, and that they will amount to so much in their lives. These boys cannot be successful because they have been “[blown] so full of hot air [they] could never stand taking orders from anybody” (131). Willy’s illusions about his sons not only ruined Willy’s life, but it caused these boys to have a false sense of reality, which is the theme. This false sense of reality leads to their downfall in the business world because Willy had built them up so high that they believed they should be the one giving the orders, not taking them. When Willy tells his boys “together [you] could absolutely lick the civilized world” (64), this is an example of the way Willy falsely sees his boys and fills their

This time, however, Ben's motif, which turns out to be more sinister than idyllic, precedes him; sotto voce at first then coming to a crescendo as repressed suicidal thoughts come forward when Willy loses his job (Launsberry).  When Ben finally appears, Willy must ask him, "how did you do it?" (Miller 84)  Ben's theme is heard for the last time towards the end of the play "in accents of dread" (Miller 133) as Willy finally resolves to commit suicide so that Biff may receive the insurance money.  While the idyllic theme music that accompanies Ben ad his father would at first seem to represent Willy's positive memories of the past and optimistic views of the future, they really represent selling out and abandonment.  They oppose the fine theme of nature that begins and ends the play (Launsberry).