Death of a Salesman is a 1949 play by Arthur Miller and is considered a classic of American theater. Viewed by many as a caustic attack on the American Dream of achieving wealth and success without regard for principle, Death of a Salesman made both Arthur Miller and the character Willy Loman household names. The play raises a counterexample to Aristotle’s characterization of tragedy as the downfall of a great man, whether through (depending on the translator) a flaw in his character or a mistake he has made.

It was greeted with enthusiastic reviews, received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1949, the 1949 Tony Award for Best Play, as well as the New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award for Best Play. Death of a Salesman was the first play to win these three major awards, helping to establish Miller as an internationally-known playwright.

The play is mostly told from Willy’s point of view, and the play occasionally flashes back to previous parts of Willy’s life, sometimes during a present day scene. It does this by having a scene begin in the present time and adding characters onto the stage that only Willy can see and hear, representing characters and conversations from other times and places. One example of this is during a conversation between Willy and his neighbor Charley. During the conversation, Willy’s brother comes on stage and begins talking to Willy while Charley speaks to Willy. When Willy begins talking to his brother, the other characters do not understand who he is talking to and some of them even begin to suspect that he has “lost it”. However, at times it breaks away from Willy’s point of view and focuses on the other characters, Linda, Biff and Happy. During these parts of the play, the time and place stays constant without any abrupt flashbacks as usually happens while the play takes Willy’s point of view.

The play’s structure resembles a stream of consciousness account: Willy drifts between his living room, downstage, to the apron and flashbacks of an idyllic past, and also to fantasized conversations with Ben. The use of these different ‘states’ allows Miller to contrast Willy’s dreams and the reality of his life in extraordinary detail; and also allows him to contrast the characters themselves, showing them in both sympathetic and villainous lights, gradually unfolding the story, and refusing to allow the audience a permanent judgment about anyone. When we are in the present the characters abide by the rules of the set, entering only through the stage door to the left; however, when we visit Willy’s ‘past’ these rules are removed, with characters openly moving through walls. Whereas the term ‘flashback’ as a form of cinematography for these scenes is often heard, Miller himself rather speaks of ‘mobile concurrences’. In fact, flashbacks would show an objective image of the past. Miller’s mobile concurrences, however, rather show highly subjective memories. Furthermore, as Willy’s mental state deteriorates, the boundaries between past and present are destroyed, and the two start to exist in parallel.

Death of a Salesman (film) with Dustin Hoffman, John Malkovich, 1985

deletereply starfishred wrote on Mar 26, ’08 was very good in all forms

editdeletereply lauritasita wrote on Mar 26, ’08 Dustin Hoffman was great in this !

deletereply philsgal7759 wrote on Mar 26, ’08 Definite classic Excellent choice