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Summary A* DEATH OF A SALESMAN NOTES - Context American Dream, Capitalism, Great Depression
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A* DEATH OF A SALESMAN NOTES - Context American Dream, Capitalism, Great Depression
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Death of a Salesman revision booklet AQA A Level English Lit B
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compare & contrast of the characters Willy Loman and Charley in the play Death of a salesman by Arthur Miller
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Death of a Salesman as a story told through mind and memory of Willy Loman
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Context: American Dream, Capitalism, GreatDepression
The American dream states that financial success is available to anyone who works hard
enough for it - disillusionment.
In 1929 during the Great Depression his father's business was ruined and the family
moved into a house in Brooklyn which is supposed to be the model of the Loman families
house in death of a salesman.
"The Crucible" is a play about witch hunts in colonial Salem implying a parallel to American
because of the communist scared and the McCarthy trials. Arthur Miller was bought
before the house committee to explain his communist tendencies because he refused to
name communist sympathisers.
The Tennessee Williams play 'a street car named desire' used a mixture of realism and
expressionism much like death of a salesman which is a realistic play with expressionism
which portrays the lives and feelings of the characters.
Realism: was an artistic movement which began in France in the 19th century and sought
to accurately portray everyday characters situations and problems. Language used was as
close as possible to natural conversation and the costumes and sets were 3d and lifelike.
The plays were usually about social problems.
Expressionism: in the play can be seen through Willy's past experiences and the
appearance of characters from his past in the present. These are usually called flashbacks
- however Miller defined them as 'literally that terrible moment when the voice from the
past is no longer distant but quite as loud and the voice of the present.' 'There are no
flashbacks in this play but only a mobile concurrency of the past and present.. because in
his desperation to justify his life Willy Loman has destroyed the boundaries between now
and then". Expressionism sought to sought to portray the inner psychological life of a
character concentrating on a subjective view of the world instead of an objective one. The
plot, structure and characterisation is less important than poetic dialogue and lighting is
used to create atmosphere.
A tragedy is a serious play which represents the disastrous downfall of a central character.
Aristotle defined tragedy as an "action which is serious and complete" where the
protagonist achieves a catharsis for the audience (purification/ intense release of
emotions) due to their hamartia, their suffering didactically and a final anagnorisis. Death
of a salesman uses a socially inferior protagonist - the play is a domestic tragedy.
, Miller's previous play 'All my sons" was a naturalistic play about the corruption of
American capitalism during wartime and the guilt of a cooperate criminal. Alongside a
'streetcar named desire,' the concept of the American dream is depicted as sad. Abraham
is the template of a poor man who can become great. Unlike previous tragic heroes he has
no height to fall from apart from his own mind and the estimation of his sons. Willy's
inability to accept reality is regarded as his fatal flaw, leading to his resort to fantasy and
retreat into nostalgia.
"i think the tragic feeling is evoked in us when we are in the presence of a character who is
ready to lay down his life, if need be, to secure one thing - his sense of personal dignity."
- (Miller - Tragedy and the Common Man)
"Where pathos rules, where pathos is finally derived, a character has fought a battle he
could not possibly have won".
For an audience to feel the full impact of the fate that the tragic hero brings onto himself,
the hero must have nearly complete freedom of action. The more the audience feels that
the hero was able to choose his course of action with restriction the more emotionally
moving his injunctious choices are. The tragic heroes actions must have some deep moral
significance on his whole society. But Willy has neither freedom of action nor
demonstrable public significance.
The play scarcely mentions the great depression, ww2 or the holocaust although set in the
40s.
Willy is perhaps the story's ultimate victim he's the quintessential figure of the broken
proletariat who has internalised the system that oppresses him and his story is all about
capitalist ideology which has taken a firm grip on his mind as evidenced by how he
perpetually always justifies the system. He blames other individuals for the problems the
system has caused because if his blame was properly directed then his perspective would
crumble and he would have to reconstruct his world view.
Willy wants to become this ideal vision of a man who lives in his mind. He doesn't fall in
the trap that education can get you anywhere but does fall into the trap that 'personal
attractiveness' gets further ahead. Willy's ideology is revealed when talking to Howard
(who is so obliviously affluent) who is willing to lower his standard of living just to survive
decreasing his cost of labour from sixty-five to fifty to forty dollars. The conflict between
worker and boss. "a man is not a piece of fruit" "pull yourself together" - get back in your
place and don't complain. Willy is guilty for standing up for himself after being exploited
for so long showing that he has internalised the system that oppresses him. Willy is
alienated as he is just one of many disposable cogs.
Linda knows that the system is to blame for Willy's mental state. "a small man can be just
as tired as a big man". Those she describes as small men are workers the great men are
owners. The owner class takes the majority of wealth and sees their name in the paper and
their reputation is elevated. The workers tragedy is wanting to be like the owners, naively
admiring while the fundamental class is obscured.
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