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. 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. More profoundly, 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.
Plot synopsis
The play centers on Willy Loman, a salesman over sixty years old, who is beginning to lose his grip on reality. Willy places
great emphasis on his supposed native charm and ability to make friends. According to him, he was once well known and liked
throughout New England as a traveling salesman whose skills were
unparalleled. His sons Biff and Happy (a nickname for Harold) were the pride and joy of the neighborhood, and his wife Linda was
picturesque, smiling throughout the day. Unfortunately, time has passed, and now his life seems to be slipping out of
control.
Willy has worked hard his entire life and ought to be retiring by now, living a life of luxury and closing deals with
contractors on the phone—especially since increasing episodes of depersonalization and
flashback are impairing his ability to drive. Instead, all of
Willy's aspirations seem to have failed: he is fired from his job—which barely paid enough anyway—by a man young enough to be his
son. Willy is now forced to rely on loans from his next-door-neighbor Charley to make ends meet. Charley is the closest thing
Willy has to a friend, but Willy still harbors jealousy and contempt toward him for being more successful. Charley even offers
Willy a job after he is fired, and yet Willy is too proud to take it. None of Willy's old friends or previous customers remember
him. Biff, his 34-year-old son, has been unable to 'find himself' as a result of his inability to settle down (caused by Willy
constantly insisting that he needed to 'make it big within two weeks'), and Happy, the younger son, lies shamelessly to make it
seem as if he is the perfect Loman son. In contrast, Charley (who, Willy tells his boys conspiratorially, is not 'well-liked'),
is now a successful businessman, and his son, Bernard, a formerly bespectacled bookworm, is now a brilliant lawyer. We are told how Willy had at least one affair while out on business trips, one that Biff walked in on and
discovered. This terrible ordeal broke Biff's faith in his father and sent him on a downward spiral. Willy is haunted by the
memory of his dead brother Ben, who made a fortune in Africa in the gem trade. Ben then offered Willy a position overseeing some
gold-rich land in Alaska, which Willy turned down (a choice he has regretted ever since). Ben has constantly overshadowed Willy,
and he is in many ways the man that Willy wanted to be. Ben's approach is heralded by idyllic music, showing Willy's idolization
of him, and in flashbacks we see Willy asking for Ben's advice on parenting.
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.
The depths of the problem are gradually revealed. Willy's emphasis on being well-liked stems from a belief that it will bring
him to perfect success—not a harmful dream in itself, except that he clings to this idea as if it is a life-preserver, refusing
to give it up. In high school, his boys were not only well-liked but quite handsome, and as far as Willy is concerned, that's all
anyone needs. He pitches this idea to his sons so effectively that they believe opportunity will fall into their laps. (In this
way, Biff and Happy can be considered forerunners to the culture of entitlement.)
Of course, real life is not so generous, and neither are able to hold much in the way of respectable employment. Willy witnesses
his and his sons' failures and clings ever more tightly to his master plan, now placing his hopes vicariously on them: he may not
succeed, but they might. His tragic flaw is in failing to question whether the dream is valid.
Happy never does either; he has embraced his father's attitude, and at the end of the first act, he convinces Biff to seek
financial backing in a get-rich-quick scheme. But when Biff tries to do so, he realizes his father's mistakes, and finally
decides not to let Willy fall prey to the unrealistic dream again. They attack each other at the play's climax: Biff confronting
Willy's neurosis head-on, while Willy accuses Biff of throwing his life away simply to hurt
Willy's feelings. Despite a raggedly emotional battle of words, neither is able to make much headway, but before Biff gives up,
he breaks down in tears: "Will you take that phony dream and burn it before something happens?" Willy is touched that Biff still
cares for him after all, but fails to understand the deeper meaning of his words, and resolves to do everything possible to leave
him with the right opportunities to strike it rich.
As the rest of the family goes upstairs to bed, Ben reappears over Willy's shoulder. Willy proclaims that in taking his own
life, the attendance at his funeral would make a show to his doubting son of how popular he was
in life, and that, if handled to look accidental, the payout from his life insurance
policy will allow Biff to start his own business. This final action can be viewed as his attempt to leave a tangible legacy for
his family. Willy acknowledges that, "Nothing grows here anymore" and his vain attempts to plant seeds during the darkness
express his desperate desire to leave something behind. The neighborhood is drawn out of bed by the roar and smash of Willy's
car, despite Ben's warnings that the insurance policy won't be honored in the event of suicide. Thus Willy's grand gesture — and
indeed his earlier assertion that one is often "worth more dead than alive" — leaves his family (and especially his wife, Linda)
in even worse a position than before.
Requiem
The end of the play is a Requiem. The Requiem takes place at Willy's funeral, which is only
attended by Biff, Happy, Linda, Charley, and Bernard. Nobody else turns up and this shows the reader that regardless of how well
liked Willy claimed he was to his children, nobody liked or remembered him. Charley makes a very moving speech as Biff accuses
Willy of not knowing what he really wanted in life; Charley explains that, as a salesman, all Willy ever got by on were his
dreams, and they cannot blame him for having them. Happy insists, "Willy Loman did not die in vain", and says that he will
'fight' for Willy's, and his own corrupted version of the American Dream. At the graveyard, Biff says, "He had the wrong dreams.
All, all, wrong." Happy tries to defend Willy, as he cannot understand Biff's point of view. Charley is the one who is perhaps
best able to defend Willy's dream, saying that, being a salesman, all he really had was a dream. Despite this, the dream was
never realized, especially in death: there are no throngs of mourners to pay their respects; indeed, nobody shows up except the
five closest to Willy. In the last lines of the play, Linda, unable to cry, gets on her knees for the undertaker, delivering a
final brief monologue: Willy's dream of owning his own house is realized in the requiem but only after his death; Linda paid the
last payment on the mortgage that morning. This adds irony to the play, and shows us that the American Dream, for many, was just
out of reach; the wrong dream to aim at.
As a salesman, Loman produced nothing (unlike the 'masses' that only have their labor to offer), but the fruits of Willy
Loman's labor - and that of every other American salesman - were hopes and dreams.
Style
The play is 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, sometimes 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.i love this
f'n book
On Stage
The original production opened on February 10, 1949 at the Morosco Theatre, and ran
for 742 performances. Lee J. Cobb starred as Willy. The production won the Tony Award for: Best Play; Best Supporting or Featured Actor (Arthur
Kennedy); Best Scenic Design (Jo Mielzner); Producer (Dramatic); Author (Arthur Miller); Best Director (Elia Kazan). The play won the 1949
Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Jayne Mansfield, a
Hollywood actress once compared, in some ways, to Marilyn Monroe, performed in a production of the play in Dallas,
Texas in October, 1953. Her performance in the play attracted Paramount Pictures to hire her for the studio's film productions.[1]
The play has been revived on Broadway three times since:
-
Film and television versions
- 1951, starring Fredric March, Mildred Dunnock, Kevin McCarthy and Cameron Mitchell. It was adapted by Stanley Roberts
and directed by László Benedek who won the Golden Globe Award for Best Director. The film was nominated for
Academy Awards for Best Actor in a Leading
Role (Fredric March), Best Actor in a Supporting Role
(Kevin McCarthy), Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Mildred
Dunnock), Best Cinematography, Black-and-White and
Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture.
- 1961, En Handelsresandes död starring Kolbjörn Knudsen -
directed by Hans Abramson (in Swedish)
- 1966, a television production starring Lee J. Cobb,
Gene Wilder, Mildred Dunnock, James Farentino, Karen Steele and George Segal. It was directed by Alex Segal.
- 1968, Der Tod eines Handlungsreisenden starring Heinz
Rühmann and directed by Gerhard Klingenberg
- 1985, a television production starring Dustin Hoffman,
Kate Reid, John Malkovich, Stephen Lang and Charles Durning. It was directed by
Volker Schlöndorff.
- 1996, a television production starring Warren
Mitchell, Rosemary Harris, Iain Glen and
Owen Teale. It was directed by David Thacker.
- 2000, a television production starring Brian Dennehy,
Elizabeth Franz, Ron Eldard, Ted Koch, Howard Witt and Richard
Thompson. It was directed by Kirk Browning.
- 2003, Big Fish directed by Tim
Burton is loosely based on this play.
Links in Popular Culture
- In an episode of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius named "The Birth
of a Salesman", Jimmy makes a robot salesman named the Willy Loman 3000.
- In an episode of the popular sitcom, Seinfeld, Kramer tells people, "I told my
pal Arty to call it 'Life of a Salesman.'" Also in many early Seinfeld episodes
Jerry refers to George as "Biff" because he has no job and no prospects.
- In Curb Your Enthusiasm when Richard
Lewis discovers that Larry David (co-creator of Seinfeld) is working as a car
salesman, Lewis asks "...who do you think you are, Willy Loman?"
- In the film American Beauty, the Buhrnams' former neighbors (who had
difficulty selling their house) are referred to as "The Lomans".
- In Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode "Restless", Willow
Rosenberg dreams of a staging of this play. Later, in the spin-off Angel, the play is referred to in the episode "Are You Now or Have You Ever Been."
- In the musical Assassins by
Stephen Sondheim and John Weidman,
John Wilkes Booth quotes "Attention must be paid" as part of his exhortation to
Lee Harvey Oswald to shoot American
president John F. Kennedy. Questioned by Oswald as to what this means, Booth
explains "It's from a play. About a salesman. A man very much like you, Lee.", concluding "I'm an actor, Lee. And I'm a good one.
But Willy Loman is a part that I could never play. And I don't think that you should play it either."
- A popular song by the band, Yellowcard, is titled "Death of a Salesman".
References
- ^ Va Va Voom by Steve Sullivan. General Publishing Group, Los Angeles,
California, Page 50
Bibliography
- Sandage, Scott A., Born Losers: A History of Failure in America, (Harvard University Press, 2005)
- Foster, Richard A Smolen, "Confusion and tragedy: the failure of Miller's 'Salesman." in Two Modern Tragedies: Reviews and
Criticisms of 'Death of a Salesman' and 'Streetcar named Desire', Ed. John D. Hurell. Scribner's, 1961, pp. 82-8
External links
Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
