Death of a Salesman

1. Death of a Salesman Arthur Miller

2. Arthur Miller – 1915 to 2005 • Born in NYC, Jewish • Attended schools in Harlem, Brooklyn • Family devastated by Great Depression • Graduates University of Michigan • Turns down Hollywood (big$) job to stay in NYC: loves live theater • 1949, Death of a Salesman, wins Pulitzer

3. Arthur Miller – socialist?? • Brought to testify before House Un-American Activities Committee (McCarthy) • used Death of a Salesman as “proof” that he was “anti-American” • Pled the 1st amendment as his defense • Sentenced to time in prison, later reduced to a $500 fine

4. Arthur Miller – socialist?? • PAUL SOLMAN: So the dog-eat-dog competitive capitalism that you see in "Death of a Salesman," are you more resigned to it, sympathetic to it? • ARTHUR MILLER: I object to it, but formerly I thought that a socialist solution would resolve some of these problems. The only thing is, is that where we have had a socialist solution, it has raised up innumerable other problems that you stand and pause a bit before you really could go down that road. • PAUL SOLMAN: So you don't know what to do? • ARTHUR MILLER: So -- I don't know what to do. • Excerpted from PBS.org, 1999 interview with Arthur Miller

5. Arthur Miller’s works • 1949, Death of a Salesman • 1949, Tragedy and the Common Man: essay published in the New York Times* • 1953, The Crucible: an allegory of McCarthyism, told as Salem witch trials • 1955, A View from the Bridge • Prolific writer: essays, plays, short stories, movie scripts • *see full article on the web site handouts page

6. Death of a Salesman • Miller’s view of the failed American dream • Salesman represents American capitalism • Realistic characters, mixed with surreal elements (hallucinations, ghosts) • Hallucinations allow us to see inside Loman’s mind, focus on the past • Wife allows us to see the reality of the situation

7. Death of a Salesman – stage directions • A melody is heard, played upon a flute. It is small and fine, telling of grass and trees and the horizon…. • Sound direction…specified, so it must be significant to the story…why?

8. Death of a Salesman – stage directions • …We are aware of towering, angular shapes…surrounding area shows an angry glow of orange…small, fragile-seeming home. An air of the dream clings to the place, a dream rising out of reality. • Set directions: specifics are given in prose, carefully chosen language. Stage manager can interpret, but the message must match the text.

9. Death of a Salesman – stage directions • Whenever the action is in the present the actors observe the imaginary wall-lines…in the scenes of the past these boundaries are broken. • Allows for immediate back and forth between present and past; extremely important for insight into the character’s mind.

10. Death of a Salesman – stage directions • Linda…has developed an iron repression of her exceptions to Willy’s behavior… • Characterization: insight into the wife’s character, brings her from static to dynamic before she even speaks.

11. Tragedy and the Common Man • “…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.” • This statement has become the definitive trait of American modern tragedy.