Arthur Miller’s plays are characterized by the significance of the moral and ethical issues and the application of references to his heroes’ past, where roots of the present behavior lie. The desire to find profound implication in the ordinary, to create an emotional atmosphere from as if insignificant words and actions, connects Miller with the best traditions of drama. This paper discusses each of the three main elements of drama used in the play, their impact on topic developments, and concludes all findings. In his work Death of a Salesman, the author – Arthur Miller – uses characters, plot and structure, and dialogues to advance the theme of a small man and the ruination of his illusions.
Arthur Miller’s piece Death of a Salesman is a tragic work that reveals the theme of false ideals and aspirations of a society. With the help of drama elements and such stylistic techniques as metaphor, irony, and comparison, the author seeks, on the example of his heroes, to tell about the fate of the Americans of the 20th century. From childhood, they believed that they could easily fulfill their American dream thanks to personal qualities and not stubborn labor. They believed in imposed values, realizing too late that it has to be paid for by callousness and loss of meaning of life. In other words, behind the fate of the heroes of A. Miller’s work lies the tragic image of America of the last century and its society.
Arthur Miller begins the play Death of a Salesman with a series of metaphors. “Towering, angular shapes behind it [salesman’s house], surrounding it on all sides,” “solid vault of apartment houses,” “surrounding area shows an angry glow of orange,” and in the middle of the “fragile-seeming home” of the salesman Willy Loman (Miller 1). From the first lines, the author immerses readers in an oppressive atmosphere of despair, hopelessness, and the imminent death of the hero.
The playwright hints at one outcome of the play – tragic. The small refuge of a little man is about to be wiped off the earth’s face by an advancing city, a huge, loud world.
However, neither Willy Loman nor his family sees the obvious while they still live in a world where “An air of the dream clings to the place, a dream rising out of reality” (Miller 1). The main character is still warmed by the hope that his dreams can be realized.
Characters
The peculiar social image of the United States attracts the constant attention of writers who, in their works, seek to understand and convey the features of the development of American society, its past, and present. The “dream rising out of reality” is the normal state of the regular American person of the twentieth century who have been seduced by a system of false ideas. They present the conviction that America is a miracle country with unlimited possibilitiesto the belief in the magical power of personal charm (Nahvi 29). Thus, the protagonist of Arthur Miller’s play, Willy Loman, is obsessed with an American dream, a faith in a society of equal opportunities, which gives everyone a chance to find happiness, a beggar to become a millionaire. In other words, Arthur Miller reveals the problem of a small man dreaming of fulfilling his American dream.
Throughout the play, the motive for changing the lifestyle and for high risk sounds repeatedly. It expresses the desire of the protagonist to be similar to other people. So, success in the eyes of Willy Loman is personified in his older brother – Ben, who abandoned everything and left and managed to get rich (Mgamis 70). The symbolic image of the brother repeatedly appears in order to invite Willy to go with him, to give hope for a new better life: “Opportunity is tremendous in Alaska, William. Surprised you are not up there” (Miller 31). Throughout the play, Willy idealizes the image of Ben: “Ben was a man of genius” (Miller 27). Many times, in minutes of despair, Willy Loman regrets the missed opportunity to go with his older brother and make a fortune.
However, in reality, Willy Loman was never capable of such a risk. The main character’s dream is a quiet life, a comfortable old age, and social recognition. For Willy, it seems, the most important is public respect, and an indicator of a decent living – to see sad faces on the day of the funeral. Such an exemplary salesman was Dave Singleman, a salesman who sells goods by phone. In the name of the exemplary salesman, it is easy to notice the irony: “singleman” means “one of its kind,” “exceptional.” This can also mean that a salesman must be single to achieve a certain success. On the other hand, the name of the protagonist is consonant with “low man” and tells readers much about him being a small person.
The tragedy of Willy Loman is that he has no foundations in life. The lack of any strength in Willy’s life leads him to imminent death. He is a dreamer, naive, and gentle person who chose not his way, not his profession, but a profession that requires decisiveness and arrogance – all that Willy lacks. He was seduced by the successes of Dave Singleman and decided to become his shadow. However, if an inherent salesman needs only a small effort to earn money, Willy Loman has to work for days.
In the first scene, the main character appears with huge suitcases, which he hardly carries – this is another metaphor for his whole life. Using a number of hyperbolas “I am tired to death”, “I’m getting awfully tired,”, the author seeks to most accurately convey the state of his hero, who does not live his life (Miller 2; Miller 30). Willy Loman chose the wrong, deadly guidelines for him in life, inevitably leading to tragedy.
Willy’s blindness is the cause of his tragedy and, worse, the reason of the tragedy of his family, and, above all, his eldest son. Willy created an overwhelming burden of unrealistic expectations, assuring that Biff, by his natural charm, already has everything necessary for success: “You are going to be five times ahead of him” (Miller 20-21). However, readers can see the truth – members of the Loman family do not know how to work hard and earn money. Instead, they are full of false hopes for easy profit.
The main character of the play bitterly perceives American reality, always complaining about a lifetime of work. Willy eventually manages to pay the debt for the house, but there is no one to live in it anymore. Events increasingly develop: first, a character works to make money to build a house; then, having paid his debt, Willy becomes its owner. At first glance, everything seems well, but the cruel irony is that by the time Willy can enjoy his property, life has already passed him by.
Another character who contributes to readers’ understanding of Willy’s nature is the woman he is caught with by his son Biff. She presented as evidence of rapid success due to the charm and not the protagonist’s love interest. This woman here is simply a means to restore faith in the power of her attraction and, therefore, the correctness of Willy’s understanding of life and the chosen life path.
The character who played the most critical role in the fate of the protagonist is his son Biff. The conflict that arose between them in the past continues to affect relations (Thompson 53). However, due to Willy’s deteriorating mental state, his wife Linda holds their son responsible for the father’s life – Biff’s success should cheer his father and stop suicide attempts. Despite having conflicts with his father, Biff really wants to help him.
After Biff’s efforts to get a job and bring his father’s dream to life fails, the conflict escalates. Nevertheless, as a result, after the destruction of personal illusions about success, Willy realizes that his son loves him (Lucas 261). He wants to bring him at least some help in the form of insurance payment. Thus, relations with the son push the protagonist to various changes and actions.
Plot and Structure
The playwright chose a form that would reflect the process of consciousness of the hero, breaking the real course of time. Readers see the author’s desire to show those facts and psychological contradictions in the backstory of the heroes that would most clearly explain the tragic conflict’s essence. In this way, a peculiar structure of the play is created, where the vague world of the subconscious invades the real world of the existing and acting Willy, his two sons, and his wife.
Readers can see those pieces of the past that arose in the mind of Willy Loman, painfully looking for the roots of his family’s collapse, alienation of sons, business failures, mental breakdown, and other problems. For example, he endlessly returns with thoughts to the missed opportunity to go to Alaska: “Why didn’t I go to Alaska with my brother Ben that time!” (Miller 27). The violation of the usual composition of the play in time represented in an appeal from the present to the past, and then a return to this present, in a new light of the history. It gives rise to a feeling of embarrassment, disturbed integrity of Willy’s mental world.
Another feature of the plot is that the central conflict – the contradiction between dreams and reality – is complicated by another conflict in the family. It is expressed in the form of misunderstandings and disagreements between the protagonist and his adult sons. In this way, the author raises not only the issue of family relations but also the responsibility of the person to himself and others.
Although the main character could not cope with his own life, he does want the best for his sons. His tragic decision is a last attempt to make a contribution to their well-being, and be a responsible father. At the same time through Biff being honest, this allows his family to open their eyes and see the truth. He reminds Willy that he is the one in charge of his family’s happiness.
Dialogues
An essential element that contributes to the development of the topic in Miller’s work is dialogues. It appears before the readers revealing the heroes, their characters, and the theme of the work (O’Toole and Haseman 63). The subtitle of the play that determines the originality of its genre, states Certain private conversations in two acts and a requiem. However, this is not just “conversations,” but a genuine drama, with a tremendous internal logic of its development, with a psychologically motivated end, the warning of which arises from the first words of the characters.
The play reveals the inner state of the heroes through dialogues. For example, Biff’s sarcastic tone tells readers about his trauma due to a bad relationship with his father. Moreover, his unreasonable hopes and lost opportunities also influenced Biff’s manner of speaking. However, readers still see its vulnerability: “Why does Dad mock me all the time? Everything I say there’s a twist of mockery on his face. I can’t get near him” (Miller 10). At the same time, the main character tends to change quickly in conversation – he may be full of hopes or regrets; his tone turns from delight to bitterness. In this way, Willy’s internal conflict and struggle are expressed.
In the drama, speakers, listeners, and speech show themselves simultaneously in different directions: in relation to the protagonist and other characters, the action being carried out, the situational and general cultural context. As a result, not only the meaning of the statement becomes important, but also its place and function within the more complex units in which it is part. Thus, in revealing the work’s conflict, not only dialogues play a significant role, but also their correct use with a particular character in a specific described situation.
A series of interactions and their consequences – the totality of what dramatic characters say and do in certain circumstances play a crucial role. Through them, readers understand who the characters are, what events they are involved in, and judge the essence of the world in which such things (actions and statements) are possible. The reflective nature of the text is seen consistently throughout the play.
Conclusion
The problem of the American dream is the problem of a small person. So, on the example of the protagonist, Arthur Miller shows the fate of many Americans who believed in the illusions imposed on them. Willy believes that it is enough to have pleasing character traits for a dream to become a reality. Personal charm and beautiful appearance will ensure success in the business world – these are the deceptive ideas of the hero, the prerequisites of the tragedy caused by a blind belief in success, which is both the myth and dream of America of the 20th century.
Crazy pace and race – this is what, from Miller’s point of view, determines the country’s life. The highest spiritual values have been forgotten, and there is physical and moral destruction of man. Millions of people live and die without knowing what to live for. A simple person’s existence is a complete torment; his life is insignificant and devoid of all meaning; he is confused and doomed to defeat.
Willie Loman is not only a victim of his untenable illusions but he is also a father. He tragically carries his blame to the family, children, and redeems himself in the eyes of his family through death. Through this character, the author proves that even a small person can solve issues of an insurmountable scale and be a tragic hero. The problems of a small person can matter since everyone can relate to these experiences.
The play’s protagonist is deprived of peace, and his mental state is so bad that he decides to commit suicide. The number of those who see in such a step the only possible relief from the nightmare is growing. Millions of citizens remain in constant anxiety about the future and are doomed to do so until death saves them from torment. This is the central theme of the drama Death of a salesman –”little man” always suffers.
Works Cited
Lucas, Duncan. Affect Theory, Genre, and the Example of Tragedy. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham, 2018.
Mgamis, Majid Salem. “Death of a Salesman: Critique of the American Dream.” International Journal, vol. 5, no.1, 2017, pp. 69-71.
Miller, Arthur. Death of a Salesman. Certain Private Conversations in Two Acts and a Requiem. Penguin Books, 1998. Web.
Nahvi, Alaeddin. “American Dream and the Tragedy of the Common Man in Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman.” Stem Cell Journal, vol. 7, no. 2, 2016, pp. 28-33.
O’Toole, John, and Brad Haseman. Dramawise Reimagined: Learning to Manage the Elements of Drama. Currency Press, 2017.
Thompson, Terry W. “The Baggage Handlers: Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman.” The Explicator, vol. 75, no. 1, 2017, pp. 52-54.