Death of a Salesman
In all of twentieth-century American drama, it is Arthur Miller's 1949 masterpiece Death of a Salesman that has been lauded as the greatest American play. The play deals with both the filial and social realms of American life, exploring and exploding the concept of the American dream. From its debut in New York in 1949 to its many international stagings since, Death of a Salesman has spoken to the concerns of middle-class workers worldwide and their struggle for existence in capitalist society. The play and its initial production set the tone for American drama for the rest of the century through its sociopolitical themes, its poetic realism, and its focus on the common man. Brenda Murphy observes, "Since its premier, there has never been a time when Death of a Salesman was not being performed somewhere in the world."
The play revolves around the story of the aging salesman Willy Loman, his wife, Linda, and their sons, Biff and Happy. Willy has reached a critical point whereby he cannot work as a traveling salesman and is disappointed in Biff's unwillingness to fulfill his father's dreams. When Willy finally summons the courage to ask his employer to be transferred to New York, he is fired. Linda informs Biff that Willy has secretly attempted suicide, and through a series of flashbacks it is revealed that Biff had found his father with a mistress, which led to Biff's decline. Two other subplots—involving Willy's neighbors, Charley and Bernard, and the appearance of Willy's dead brother Ben—interweave the story. Charley becomes Willy's creditor, and Bernard is the successful son Willy never had. Ben is the pioneering capitalist Willy could never be. Because he has a life insurance policy, Willy decides he is worth more dead, and he commits suicide. Linda is left at his grave uttering the famous lines "We're free and clear … We're free … And there'll be nobody home."
The play's subtitle is "Certain Private Conversations in Two Acts and a Requiem." Miller's first concept of the play was vastly different from its current form. "The first image that occurred to me which was to result in Death of a Salesman was of an enormous face the height of the proscenium arch which would appear and then open up, and we would see the inside of a man's head. In fact, The Inside of His Head was the first title." Instead, Miller gives us a cross-section of the Loman household, simultaneously providing a realistic setting and maintaining the expressionistic elements of the play.
Miller also employs the use of realism for scenes of the present and a series of expressionistic flashbacks for scenes from the past. In his essay " Death of a Salesman and the Poetics of Arthur Miller," Matthew C. Roudané writes, "Miller wanted to formulate a dramatic structure that would allow the play textually and theatrically to capture the simultaneity of the human mind as that mind registers outer experience through its own inner subjectivity." Hence, the play flashes back to visits from Ben and scenes from Willy's affair. Miller's juxtaposition of time and place give the play added dimension; Miller never acknowledges from whose point of view the story is told and whether the episodes are factual or recreations based on Willy's imagination. Miller also uses flute, cello, and other music to punctuate and underscore the action of the play.
Many critics have attempted to make connections between the name Loman and the position of the character in society, but Miller refuted this theory in his 1987 autobiography Timebends: A Life. He explained that the origin of the name Loman was derived from a character called "Lohmann" in the Fritz Lang film The Testament of Dr. Mabuse. "In later years I found it discouraging to observe the confidence with which some commentators on Death of a Salesman smirked at the heavy-handed symbolism of 'Low-man,"' Miller wrote. "What the name really meant to me was a terror-stricken man calling into the void for help that will never come." Miller describes the play simply: "What it 'means' depends on where on the face of the earth you are and what year it is."
Death of a Salesman originates from two genres: the refutation of the "rags-to-riches" theory first set forth by Horatio Alger, and the form of Miller's self-proclaimed "Tragedy and the Common Man." In stories such as Ragged Dick, Alger put forth the theory that even the poorest, through hard work and determination, could eventually work their way to the upper class. Willy Loman seems the antithesis of this ideal, as the more he works toward security the further he is away from it. Thomas E. Porter observes, "Willy's whole life has been shaped by his commitment to the success ideology, his dream based on the Alger myth; his present plight is shown to be the inevitable consequence of this commitment."
Miller attempted to define Willy Loman as an Aristotelian tragic figure in his 1949 essay "Tragedy and the Common Man." Miller stated that he believed "the common man is as apt a subject for tragedy in its highest sense as kings were." He went on to parallel Willy's fall with that of Oedipus and Orestes, claiming that tragedy was "the consequence of a man's total compulsion to evaluate himself justly." Despite Miller's claims, he has been attacked for his views by literary critic Harold Bloom. "All that Loman shares with Lear or Oedipus is agony; there is no other likeness whatsoever. Miller has little understanding of Classical or Shakespearean tragedy," Bloom wrote in Willy Loman. "He stems entirely from Ibsen."
The play's placement in the history of American drama is critical, as it bridged the gap between the melodramatic works of Eugene O'Neill and the Theatre of the Absurd of the 1960s. The original production was directed by Elia Kazan and designed by Jo Mielziner, the same team that made Tennessee Williams's The Glass Menagerie a Broadway success. Along with the works of Tennessee Williams, Arthur Miller's plays of this period defined "serious"
John Malkovich (left) and Dustin Hoffman in a scene from the television production of Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman.Broadway theatre. In the 1950s and 1960s, Miller's refusal to submit to the House Committee on Un-American Activities and the onslaught of the avant-garde in the theatre both served to squelch his dramatic voice.
Several productions of Death of a Salesman have been performed to great acclaim, including the 1975 George C. Scott production and the 1984 Michael Rudman production starring Dustin Hoffman, John Malkovich, and Kate Reid, which was later filmed for television. Other notable productions include the 1983 production at the Beijing People's Art Theatre and the 1997 Diana LeBlanc production at Canada's Stratford Festival.
Further Reading:
Bloom, Harold, editor. Willy Lowman. New York, Chelsea House Publishers, 1991.
Klaus, Carl H., Miriam Gilbert, and Bradford S. Field, Jr. Stages of Drama: Classical to Contemporary Masterpieces of the Theater. 2nd ed. New York, St. Martin's Press, 1991.
Martine, James J. Critical Essays on Arthur Miller. Boston, G. K. Hall& Co, 1979.
Miller, Arthur. Timebends: A Life. New York, Grove Press, 1987.
Roudané, Matthew C. " Death of a Salesman and the Poetics of Arthur Miller." Cambridge Companion to Arthur Miller. Edited by Christopher Bigsby. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1997.
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