Death of a Salesman

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Death of a Salesman

• By Arthur Miller

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Overview of Slide Show

• Millers background
• Setting of the story
• Main characters
• Themes

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Millers background

• Author of The Crucible
• DOAS debuts on Broadway on 2/10/49 and wins the
  Pulitzer Prize and the NY Drama Critics Circle
  Award
• As a result Miller is called to testify in front
  of HUAC

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Millers Focus

• Actively wrote plays until 1980
• Leans toward social and psychological realism
• A master of the expressionistic elements of
  theater (set, music, lighting, setting)

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Millers Protagonists

• Tend to be non-heroic
• Are unexceptional in character, social position,
  or power.
• Are not outstandingly good or evil
• Tend to go unnoticed in course of normal events.

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Protagonists continued

• Protagonists typically confronted with a
  situation that forces his or her best and worst
  qualities to surface.
• Willy Loman is confronted by situations that draw
  out his worst qualities.

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Main Characters of DOAS

• Willy Loman
• Biff Loman
• Linda Loman
• Happy Loman

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Setting

• NYC and New England 1949
• Americans lived through the Depression and saw a
  revitalized economy due to WWII
• A more prosperous life was in reach

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Setting cont.

• Post WWII America has many traveling salesmen.
• Common cultural notions females are restrained,
  timid and feminine, while men are virile,
  athletic businessmen and soldiers

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Themes

• The American Dream
• Being liked vs. being respected.
• The torment of ones own conscience.
• Family dysfunction and the power of denial.

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Themes cont.

• Is the dream of economic prosperity truly
  available to all who work diligently?
• Does the American dream place too much importance
  on material wealth and consumerism?

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Arthur Miller 1915-2005

• Arthur Miller