Death of a SalesmanArthur Miller

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

Arthur Miller – 1915 to 2005

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

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

Arthur Miller – socialist??

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

Arthur Miller’s works

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

Death of a Salesman

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?

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.

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.

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.

“…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.

Tragedy and the Common Man