Death of a Salesman - Essay Example

Review on “Death of a Salesman” by Arthur Miller. INTRODUCTION: The ever popular DEATH OF A SALESMAN lives in the hearts of every reader. We can ascribe the never failing success of this art piece to its structure. The current day screenplay in theatrical cinemas and dramas could well be felt even today in DEATH OF A SALESMAN. Depictions of flashbacks in today’s cinemas are backed by technological developments. But in 1949 when no such hi-tech nuances were available, flashback scenes were deployed in the same spirit as of today.

That is, the soul of flashback cast was well realized and made use of by Miller. To put it in short, DEATH OF A SALESMAN was the Great Grand Father of all cinematic technologies. This structural strength of the theatrical art in DEATH OF A SALESMAN stands behind as the everlasting appeal of the play. And above all, it is Miller’s affluence in portraying the culture and society of the day. Any art that reflects the society of the day has the capability to rise to the status of an epic. As such DEATH OF A SALESMAN enters into that domain, gluing theatrical drama and cinema with efficacious contents.

This sort of strength transcending ages can be accounted for the perennial appeal for DEATH OF A SALESMAN. PORTRAYAL OF AMERICA: Miller has elegantly portrayed the patriarchal construct of American society. The never dying confusion of what it meant to be an American is the undertone of the play. The play is highly virulent in roping writers, critics and social thinkers of future generations to expose the hidden lies and underlying illusions fostered in a society built upon public myths and nationalistic pride.

(Centola, 2007: p.37) CHARACHTERISATION: Characterization of the protagonist in the play has well been substantiated with the creation of his son Biff’s character. Parental imposition of unattained goals into kids’ psyche is well knit throughout the play. Biff’s failure in his life as presented in the play in contrast to the failure of his father is the tool used by Miller to establish that infusing dreams would in fact create vacuum alone. Willy Loman’s inability to find the “right dream” (Hadomi, 2007: p. 14) had been well realized by the character Biff.

Thus Miller brings out the seed bed of Willy’s failure through the ‘failure with awareness’ of Biff. AMERICAN DREAM: American Dream is known to have been infused with equality in prosperity and success. The American society’s pursuit of American Dream is criticized in the play by way of the tragedy fell on Willy Loman. Today’s America which has almost nationalized every family of the country is seen to have stumbled in facing several national and international issues. The stupendous growth and development attained in economics itself is found to have blocked individual’s contentment.

Miller has just foretold this in the tragedy of Lomans. The failure behind this enormous success could well be ascribed to the society’s unpreparedness to bestow its share of respect and weight age to womanhood. Stanton (2008: p.156) has carefully analyzed the male-oriented American Dream as depicted in DEATH OF A SALESMAN which required unacknowledged dependence upon women as well as women’s subjugation and exploitation. CONCLUSION: Arthur Miller’s DEATH OF A SALESMAN is undoubtedly a classical art piece that opens floodgate for critics and social thinkers to incite more and more towards the exploration of a society’s core construct.

A nation’s development could be gauged via the GDP. But the cultural and individual contentment level of each citizen could not be assessed fully through these economic tools. Failures are the best medicine for the treatment of success syndrome. DEATH OF A SALESMAN tactfully emulates the economic fall of a man in his family with his realization of cultural non-development. The crown of this great play lies in the protagonist’s conscience stricken awareness of his infidelity to his wife. His decision to resort to suicide hints that any nation would be on its suicidal path if it does not bestow its due share of respect to its womanhood.

=end= Reference list – Key Stanton, 2008, pp.156, “Women and the American Dream of DEATH OF A SALESMAN”, in “DEATH OF A SALESMAN” Longman Study edition with Introduction and Annotated Essays, Dorling Kindersley (India) Pvt. Ltd, Pearson Education, India. Leah Hadomi, 2007, pp.14, “Rhythm Between Fathers and Sons: DEATH OF A SALESMAN” in eds. Harold Bloom, 2007, “Bloom’s Modern Critical Interpretations: Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman” Updated edition, Infobase Publishing, New York.

Steven Centola, 2007, pp.37, “Arthur Miller: Guardian of the Dream of America” in eds. Eric. J. Sterling, 2007, “Arthur Miller’s DEATH OF A SALESMAN”, Rodopi, New York.