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Death of a Salesman
Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman is about a sad salesman, Willy Loman has spent his entire adult life in sales, with little success, but always believing affirming that a man who is well-liked is always successful. There have been many film and television versions of Miller's play since its first performance in 1949. The 1966 version directed by Alex Segal and starring Lee J. Cobb has proven to be particularly interesting in the way it treats the specific themes of the story. Death of a Salesman has what would initially seem to be a spare plot; an aging man comes face-to-face with the reality of his existence and crumbles in the wake of his failures. The mental anguish of the main character is only one theme of the piece. When looked at more deeply, it becomes apparent that beneath the surface, there is a second layer to the story which deals with themes of the fallacy of the American Dream as well as the failure of the stereotypically happy American family.
Most performers who portray Willy Loman show him as a physically weak character, this is used to mirror his failing mental state. In the case of Cobb, who also originated the...
When the audience is first introduced to Willy, he is mentally exhausted from driving about making sales. "Suddenly I'm goin' sixty miles per hour and I don't remember driving the last five minutes. I'm…I can't seem to…keep my mind to it" (I). From the outset, it is made clear that this man has given his all and has not much left to give. It is therefore interesting that Cobb, who is still older than the young men around him, has a presence that shows stronger physicality than his sons. His weakness is thus far more in mind than in body, making Loman's descent a mental more than physical problem.
The American Dream is the idea that anyone who is willing to work hard can come from nothing and build themselves a fortune so long as they live in America. Willy Loman staunchly believes in this dream, at least he did when he was a young man. Loman believes that a man who is well-liked will always have a better shot at achieving the Dream than one who is not. Unable to keep up with the younger men in his office, those who have yet to become jaded enough…
Works Cited:
Death of a Salesman. Dir. Alex Segal. Perf. Lee J. Cobb and George Segal. 2002. DVD
Miller, Arthur. Death of a Salesman. 1980. Print.
He can't let go of the idea that popularity and wealth are what are most important in a man. In the second act, Willy receives a terrible blow. He explains to his boss, Howard, how he met a salesman when he was about 19, and admired the man's skills, and decided that sales was the very best job a man could have. But he tells Howard he's tired, and he
Willy suffers from the consequences of the internal and external conflicts in his life. One of the antagonists in this story is the false promise of the American Dream, not another person per se. Willy is unable to become rich and show his family his own worth through material possessions, despite his hard work and perseverance, which is a conflict to him because he believed that would happen. He believes
"(Miller, 96) However, even if it can appear that Willy's death is a further failure and humiliation, Happy points out at his funeral that Loman had the braveness to pursue his dream to the end, despite the fact that he did not succeed: "I'm gonna show you and everybody else that Willy Loman did not die in vain. He had a good dream. it's the only dream you can have
The truth is simply too difficult to accept, so he turns a blind eye to it. For Willy, denial is easier than reinventing a new life. He believes that somehow, he will get an advance and "come home with a New York job" (Miller II.1070-1). He believes he can still get a promotion and never have to "get behind another wheel" (II.1071) again. These beliefs, while they are positive,
Arthur Miller / Lorraine Hansberry The idea of the "American Dream," of achieving material success through one's own efforts, is not merely a constant topic in American literature, it seems to be a fundamental archetype of American national mythology. The autobiography of Benjamin Franklin and the popular stories of Horatio Alger in the 19th century established this motif as central to the American concept of manhood: we can see the precise
It is an act of sacrifice by which Willy creates the premises for Biff to potentially live the American Dream, unlike himself, who has not. The capacity to gives one's life for another man's dream is certainly grandiose, in a tragic manner, timeless and part of Willy's character. There are certainly other themes that make from Miller's play a timeless one. One of them is the theme of the American