Why does Arthur Miller use timelapses in his play "Death of a Salesman"?What was the playwright trying to tell us aboutWilly Loman?
Why does Arthur Miller use time
lapses in his play "Death of a Salesman"?
What was the playwright trying to tell us about
Willy Loman?
In this essay I will be exploring and analysing "Death of a Salesman" by Arthur Miller. I will be looking the use of flash backs in the play that aim to emphasise that the past is always with us. Looking at the flashbacks will also help understand the character of Willy Loman. The action takes place in Willy Loman's house and yard also in various places he visits in New York and Boston of 1949.
The play was set in post war America. This is after the great Depression, when people had a different point of view and wanted to achieve the "American Dream". The American Dream is the longings of people who wanted to develop the country, to amass money and enjoy a comfortable, not to be at the beck and call of the employer. The figure of a salesman was at the cutting edge of the American Dream, a self made person that did not sell his products but his personality.
The play shows a series of chronological events which take place during one evening and the next day. At intervals throughout the play we see scenes from Willy's past enacted on the same stage at the same time. On first impression this would seem more likely to confuse the audience rather than reveal, but Miller had strong reasons for staging the play in this way.
It is my belief that playwright tells us the past is not something which is now behind us. The past is always with us informing and influencing our actions. To understand the character of Willy Loman, we must be aware of the emotional burdens he carries with him from the past.
To show an example of these recollections I have selected a scene in Act Two. Willy is sitting in a restaurant where he has been invited by the boys, in anticipation of the fact that Biff will be able to secure a loan from Bill Oliver. Willy has just been laid off from his old job, and is hoping that Biff has some good news for him so that Linda can be happy as he knows she has always been loyal to him and made many sacrifices. Willy said "she has waited and she has suffered". This shows ...
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To show an example of these recollections I have selected a scene in Act Two. Willy is sitting in a restaurant where he has been invited by the boys, in anticipation of the fact that Biff will be able to secure a loan from Bill Oliver. Willy has just been laid off from his old job, and is hoping that Biff has some good news for him so that Linda can be happy as he knows she has always been loyal to him and made many sacrifices. Willy said "she has waited and she has suffered". This shows how loyal and hard working Linda has been to the family, sacrificing to save money. Evidence of this is shown by the stockings that she sits down with and mends so money can be saved. Biff has not only not got the loan but in fact has been caught stealing from Oliver's office. Willy is about to sit down with the boys when the author cuts in a flashback of a scene in the past, when Willy was in a Boston hotel room with his mistress and Biff comes knocking at the door. Biff has come to ask Willy to return and get his maths grades upgraded so that he can join university. Willy tries to bluff his way through but Biff is furious at his mother being betrayed and walks off labelling Willy "a fake, a phoney fake". Willy says "I give you an order, come back or I will beat you" and " I gave you an order". At this point the scene shifts back to the present and Willy finds himself saying this to the waiter in the restaurant whilst the boys have left with their dates.
This time lapse affects the lives of Willy, Biff and the family from this moment ; Biff loses all the hopes and dreams he had, he does not go to summer school or, get the grades to go into college. "His life ended after the Ebbets Field game. From the age of seventeen nothing good ever happened to him." said Willy to Bernard. He becomes a complete failure. Willy starts to believe that Biff will hate him and possibly tell Linda about the affair. This is why he has treated Biff with more care and time rather than Happy. Happy on the other hand feels neglected and seeks attention. "I'm losing weight, you notice, Pop?" and repeats this later. "I'm gonna get married, Mom. I wanted to tell you." Every time Happy tries to get attention he is simply ignored, time after time. The reply he got when he said I'm getting married was "Go to sleep, dear." The fallout of this scene affects all the family apart from Linda. An important symbol was used in this scene, the new stockings Willy gave to the Woman, where as for ever on Linda is mending her old ones. The time lapse was used to show why Biff's and Willy's relationship was such a love hate one. It shows why Biff's life was ruined after his trip to Boston, and why Willy never talked about it. He always starts to get angry if someone brings up the subject. "Well, don't- don't talk to me that way! What does mean, 'what happened'" exclaims Willy. This is because he did not want anyone to find out what really happened in Boston.
The time lapse is used at the time when it hits Willy that he is a failure and his children are a failure also. He realises he is the reason why his children are a failure and it is because of the scene in the hotel. That the life of Biff was ruined; he could have been magnificent, but with the incident in the hotel the whole family is ruined.
In the play the audience learns a considerable amount of knowledge about the protagonist Willy Loman. The play shows the end of his career and is about a man disillusioned by the passage of time and shocked at the reality that his dreams, ambitions and success have been stolen. A man who has never come to terms with reality, he is bewildered by his lack of success. This why he hides behind a smoke screen of lies. So we can see how plainly his failure is in the eyes of society. Willy Loman is a tragic hero he has a fatal flaw and dies in the end. His flaw is his determination to be well liked, he believes that being well liked shows the value of a man's worth. Willy is a universal figure such that he represents the hopes, dreams and fears that could be common to all of us. Willy at the end of the play realises that Biff loves him and always has. "Isn't that - isn't that remarkable? Biff- he likes me". But this is his own misinterpretation of Biff's cry of frustration and despair which leads to tears. Willy's character is filled with pride in his sons, mainly Biff. For example, he rejects a job offer from Charley when he needs it most because he is proud.
So Miller has used recall as a way of showing the audience that the past is with us always. Arthur Miller uses flashbacks as a tool throughout the play to highlight the present. In this instance what is happening to Willy after being fired from his old job, and Biff being unable to get a loan from Oliver, is related to what happened in the past at the critical juncture in Boston when Biff stumbled into Willy Loman's relationship with the Woman. Miller is brilliant at interlinking the two incidents separated in time. He wants us to see the tragedy of Willy Loman's hopes ambitions and desires crumble away and to see him as tragic hero undone by the passage of time, and the effort of passing the torch to the next generation. Willy then realising that he has left no legacy, tries to remedy this by planting seeds that he hopes will grow into something worthwhile. Miller's concerns are what audience interprets from the play. The play is not about communism or capitalism; it is about a man who is disillusioned by the passage of time. Miller wants the play to grab the audience and not let go. It has shown the character of Willy Loman, a man who has fallen ill of the free enterprise system; he is a man overcome by pride. He wants the audience to understand and relate to the play, he does not want a person to see the play and walk out unaffected.
