Explore the dramatic significance of the first time switch in "Death of a Salesman". What might the dramatist have been suggesting to the original audience about society at that time?

Authors Avatar

Qiming Liu         10SM         27/04/2007

Explore the dramatic significance of the first time switch in “Death of a Salesman”. What might the dramatist have been suggesting to the original audience about society at that time?

Arthur Miller’s play “Death of a Salesman” is a detailed review on the capitalist American society of the 1940s and also on human psychology and how much materialistic success means to us. He uses the misfortunes of a salesman named Willy Loman to illustrate this.

  Miller introduces the Loman family in a depressing mood—dim lighting is used and shows a house that has “towering, angular shapes” surrounding it and with little furniture. This immediately gives the audience a glum feeling about the play. The Loman family is a very stereotypical American family, with the father, Willy, working all day, a loving mother, Linda, and two children, Biff and Happy. As the play develops however, we learn more and more about the real tragedy of the family.

  Willy believes in the American dream. It was very influential in the American society of the 1940s and still is to some people, today. But only a few people have benefited from it. The American dream is based on the idea that as long as someone works hard, they will achieve great success no matter what their sex, age, nationality is. As the audience learn about the Loman family’s poor financial situation, it becomes clear that Willy is a victim of the American dream. Willy’s failure in leading a rich or even just a comfortable life is very apparent. He complains about his work and struggles to pay his bills. He is also frequently shown in a state of depression, he cannot concentrate when driving; he is still working at his old age and is struggling to bring in a steady income. His unstable mind makes him contradict himself in the first scene when he complains, “Biff is a lazy bum” and moments later, “There’s one thing about Biff—he’s not lazy.”

Join now!

  Willy is not portrayed by Miller as a bad character. Due to this fact, the audience feels sorry for him as he is failing in his job. What Willy doesn’t realise however, is that the American dream is out of date and the new business world relies on being ruthless and aggressive. Although Willy does try hard in his work and works long hours everyday, his method to sell his products is out of date. As Charlie tells him later in the play, “The only thing you got in this world is what you can sell.” but the tragic ...

This is a preview of the whole essay