Miller believes few tragedies are written in this modern age because society is more diverse. In the modern world there is a much wider range of world views on life that are contested extensively by people. This makes it difficult for the writer to write a tragic play.
We think of ourselves with an enhanced sense of realism. In the past your importance consisted in the role you played within the order and in the structure of your particular society. Today in the modern period we, because of democracy and our enhanced sense of individualism, consider ourselves to be the hero’s of our lives.
It is this type of thinking and our way of life that prevent writers from writing tragedies. But in previous times things were different. The writers and philosophers of an earlier time used widely held ideas to their advantage. Sometimes that would trigger emotions or feelings to the people of that time, to see those higher up in the hierarchy, who are superior to them, to fail, and fall (metaphorically).
By having this type of audience, the writers of that time were writing great tragedies which had a huge emotional effect on the audience. Those tragedies if played now in modern society would not have the same effect as they did when they were written but nevertheless are still considered to be great writings.
In my opinion it is not the tragedy which has evolved, rather than the audience, and because of this tragedy has been forced to alter its structure to fit in with modern society. I think if Shakespeare, Aeschylus and all the other dead tragedy writers were to write a tragedy today they would not make such an impact, as they would if they wrote in the 4th century b.c. In the 4th century b.c there was very little form of entertainment that was artificial. Now there are other things to stimulate our emotions. Like the competitiveness of sport, the soap operas which tackle real life issues.
Soaps are the closest thing to tragedy today. This is because tragedy needs a protagonist. If we all are the hero’s of our own lives there is no-one who could take a dramatic fall in their life.
So if a hero’s life in our society is thrown into oppression no-one cares, because in this world and society it is dog eat dog, everyone is in it for themselves. To conclude I think tragedy has not changed much. It has only changed to suit the newer concepts of life, it is forced into this because of the wider range of views, and because the world is closer together. A tragedy could never stimulate high emotions it so once could, so tragedy has been in decline due to the change in opinions.
Dramaturgy is an effective tool used by writers of plays to make the audience or reader think what the actor is feeling. This can be very difficult when writing but the difficulty is eased when; lighting, stage directions and multiple appearances of the same prop are used.
The first theme if Death of a Salesman is ‘’the American dream’’. Willy believes in this wholeheartedly, that a well-liked and personally attractive man in business will deservedly acquire the material comforts offered by modern American life. Willy’s idea of the American dream is not what it really seems. The American dream identifies that hard work without complaint is the key to success.
Willy’s interpretation of likeability is superficial; he childishly hates Bernard and considers Bernard a nerd. Willy’s blind faith and his stunted vision of the American dream leads to his rapid psychological decline when he is unable to accept the gap between dream and his life as it is. Willy’s life was marred with abandonment, first he father left him and then his brother Ben left him leaving him nothing. Ben leaves Willy to lose himself in a destroyed vision of the American dream. Willy develops a fear of abandonment, which makes him want his family to conform to the American dream. His efforts to raise perfect sons failed appallingly.
The young Biff completely drops any respect he had for his father when he found out about Willy’s adultery. Biff’s inability to succeed in business furthers his estrangement from Willy. Right when Willy believes Biff is closest to greatness, it is shattered when Biff and Happy abandon Willy and leave him babbling to himself in the toilet.
Props used in this play, played a big role in representing abstract ideas and concepts. Firstly I would begin with the seeds. The seeds represent the worth of his labour, both as a salesman and a father. His desperately hopeless attempt to grow vegetables signifies his shame about barely having enough money to put food on the table, and having nothing to leave his children after he passes on.
The seeds symbolise Willy’s sense of failure with Biff, Willy’s efforts to cultivate Biff went awry and realising that his American football-star of a son is just a lazy nobody who achieved nothing, Willy takes Biff’s failure and lack of ambition as a reflection of his abilities as a father.
Secondly Linda’s stockings. Willy’s strange obsession with the condition of Linda’s stockings foreshadows his later flashback when young Biff’s discovery of him and the un-named woman in Willy’s Boston hotel room. To Biff giving away Linda’s stocking were like committing himself and his manhood to another woman, this one thing probably finished off the relationship between Biff and Willy. One of the most important props is the rubber hose. The rubber hose is a stage prop that reminds the audience of Willy’s desperate attempt at suicide. He has apparently attempted to kill himself by inhaling gas. Literal death by inhaling gas parallels the metaphorical death that Willy feels in his struggle to afford such a basic necessity such as heating for his home.
Willy Loman is a failure as a family man, is an anti-hero, and never achieves the American dream. His life is an example of a true downfall, which affects those close to him. As a result his death is the final confirmation of his failed life, and reiterates everything that is stressed in Miller’s play. True success could never be achieved in his life even if he had made multitudes of sales. By giving up his dreams and desires Willy died, that led him to become every bit of the failure that he will always be remembered as.