What are the dramatic effects of flashbacks in the play 'Death of a Salesman' by Arthur Miller?

Authors Avatar

What are the dramatic effects of flashbacks in the play ‘Death of a Salesman’ by Arthur Miller

Death of a salesman is divided into three main parts, Act I, Act II, and the Requiem. Each section takes place on a different day in present-day. Within Act I and Act II, the story is presented through the use of Willy's flashbacks. The use of these flashbacks is fundamental to the structure and understanding of the play. It is for that reason that we have chosen this topic for our presentation

The story starts at present-day and Willy then lapses in and out of the past. Each flashback is somehow related the present. Very often, the contents of the flashback offer essential background knowledge for understanding why the present-day problems in the Loman family are occurring. For example, when Willy is thinking about Biff and Biff's problems, Willy is transported to the summer of Biff's senior year. The events that took place in the past expose the reader to the situations that have led up to the present-day boiling point in the Loman household.  For example when Biff caught Willy cheating on his mother Biff lost respect for him and no longer gets along with him. However Willy believes Biff is great and cannot understand why he isn’t successful, therefore this is a major source of conflict throughout the play, and it is the flashback which provides better insight into the reasons for the conflict. This is one of the dramatic effects of flashbacks.

Join now!

Another dramatic effect of flashbacks in Death of a Salesman is the fact that there are so many, Willy is lost in the past and constantly tormented by his failed hopes and dreams, it is all of the flashbacks that explain this to the reader, this is unique to this play, as it is not very common for the story to be lapsing in and out of so many different eras. An example of when Willy lapses in and out of eras is when he has a flashback of Bernard telling him that Biff had better start studying, Willy then ...

This is a preview of the whole essay