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Death of a Salesman (Viking Critical Library)

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When you get down to it, really, the only reasons for buying one version of a play are 1) price, 2) readability (i.e., the font, size of print, etc.), and 3) accompanying analysis/essays. As for myself, the third reason is the most important. This version is the best I've seen for accompanying analysis. It has a number of essays and an interview by Arthur Miller himself and reviews of the play by others. The works written by Miler were of the most interest to me, but there is plenty here. Admittedly, if price is most important to you, there are cheaper versions out there, but you won't get what this version offers. To me, though, this version is worth the money.

And do I need to mention this is a damn good play? But, as I said, you'll get the same play regardless of which version you pick up (at least, I would hope...).

of "Death of a Salesman", this is the one to get. In addition to the play itself and some introductory remarks, this version includes a good variety of reviews, criticism, and essays concerning "Death of a Salesman". Of particular interest (in my view, anyway) is the essay "Tragedy and the Common Man" written by Arthur Miller himself (there are other writings by Arthur Miller and part of the transcripts of an interview with Arthur Miller, too). It's true that this version is a little more expensive than others (clocking in at about $13), but, if you like to read what others (and even the playwright himself) have had to say about a particular work, I strongly suggest that you buy this version in favor of a cheaper version with less criticism.

DRAMA

Real vs. Virtual American Dream

By Kevin Biederer

Arthur Millers 1949 drama basically revolves around the American dream of a father who makes many mental errors that lead to his downfall.
The inner life of the father, Willy, is presented by the use of monologs in his head. He is a washed up salesman that does not realize it, and tries to rub off his overwhelming cockiness on his two sons.
Biff, one of his sons, transforms from a cocky, young football player into a doubtful, young man. Biff understands the reality of life through the falseness of the American dream, which ultimately, destroys his father who is living a virtual American dream. If Biff had listened to his father his whole life, he would still just be a cocky, young football player. Instead Biff realizes what a, ridiculous lie [his] life has been! (104). He

Death of a Salesman
By Arthur Miller
139 pages

realizes he does not want to follow in his fathers footsteps and become a washed up salesman. Biff just wants to live a normal life where Willy is not pressuring him about everything. Willy is one of those fathers who think their child is the greatest at everything no matter what. That is good in some cases, but not when Willy sets unrealistic goals for his child.
This drama portrays how many parents treat their children. Most parents try to push their children, but some go over the line, as seen in this drama. But what Willy has truly failed in is his family life and his married life. That is the corruption of the true American dream.
This drama deserves five stars because it always keeps you on your feet just waiting to see what will happen next. Brooks Atkinson of the New York Times says, this is one of the finest dramas in the whole range of the American theater.
The theme of this drama is seen in the mental approaches Willy has in his life. You have to think about what you say to certain individuals and spot errors. Could Willy Lomans downfall have been avoided or not?
This drama has a tragic but far-fetched ending that puts a twist on the entire novel. Willy does something drastic, which he thinks is best for his children. We will leave that for you to decide if this decision was the best one he could have made.

The novel, the theater, and cinema--perhaps the three most popular and enduring arts of the 20th century, with the last practically an indigenous American invention (with all due apologies to the Lumiere brothers, George Melies, and France in general). And that never-exhausted, always relevant and topical subject (suddenly seeming more controversial than ever), the "American Dream," has at least one essential, archetypal text in each of the three media. "The Great Gatsby" is still the leading contender in the novel; "Citizen Kane" is the acclaimed, indispensable film text (notwithstanding a maverick's personal preference for Altman's "Nashville"); "Death of a Salesman" cuts right to the heart of the grand national illusion with a surgical precision that O'Neill, Tennessee Williams, William Inge or any other playwright simply can't match.

If you've read or seen the play, you may wish to start at the end this time--the Requiem. After seeing it as a college freshman (performed by the Guthrie in Minneapolis), I experienced the full effects of an Aristotelian catharsis before even knowing what it was. At that time the easiest character to identify with was Biff--the straight-talking, tell-it-like-it-is, loving but self-analytical son who pronounces his father's the "wrong" dream, a lie that had poisoned family relations for his entire life. But as you continue reading through the Requiem you take seriously the eulogies of the remaining three characters, and as the years go by, each has the potential to become the definitive judgment upon the life of Willie Loman, the American dream, and even one's own life-story.

We give Hap some credit--it's the Leo Durocher-Vince Lombardi-Knute Rockne speech that we've heard so many times before, or seen portrayed in countless numbers of films, during which we receive rewarding, highly satisfying and spine-tingling sensations while witnessing the underdog finally come out on top by pursuing the dream with determination, faith and optimism--as though there were no other dream worth considering. Many of those who, in the early 1980s, greeted a new "morning in America" might find themselves nodding in agreement with Hap's belief in the self and in a free-enterprise system offering ample rewards to those with the sense to reach out for them. But for many other older thoughtful readers, Willie's friend Charlie comes closest to an acceptable diagnosis and evaluation. As if answering Biff directly, Charlie defends not the dream (or the system) but the person of Willie. It's presumptuous if not arrogant for any of us to blame someone like Willie for chasing after his dream. All he had, apart from his ability to build a porch and make house repairs, was a "shoeshine and a smile"--the prototypal American capitalist, seeking to make money out of money, caught up in a system that doesn't reward those without youth, good looks, industry and personal, charismatic energy. But a "system" is not a relationship, is not fulfilling of itself, leaves the stumbling Willies vulnerable to loneliness, disappointment, momentary glimpses of reality to be muted through escapes, whether gambling, alcohol, or in Willie's case, marital infidelity (though Miller, unlike the American Puritanical tradition and in the spirit of Dante, makes it quite clear that Willy's "fatal flaw" is not his cheating on Linda but his hypocrisy. The play ultimately refuses to equate morality with sexual behavior, and if we take Charlie seriously, even Willy's hypocrisy (his lies to Biff, Linda, himself) should not concern us.

So Charlie takes a forgiving line, one we might all wish our Maker would take toward us come judgement day. You can smile all you want, but when people stop smiling back--and some elder citizens just can't muster up the infectious smile of the aforementioned President, or they may no longer be noticed as individuals worthy of the attention and interest of others--the effect can be devastating. Charlie adds that those of us in a more fortunate position can't possibily understand what Willie went through and certainly "dare not" pass judgement, let alone negative criticism, on Willie.

It's pretty strong stuff, and Linda has to follow it. She doesn't, and she can't. But she nevertheless is given the last utterances in the play, and they move the listener even in their incoherence. It would be easy to blame Linda for "cooperating" with Willie's illusion, or to pity her for never really knowing what hit her and her family. But if we can suspend some of the currently popular ideologies--about marriage, gender relations, parasitic domestic arrangements--and simply listen to Linda's voice, we hear the sound of someone in shock but also of a caring, compassionate, steadfast life-partner, not merely "standing by her man" but offering encouragement, support, and hope--and all this even after Willie's suicidal attempts. Even with this burden on her mind, she doesn't blow the whistle on Willie, turn to a shrink, or run out on him, and she's perfectly content to settle for far less than first place: she's already made it plainly clear to us that, though she knows Willy is far from a rock star, she takes pride in him for nothing more than paying off the mortgage. Like the servant in Tolstoy's "The Death of Ivan Ilych" who, simply by rubbing the feet of the dying protagonist, offers comfort far beyond the words of all who visit Ivan, Linda continually reminds us that she's "there"--and has been all along. She emerges as a strong contender for hero's honors--not merely as a loyal, masochistic mate but a genuine "servant"--like those we read about in Chaucer, Mallory, and tales written in a pre-American genteel time.

The story of salesman Willy Loman. . . . A life not fulfilled. Tensions with sons. A career that is not blossoming.

Aristotle's take, as many normally think of it, is that a tragedy is about a noble person who has a tragic flaw and comes to understand that. Think Oedipus. This is, in a sense, Arthur Miller's take on tragedy for a common man--a tragic flaw. Is there a "growth of character"? The ending may hint at that. Or at desperation. . . .

This 1949 play is still powerful after all these years. . . .

You could call the play a critic on capitalist system but it is also simply the story about a man with a fatal error that leads to his downfall. Arthur Miller presents a complex and difficult character: Willy Loman. Willys mind and inner life are presented dramatically by the use of flashbacks and inner monologs.It is an interesting trip through psychology for the audience,to find out why Willy escapes into the past. Miller perfectly creates the illusion of the past and makes the audience experience a fusion of past an present by verbal and non-verbal theatrical technique.The audience can reach a deeper rational and emotional understanding of Willys situation during the play. The requiem interrupts this identification to make the audience have an objective view on Willys fate. Miller makes the audience realize the psychological development to make them critisize and think actively about it: Could Willy Lomans downfall have been avoided or not? By analysing Willys character his fatal error gets clear.Willy makes his own bad situation worse,e.g.by refusing his friends offer of a job. There for the play gives an advice to the audience:Think objectively about your behaviour and spot errors,like you spot Willys fatal error.

Willy Loman is the protagonist of the finest play ever written by an American. Eugene O'Neill and especially Tennessee Williams entertain perspectives on life that are much too neurotic to suit me. Arthur Miller's genius resulted in several wonderful plays, including After the Fall and The Crucible, but it is Death of a Salesman that stands in a class by itself as the quintessential American play. Yet, as Miller himself was quick to point out, Willy Loman's appeal is universal. Salesman has mesmerized audiences around the world because it treats a question that is basic to the human condition: "What does it mean for a person to have integrity?"

I've been thinking a lot lately about Willy Loman, as though he was a real person I once met and could never get out of my mind. I first met Willy when I was a young man studying acting with the Strasbergs in New York. Biff Loman was one of my favorite roles in class. I felt that he was me. Lacking the life experience to fully appreciate Willy, I identified more with Biff. One of the admirable qualities of Salesman is that it is possible to regard Linda or Biff or Happy as the main character depending upon who you are and where you are in life. Actually, Salesman takes place in Willy's mind so they are all manifestations of the salesman.

One of the quirky aspects of Death of a Salesman is that so many people think it is a play about a salesman. Miller uses the salesman's role as a metaphor for the struggle to find the meaning of life. Willy could just as well be a butcher or a proctologist, but Miller understood that we are all salesmen in a way. We spend so much effort selling - to ourselves and others - the entity that we take to be "me." Willy desperately tries to sell himself on the notion that his life has meaning, but his virulent hypocrisy makes that impossible. He is a hypocrite because his behavior violates the core values he pretends to embrace. When confronted with the question "Have I succeeded as a human being?" Willy is compelled to answer in the negative. This is a staggering realization, one that most of us would lack the moral courage to face honestly or directly. No wonder he kills himself.

The beauty of Salesman is that we love Willy in spite of his hypocrisy because, with all his imperfections, he is so human. As Miller later wrote, "The tragic feeling is evoked in us when we are in the presence of a character who is ready to lay down his life, if need be, to secure one thing--his sense of personal dignity." So not only do we love Willy, we admire him for desperately striving to attain some vestige of integrity even though he is unable to do so.

I am perhaps oversimplifying this complex play because it operates on so many different levels. Willy's suffering and its effect on those he loves defy simple analysis. Miller treats his characters with a depth of understanding that justifies a lifetime of contemplation. Salesman succeeds more than any other theatrical work in dealing with the issues of "Who am I?" and "What the hell am I doing here?"

Salesman also goes one step further as it expresses a chilling reality. Willy has devoted his life to a job for which in the end he is declared useless. In Miller's words, Willy has broken the law of success and therefore "has no right to live." We are valueless, Miller wrote, when we fail to fit the needs of efficient production. "We have finally come to serve the machine," he concluded. It raises the hair on the back of my neck.

I mentioned that Salesman takes place in Willy's mind. This explains why it has been so difficult to film a satisfying version of this play. Movies are a linear art form. Salesman is more stream of consciousness, which works better in the theater where, with the imaginative use of lighting and staging, you can shift from thought to thought and back again. If I could go back in time, one of my first priorities would be to attend the original Broadway production of Death of a Salesman with Lee J. Cobb as Willy. Arthur Miller said that Cobb was the finest dramatic actor he'd ever seen. Cobb was still in his thirties when he played 60-year-old Willy, yet by all accounts his performance was brilliant. Most of the Willys I've seen were unremarkable, notably Dustin Hoffman's one-dimensional caricature. My favorite Willy remains Philip Baker Hall, who captured the salesman's desperation, vulnerability, and sadness in a 1980s Los Angeles production.

This is a play about the universal relationship between father and sons and mother and sons, of disappointment and regret, and of the sadness of growing old. Superb melodrama that stands the test of time.

not sure why a teacher would want to read 50 research papers on Death of a Salesman, but mine does. This book will fill several lines on the works cited page.

I hate the characters in this. Everything is fake to them. They think they can pretend their way through life. Why would I emotionally invest in a play if none of the characters are worth my time? There are some deep, important issues touched on, depression and suicide, but I prefer these issues be approached in an entertaining way. People don't go to plays to feel bad about life.