Arthur Millers Death of a Salesman 1949

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Arthur Millers Death of a Salesman (1949)

• EN2112, Week 7
• 30 September 2008

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Housekeeping.

• This Wednesday is Hari Raya Puasa, so no JWB
  tutorial it will happen on the following week
  during the same time, same place.
• Papers Im grading the first bunch, then Ill
  go over them with Edwina. Edwina will grade
  second bunch, then go over with me. Give me
  another week, svp. Will give next essay
  assignment next week.
• Questions?

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Arthur Miller, b. 17 October 1915 d. February
10, 2005
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Perhaps the most famous American Playwright?

• one of Americas most respected playwrights, his
  critical reputation rests upon a relatively small
  body of work produced between 1947and 1968.
• Death of a Salesman and The Crucible (1953) are
  his most famous works.

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He was married to Marilyn Monroe!
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biographical

• Ambivalent feelings about his father, who never
  fully recovered from damage done by Great
  Depression. Oedipal theme regular in his work.
• Solid Jewish family, possible source of moral
  seriousness
• When to radical U of Michigan, joined Federal
  Theater Project in 1938, which was closed because
  of suspected communist infiltration.
• Like all postwar America writers, he wrote in the
  wake of Modernism, under the towering figure of
  Joyce.

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DoS was an immediate success

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• Death of a Salesman, 1949 Death of a Salesman
  premiered on Broadway on February 10, 1949 at the
  Morosco Theatre, directed by Kazan, and starring
  Lee J. Cobb as Willy Loman, Mildred Dunnock as
  Linda, Arthur Kennedy as Biff, and Cameron
  Mitchell as Happy. The play was commercially
  successful and critically acclaimed, winning a
  Tony Award for best play, the New York City Drama
  Circle Critics Award, and the Pulitzer Prize for
  Drama. It was the first play to win all three of
  these major awards. The searing drama ran for 742
  performances.5 http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ar
  thur_Miller

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Miller behaved honourably during HUAC wrote
about it as well

• Miller was, in a sense, living the writers
  version of the American dreamGREAT success.
• HUAC prosecuted writers, actors, teachers as well
  as union organizers
• General strategy is to seed betrayal into a
  movement (see handout)
• AM comported himself well.

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Miller vs previous dramatic giant, Eugene ONeill

• --like Eugene ONeill, his work is grounded in
  dramatic realism yet marked by experiments in
  Expressionist technique (
• --like ONeills, Millers plays often attempt to
  capture formal power of Greek tragedy but in
  modern settings
• --like ONeill, driven by dissatisfaction with
  American Dream and commercialism
• --unlike ONeill his plays dont ramble over
  vast landscapes but are dramatically tight
• --M. is a precise craftsman, has detailed
  exposition, moves toward focused dramatic ironies
• --unlike ONeil, not interested in FATE or GOD
  but rather in how human beings have created their
  own social structures and paradigms

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Some key moments in the play

• Opening
• Willy as a father
• Uncle Bens visit
• Willy between Charley and Ben
• Biffs self-awareness
• Acceleration the restaurant debacle
• The funeral