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Introduction
When it was first performed on Broadway, "Death of a Salesman" ran for over 742 performances, and was a striking success. It made Arthur Miller's reputation and some thought it set the standard for American drama in general. Some critics were even moved to call this the American "King Lear". Arthur Miller recalls that people were stunned after the first performance and then moved to lengthy, rapturous applause. Some people openly wept. The corresponding performances in London and Paris were less ecstatic: much of the American style of the play would not be so familiar to international audiences in 1949 who did not know as much about America from the media as we do today.
Analyses
Capitalism and the value of life
"Death of a Salesman" is the story of a man who comes to the conclusion that he can only save his life by losing it: Willy Loman eventually has to commit suicide to redeem himself in his own eyes and achieve something for his family. The play suggests that tragedy may befall the most ordinary life in contemporary society, and for this reason, it raises issues about the way we all live and work and dream of happiness. As Arthur Miller has written, the play represents the need to "face the fact of death to strengthen ourselves for life".
Despite the setting in 1949, many of the features of American society which it depicts are still with us. The economic system of capitalism, where we are encouraged to accumulate capital as a symbol of success and a protection against disaster for our families, is familiar to today's audiences. Willy finds that purely financial terms he is worth more dead than alive. This, of course, is not an uncommon situation for some of us today. The insurance money he believes his family will collect if he dies may enable them to survive in much better conditions and realise the dreams he could not fulfil. On the face of it, therefore, to come to such an conclusion is a terrible indictment of the world in which we live.
Willy Loman presents the ultimate challenge to an "unreal" society which is based on capitalism, since he concludes that twenty thousand dollars is worth more than his life. Can a man really be valued at the amount of money which he is worth? If so, then capitalist societies such as America, have reduced human beings to commodities, and dehumanisation is inevitable.
If the play is an indictment of our way of life then it has profound implications for all societies which now embrace the ethos of capitalism. Arthur Miller's early flirtation with Marxism is often suspected to be an influence here, but he has explicitly rejected the idea that the play is overtly political. Whilst he obviously had sympathies with aspects of Communist thinking, he maintains that his work is much more than the sum total of its political implications.
An ordinary man
For some critics, the play shows a central character who makes a number of rather obvious errors. Willy may be making ordinary mistakes, but he is also fighting back against his fate in an unusual way. Willy Loman is sometimes full of contradictions, overly ambitious, blind to his vanities and unsympathetic towards those who love him. At other times, however, he is courageous, determined to the point of fanaticism, and almost a martyr to his family.
The contradictions in Willy's character perhaps seem less strange now than they did in 1949, as inconsistency of character has almost become a hallmark of literature in the latter part of the century. The view that we are pulled in different directions by social forces which work against each other has become increasingly accepted.
Arthur Miller's own position is that he is neither blaming society alone, nor presenting a pathetic character who is the author of his own misfortunes. The play, according to Arthur Miller offers something between these two extremes - it is a study of how man and society interrelate. In Willy, Arthur Miller has created a character who compels his audience to ask fundamental questions about human freedom and necessity which we can all recognise as significant. As Arthur Miller put it, "the assumption was that everyone knew Williy Loman".
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