Arthur Miller is one of the most renowned and important American playwrights to ever live. His

works include, among others, The Crucible and A View from the Bridge. The plays he has written

have been criticized for many things, but have been praised for much more, including his magical

development of the characters and how his plays provide “good theater”. In his plays, Miller rarely

says anything about his home life, but there are at least some autobiographical “hints” in his plays.

Arthur Miller is most noted for his continuing efforts to devise suitable new ways to express new

and different themes. His play Death of a Salesman, a modern tragedy, follows along these lines. The

themes in this play are described and unfurled mostly through Willy Loman’s, the main character in

the play, thoughts and experiences. The story takes place mainly in Brooklyn, New York, and it also

has some “flashback” scenes occurring in a hotel room in Boston. Willy lives with his wife Linda and

their two sons, Biff and Happy in a small house, crowded and boxed in by large apartment buildings.

The three most important parts of Death of a Salesman are the characters and how they develop

throughout the play; the conflicts, with the most important ones revolving around Willy; and the

masterful use of symbolism and other literary techniques which lead into the themes that Miller is

trying to reveal. Arthur Miller was born in Manhattan on October 17, 1915 to Isidore and Augusta

Barnett Miller. His father was a ladies coat manufacturer. Arthur Miller went to grammar school in

Harlem but then moved to Brooklyn because of his father’s losses in the depression. In Brooklyn he

went to James Madison and Abraham Lincoln High Schools and was an average student there, but

did not get accepted to college. After high school, he worked for 2 ½ years at an auto supply

warehouse where he saved $13 of his $15 a week paycheck. He began to read such classics as

Dostoevski and his growing knowledge led him to the University of Michigan. While at the

University of Michigan, Miller worked many jobs such as a mouse tender at the University

laboratory and as a night editor at the newspaper Michigan Daily. He began to write plays at college

and won 2 of the $500 Hopwood Playwriting Awards. One of the two awarded plays No Villain

(1936) won the Theater’s Guild Award for 1938 and the prize of $1250 encouraged him to become

engaged with Mary Grace Slattery, whom he married in 1940. Miller briefly worked with the

Federal Theater Project and in 1944 he traveled to Army Camps across Europe to gather material

for a play he was doing. His first Broadway play, The Man Who Had All the Luck, opened in 1944.

Since then he has written 13 award winning plays and more than 23 different noted books. He had

two children with Mary Grace Slattery, Jane and Robert, but divorced her and in 1956 married

Marilyn Monroe. He then divorced her later that decade, and, in 1962, married Ingeborg Morath

and had one child with her, named Rebecca. He now lives on 400 acres of land in Connecticut and

spends his time gardening, mowing, planting evergreens, and working as a carpenter. He still writes

each day for four to six hours. His father always told him to read. He once said, “Until the age of

seventeen, I can safely say that I never read a book weightier than ‘Tom Swift and the Rover Boys’,

but my father brought me into literature with Dickens”(Nelson, Pg. 59). His father’s good-natured

joking was used to invent the character of Joe Keller’s genial side. After the Fall (1947) is a play

written by Miller where he sneaks in some small autobiographical notes. The character traits

exhibited by the main woman in the play indicate his mother’s early encouragement to his literary

promise. The Depression still troubles him today, especially for the hard times that he went through

as a child. In an interview, he once said, It seems easy to tell how it was to live in those years, but I

have made several attempts to tell it and when I do try I know I cannot quite touch that mysterious

underwater, vile thing. (Welland, Pg. 38) His parents could not afford college for him, so the

Depression affected his life in many ways. Miller hated the McCarthy Witch-hunt trials of the early

1950’s, and once was called before that tribunal but was acquitted of all charges. His play, The

Crucible, is a very powerful allegory to the McCarthy trials. He has used the American industry

many times in his works and criticizes such social aspects of American society as it’s bad moral

values and people who put too much importance on material wealth. Miller especially admired

Henrik Ibsen, the great Norwegian master of the “well-made”, or tightly constructed, ordered play.

Miller was familiar with the works of Eugene O’Neill, Clifford Odets, and Thornton Wilder as well as

that of such European Experimentalists as Bertholdt Brecht. All My Sons, Miller’s first drama to

receive critical acclaim seemed to largely follow Ibsen’s style and form, the theme and even plot are

based on some of Ibsen’s greatest works. Miller’s plays received a broad audience and made the

dialogue as plain as possible for the “common man” to understand. One critic, Euphemia Wyatt,

once said, “I think the closest parallel to Death of a Salesman is Ibsen’s The Wild Duck, where every

action in the present works toward revelation of the past” (Welland, Pg. 38). Miller believed that an

ordinary person is able to serve well as a tragic hero if he gives up everything in the pursuit of

something he wants intensely. Miller’s tragic heroes are usually confused. For example, Willy is

confused about success and happiness. His “solution” to these problems of committing suicide is a

highly questionable one, at the least. But, Willy is planning on committing suicide for the

betterment of his family, which is an admirable objective. He is willing to sacrifice everything he

has, specifically his life, for his convictions, which makes him, with using Miller’s definition, the

epitome of a perfect tragic hero. Miller used very creative and original formats in almost all of his

works. For example, he has Willy holding two conversations at the same time, which shows the

problems going on inside of his head. When Willy is reminded of the Boston hotel room incident, he

relives the event and feels all the pain like it had just happened. “His language is sometimes

considered banal and lacking emotional power” (Moss, 125). Some critics believe that Miller has

been too negative towards American society by showing mostly only the worst of what people can

do. Also, he has been criticized by saying that he only shows the inhumane, mechanical workings of

a business, never the loyalty that a company shows to its hardest workers. Some critics say his

“common man” heroes are “little” and in the worst case, just common people. It has also been said

that his heroes are not genuinely human enough to qualify as tragic figures at all. He has also been

criticized for using untraditional techniques like the Act One “Overture” in The Crucible and the

“Requiem” in Death of a Salesman. Miller always tries to find new forms of style to explore new and

different themes. Among these themes Miller takes into effect the vital contemporary issues of his

time. Even those who disagree with his literary, political, or social views say that he does care about

society and tries to tie in morals with his works. Many also say his plays provide “good theater”,

that his stories effect them emotionally, as well as mentally, and that they “stir the heart”. A critic

who, while working for The New York Times, once called Death of a Salesman “one of the finest

dramas in the whole range of the American theater” (Corrigan, Pg. 94) and John Gassner saw it as

“one of the triumphs of American stage” (MacNicholas, Pg. 106). So, it can be stated that Miller’s

works command attention. Death of a Salesman won the Pulitzer Prize, the Drama Critic’s Circle

Award and many others when it opened in 1949. Symbolism, foreshadowing and conflict are 3 of

the many things that Miller does best. All of these literary techniques have added a tremendous

amount to Death of a Salesman and many others of his works. The play begins when Willy Loman, a

salesman over 60, enters his house unexpectedly, and tells his worried wife, Linda, that, on his way

to appointments in New England, he kept losing control of his car. She urges him to ask Howard

Wagner, Willy’s young boss, for easier work in town so he will not have to drive as far anymore,

“Willy, dear. Talk to them again. There’s no reason why you can’t work in New York” (Miller, Act 1,

Scene 1). She also happily states that their two grown sons, Biff and Happy, are upstairs and sharing

their old room. Willy is concerned that Biff, 34 years old, just quit another job out west. The entire

conflict between Biff and Willy can be proven as starting at their meeting in Boston. When Biff saw

his father, the man he idolized, with another woman, Biff's faith in him was shattered. To Biff, Willy

was a hero, but after this scene, he denounces him as a fraud. When Biff gets home, he burns his

University of Virginia shoes, which represented all of Biff's hopes and dreams. Biff no longer has

feelings for Willy as Linda says, Biff, dear, if you don't have any feeling for him, then you can't have

any feeling for me(Act 1, Scene 9). Linda believes that, since she loves Willy, Biff cannot come and

just see her because it would hurt Willy too much. Biff had believed in his father as being a great

man, and he realizes that he was wrong. When Linda asks Biff what is wrong between him and his

father, Biff recoils and says that it is not his fault. Biff does not want to tell Linda that the whole

problem is because of Willy's betrayal of her, so he just keeps it to himself and becomes the object

of her anger. Willy's problem with society is that modern business is impersonal. Even though

business is business(Act 2, Scene 2), Willy should have been treated like a human being, not just a

faceless employee. Howard, the owner of the business that Willy works for, believes that if an

employee does not bring in profits, than that they are expendable. He takes no interest whatsoever

in Willy's past selling records, his association with his father, or with pledges made years ago.

Howard's only concern is with the efficient operation of his firm, and he represents the cold,

practical impersonality of modern business. Charley tries to tell Willy about this, Willy, when're you

gonna realize that them things don't mean anything? You named him Howard, but you can't sell

that. The only thing you got in this world is what you can sell. And the funny thing is that you're a

salesman, and you don't know that(Act 2, Scene 6). It was hard for Willy to hang onto his personal

dignity and to live with himself as being such a poor supplier of his family's needs. He was trapped

in a situation and saw himself as a failure. Society forgot Willy Loman existed and did not help him

when he needed it, and his mental state made it impossible for him to help himself. Willy believed

that he had to sell himself more than he had to sell his products. His whole outlook on life was

wrong; he believed in attributes that a good salesman would be attractive, a good storyteller, well

liked and that when he died everyone from far and wide would go to his funeral. He got this idea

from the story of Dave Singleton, who represented, to Willy, the epitome of success as a salesman.

Willy is having mental problems, delusions of his long-dead brother Ben, whom he has many

advice-searching conversations with. Ben represented success to Willy by Ben's dignity, status and

wealth, not his attributes, There was a man started with the clothes on his back and ended up with

diamond mines(Act 1, Scene 4). The lies he keeps telling other people and the dreams he has for

success actually begin to convince Willy that he was a great salesman who was known everywhere

he went, ...'cause one thing, boys: I have friends. I can park my car in any street in New England and

the cops protect it like their own(Act 1, Scene 3). His deteriorating condition is exposed many times,

but is most prominent when he is talking with both Charlie and Ben at the same time. Another

example of the conflict inside of Willy is his repeated references to suicide. In Charley's office, Willy

says, Funny, y'know? After all the highways, and the trains, and the appointments, and the years,

you end up worth more dead than alive(Act 2, Scene 6). Willy has already been contemplating

suicide, but this is the first, straight-out mention of it. He takes suicide to be an honorable thing,

something that would help his family greatly. His mental condition makes him forget the fact that

suicide is a cowardly option for getting out of his responsibilities. The climax of the story is after

Happy and Biff return home from the dinner with Willy and the whole family has a big argument.

Biff tells Willy that he is sorry for hurting him and says, “If I strike oil I’ll send you a check.

Meantime, forget I’m alive” (Act 2, Scene 14). The father-son conflict between them ends in this

conversation. It is the most emotional part of the play and where Willy is relieved of some guilt. The

denouement of the play is when Willy realizes that Biff loves him and has always loved him. Willy

also believes that Biff could one day be a very wealthy man, if only he had some money to start with.

Willy believes that the twenty thousand dollars that his life insurance policy is worth is enough.

With these thoughts, and his mental problems affecting his thinking, he takes his car and commits

suicide. The conclusion to Death of a Salesman takes place at Willy’s funeral where only his closest

friends show up. This only proves even more so that Willy’s dreams were unrealistic. Biff offers

Happy a chance to break away from their father’s far-fetched dreams, but Happy does not take the

offer. Charley tries to comfort Linda, but she wants to be alone with Willy. They all leave and Linda

tells Willy’s grave that the mortgage on their house is finally paid off and that she is hurting that he

won’t be there to share it with him. The right term for the language in Death of a Salesman is

probably describing it as “Modern American”. The speech is in the relaxed talking language of

modern America, “Gee, I’d love to go with you sometime, dad” (Act 1, Scene 3). The Lomans live in

Brooklyn, but the famous “Noo Yawka” accent is barely heard. The characters use the common

speaking slang of conversation. But, when Happy tries to impress the two prostitutes at the

restaurant, he speaks in a more formal tone, “Why don’t you bring-excuse me miss, do you mind? I

sell champagne, and I’d like you to try my brand. Bring her a champagne, Stanley” (Act 2, Scene 7).

Most of the action takes place inside of Willy’s disturbed mind, as he relives crucial scenes from the

past even while groping through present-day encounters. The rest of the action takes place in the

kitchen and two bedrooms of Willy’s modest Brooklyn home. It was once in a suburban area but is

now crowded in by high apartment buildings, “The way they boxed us in here. Bricks and windows,

windows and bricks” (Act 1, Scene 1). The kitchen has a table in it with three chairs and a

refrigerator. No other fixtures are in the kitchen. There is a living room in the house, which is not

fully furnished. The boys’ bedroom has a bed with a brass bedstead and a straight chair. On a shelf

over the bed is a silver athletic trophy. This setting shows the monetary restrictions on the Loman

family. Howard’s office is filled with expensive things that make him feel “rich”. This setting is

another way for Miller to show the spite he feels towards people who put too much emphasis on

material gain. One of the things in his office is a recording machine which Howard is obsessed with,

“This is the most fascinating relaxation I ever found” (Act 2, Scene 2). Frank’s Chop House is a small,

family run business with a small dining room. This setting is important because it serves as the

location where Biff and Happy desert their father. The Boston hotel room has a bed, bathroom, and

a small dresser. This setting serves as the place where Biff loses all his faith in his father, “You fake!

You phony little fake! You fake!” (2, 13) Willy is a broken exhausted man in his 60’s, soon to end his

life. He exaggerates and lies throughout his life to appear more well off. This stems from his feelings

of failure. He worked steadily for thirty-six years at a job and has paid off a long-term mortgage.

Even though he has supported his family, his own huge aspirations make him feel like he has been a

failure. He also has bad moral values and continuously gives his children the wrong advice. Willy

had, at one point in his life, been a very confident man, but is now weak of both mind and body, as

Linda expresses here, “But you’re sixty years old. They can’t expect you to keep traveling every

week.” (1, 1). He wants Biff to love him but knows why Biff is so angry with him. He wants Biff to

have a good life so decides to kill himself and get the insurance policy for Biff and Happy. Once he

sees that Biff loves him, he says “Biff, he likes me” (2, 14), with a great look of joy on his face. Biff

probably changes for the best as the play progresses. From a lying, stealing person in the beginning

he changes in the end to where he is reaching for a more realistic idea of what his life is all about.

Biff cared for his father and was deeply hurt to see that his father, the man he admired most, was

capable of infidelity and lying to his wife. He tended to go to extremes, though. His passionate

insistence, toward the end, that he is “nothing,” or that he and his father are both “a dime a dozen,”

still sounds a little like the uncompromising disclaimer of the younger Biff who had sobbingly

burned his sneakers. Now he sees his father’s dreams as “All, all wrong.” Yet although he still talks a

little like the sports hero, he is now groping toward a more realistic, more mature self-appraisal. He

realizes that neither Willy nor Happy will ever even get that far. Happy, at first, seems to

understand life better than either Biff or Willy, but then it is shown that he is a very accomplished

liar. He has all but convinced himself that he is slated to become his store’s next merchandise

manager. He cannot quiet his own scruples, he knows he is wrong when he takes bribes, and he has

some sense of guilt regarding the seduction of other men’s fiancées, but does not stop either

practice. He refuses to face unpleasant truths and is always trying to impress people. Whatever

occasional admissions he makes, he will not give up his dream world or his shabby sexual affairs.

He may talk of changing his ways or getting married, but he never sounds convincing. He is finally

seen rejecting Biff’s invitation to start anew and prefers to justify Willy’s illusive dream of coming

out “number-one man” (Requiem). Unlike Biff, Happy learns relatively little from witnessing his

father’s collapse. Linda is primarily a wife rather than mother in this play. If she is seen as motherly,

her ministrations are for Willy rather than her sons. She is forever soothing, flattering and tactfully

suggesting courses of action to Willy. She is almost always patient and kind to him, ignoring his

minor outbursts and considerately accepting with grace such obvious deceptions as the burrowing

of money from Charley. Linda loves Willy and regards his suffering with compassion. But she

humors him as a child rather than meeting him squarely as an adult. Yet the same mild-mannered,

gentle Linda can be surprisingly blunt and harsh, though, when she talks with her sons. She once

tells Happy to his face that he is a “philandering bum” (Act 1, Scene 9). After the restaurant disaster,

she denounces both her sons fiercely, flings away their flowers and imperiously orders them out of

the house. Her one thought is Willy. If their presence cheers him or helps him in some way, she is

glad to have them around, but if what they do further upsets her already disturbed grown-up

“child,” then the sons must go and not return. Bernard and Charley contrast strikingly to the

Lomans. Unlike Willy, Charley lays no claim to greatness, but is content. He goes along calmly and

quietly, undistinguished but relatively content. His salvation, he once declared, is that he never took

any interest in anything. That, of course, is not literally true for he shows unusually generous

consideration to Willy and wants to help him, “I am offering you a job” (Act 2, Scene 6). He set

himself a modest goal and is satisfied with modest achievements. Bernard is no match athletically

to the Lomans, but gets good grades and is forging ahead brilliantly. When he is last seen, he is

heading to Washington, DC to plead a case in front of the Supreme Court. Willy stands in wonder as

Bernard leaves and asks Charley why Bernard was not bragging, Charley replies, “He don’t have to-

he’s gonna do it” (Act 2, Scene 5). Charley, on his part, takes issue with Willy on such vital matters

as the importance of being well liked. Yet it is he who in the end defends Willy to Biff in almost

melodic terms. Willy sneered at Charley, insulted him, and then borrowed sizable sums from him,

but Charley can say with vehemence, “Nobody dast blame this man” (Requiem). This father-son

combination is an exact opposite of Happy and Willy, they understand right and wrong. The

symbolism in Death of a Salesman is a major aspect of the story. One of the symbols, specifically,

Biff’s sports shoes with the University of Virginia printed on the sole, represent his confident dream

of a bright future through an athletic scholarship. When his dreams are shattered, he destroys the

shoes in a fit of angry bitterness. The stockings mentioned throughout the play stand for infidelity.

They represent Willy’s attempt to look impressive outside the home by giving a box of brand new

ones to the woman he has an affair with. Linda darns her own stockings and that makes Willy feel

like a bad provider for his family along with reminding him of his affair. Ben’s African cache of

diamonds, to Willy, stands for his insurance policy. It is the great pile of gold waiting for him if he

takes the opportunity. Ben is always seen looking at his watch and this symbolizes the time that

Willy has to take the opportunity. Finally, Ben says, “Time, William, time!” (Act 2, Scene 14). With

that, Ben is telling Willy to go through with his decision. The opportunity that they keep mentioning

is Willy committing suicide. Another symbol, Dave Singleman, the famous salesman, stands for

success. He was everything that Willy ever dreamed of being. Willy wanted his funeral to be like

Singleman’s, with hundreds of people showing up and telling each other how great Willy was. One

literary technique that Miller used well in Death of a Salesman is foreshadowing. One time, Willy

says to Charley in his office, “Funny, y’know? After all the highways, and the trains, and the

appointments, and the years, you end up worth more dead than alive” (Act 2, Scene 6). Charley

realizes what Willy is implying and replies to him, “Willy, nobody’s worth anything dead” (Act 2,

Scene 6). This shows how Willy has already made up his mind to commit suicide. Also Willy’s

Chevrolet and the rubber tube serve as the means for him to do that. These two things also are hints

to the outcome of Willy’s life. Another literary technique Miller used is called flashback. The

flashbacks are used as revelations of things mentioned in the present-day conversations. They

serve as a tool to help the reader understand the background to the story. Willy is often caught

reliving the Boston hotel room scene, and is also sometimes reminded of the better times he had

with his family when he was younger. A final literary technique Miller used well is irony. The reader

sees that the problem between Willy and Biff is that Biff has lost all faith in his father. Linda often

wonders why Biff hates his father so much, and never knows what is really going on. Biff: Because I

know he’s a fake and he doesn’t like anybody around who knows! Linda: Why a fake? In what way?

What do you mean? Biff: Just don’t lay it all at my feet. It’s between me and him-that’s all I have to

say. (Act 1, Scene 9) Linda has no idea of what is behind Biff’s dislike for his father, and is

sometimes confused by it. One theme Miller expresses in Death of a Salesman is the corruption of

modern business. Willy has worked for over 30 years for the Wagner Company, and, even though,

to Howard, “Business is business” (Act 2, Scene 2), Willy’s plea of slightly more consideration as a

human being is wrenching and serves to underscore this theme. Even Charley says that personal

association does not count for much, but contradicts this when he offers his broken friend a job.

Another theme expressed is unethical practices and questionable morality. Willy seems

undisturbed by the news that Biff has not been studying. He passes off some of Biff’s actions, such

as his cheating on exams and stealing the football, as being “examples of initiative”. Willy also tries

to excuse his infidelity by saying “She’s nothing to me, Biff. I was lonely, I was terribly lonely.” (Act

2, Scene 13). Willy also says nothing to Biff when he tells him that he stole a football from his school

locker-room and also Oliver’s personalized pen. Willy, Biff, and Happy all lie repeatedly throughout

the play, with only Biff feeling bad about what he had done. We see that this family falls apart and

that this theme should serve as a moral to anyone who reads it. A final theme seen in Death of a

Salesman is family solidarity. Early on in its history, it is seen that the family is very happy and that

the two sons admire their hard-working father deeply, “We were lonesome for you pop” (Act 1,

Scene 3). As the play progresses, it is shown that the whole family is unhappy, and that the bond

between them all is unraveling as time passes. To resolve their problems, and if they wanted to help

each other, they would have tried to discuss their problems instead of keeping them inside and

arguing with each other. Willy’s mental problems affected this, because he could only talk to his

dead brother Ben about his family problems. If the family had stuck together, they might have

pulled through Willy’s terrible problems. If the play All My Sons signaled the arrival of Arthur Miller

as a most promising playwright, Death of a Salesman raised him to the rank of major American

dramatist. He has been considered by many to be the greatest of American playwrights. Some of

Miller’s contemporaries, who are themselves considered as being some of America’s leading

writers, have bestowed high praise upon him and his works. Gilbert W. Gabriel described Death of a

Salesman as a “fine thing, finely done” (Corrigan, 95). Also, one of the most noticeable writers of all

time, Euphemia Wyatt, termed it as being the, “great American tragedy” (Corrigan, 96). After

reading this play a few times, the reader is left in an awe-inspired state. It is mind-boggling to

actually see the pure essence of Miller’s meaning. He develops themes and morals so well in his

works, especially Death of a Salesman, that it is taken for granted. The messages are easily seen, but

never fully understood until the reader first understands the story. Miller’s craftsmanship in this

play is indisputable of being on the level of a masterpiece. Every aspect of the play is done

magnificently well, and Miller blends these separate ideas together brilliantly. The symbolism and

irony, especially, are two of the greatest aspects of the play. Miller’s unorthodox style adds even

more to the greatness of the play. The flashbacks he uses are, at first, a confusing part of the play,

but, when read over, only enhance the powerful messages told in it. The reader understands easier

the problems that Willy faces because of Miller’s style. Without the flashbacks, the background to

his mental problems would not have been easily seen. The reader also sees the importance of the

play in American society. Death of a Salesman, among other of his works, is used as a messenger of

things Miller would like to see done away with in American society. He criticizes material wealth,

the lack of American family values, and the lack of mutual responsibility between people. Miller,

with just putting these themes into a great story, can be considered a good writer. Everything else

that he has done in his works makes him a true master of plays.

Bibliography

“Arthur Miller”. Microsoft Encarta. CD-ROM. Microsoft Corporation. 1996 Corrigan, Robert W.

Arthur Miller- A Collection of Literary Essays. Englewood, New Jersey: Dutton; 1969. Hayman,

Ronald. Arthur Miller. London: Heinemann Educational; 1960. MacNicholas, John. “Arthur Miller”.

DLB (Volume 7, Part 2). Detroit: Bruccoli Clark Books; 1981. PP 86-111. Miller, Arthur. Death of a

Salesman. Ringwood, Victoria, Australia: Penguin Plays; 1976. Moss, Leonard. Arthur Miller. New

York: McKay; 1970. Murray, Edward. Arthur Miller: Dramatist. New York: F. Unger Press; 1967.

Nelson, Benjamin. Arthur Miller- Portrait of a Playwright. New York: Grove Press; 1961. Unger,

Leonard. “Arthur Miller”. American Writers- A Collection of Literary Biographies. (Volume 4). New

York: Simon and Schuster MacMillan; 1974. PP 145-169. Welland, Dennis. Arthur Miller. New York:

Twayne; 1967.

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