Death of a Salesman

Arthur Miller’s play Death of A Salesman can easily be defined as a tragedy. Miller himself places Death of Salesman in the canon of tragic dramatic literature by linking Willy Loman’s personal struggle to those of Hamlet, Medea and Macbeth, acknowledging these character’s internal struggle to gain their “rightful” place society (in his essay Tragedy and the Common Man for the New York Times). Miller’s quote “It is time, I think, that we who are with out kings, took up this bright thread of our history and followed it... - the heart and spirit of the average man”, really defines for me why this piece was so heart wrenching. In the majority of historical pieces, we are always placing our expectations on the king, the warrior, the fearless leader, for better or for worse. But Death of a Salesman’s cast is a slew of common characters, a family that could have lived on our grandparent’s block. No member of the Lowman family wishes to move mountains, but rather seeks some of life’s attainable and more common joys. They seem to be good people whose lives end up defined by their frustration for things just out of their reach. Linda, the consummate housewife, just wants to pay their bills and repair her son’s damaged relationship with her husband. Biff Lowman is looking for a career and a family, something to ground him from his seemingly confused and aimless lifestyle. Hap Lowman wants peaceful coexistence and for Biff’s confidence to come back. And then there is Willy Lowman, who wants most of all. He wants to be respected, admired and remembered, but we must remember that his loftier aspirations are all for the sake of his family. He wants to impress his boys, support his wife, and maybe have enough good soil and light to grow a vegetable garden in his backyard. These desires are all so basic and so human, the fact that none (except the mortgage, after 35 years) come to fruition is what creates the invasive and deep sense of tragedy at the end of the play.