How does Miller’s portrayal of the past in the dramatic structure of ‘Death of a Salesman’ enrich the audience’s understanding of the character of Willy Loman?In the play, ‘Death of a Salesman’ the past is as relevant and important as the present. Arthur Miller uses the past to help us understand Willy Loman as a character and why and how he got into his present situation. Also to help us understand his development and personality change through his experiences.
This is quite an unusual and interesting concept but not quite so as the way Miller changes from past to present. ‘Surrounding become covered with leaves.’He does this by having Willy talk to himself, the lights changing, the scene adapting and a flute playing softly in the background. Some versions of the play may start the scene at one half of the stage and move them to the other side.
This shows that we are moving from present to past or past to present, changing era/tense. ‘Music insinuates itself.’ The flute relates to Willy’s father who made flutes, sold them and earned enough from this to look after his family. This is significant because the flute shows going into the past and Willy’s father is part of Willy’s past, but at the same time it is ironic because Willy’s father was everything that Willy isn’t – a successful businessman.
The structure of the play resembles a stream of consciousness account, with a number of different situations happening at the same time. This makes it hard to fit any past along with the present. Miller achieves this by discussing one subject in the present then one in the past – relating to the present situation. Thus the structure’s pattern is present/past/present, etc.
This is unusual compared to other plays, books and stories in which they have all their present together in one section and all their past in another section – usually starting with the past.Act One, pages 15-21 is the initial time that you as the reader/audience experience Miller’s going into the past, and begin to understand from the written play how it is performed and grasp the effect of the stage change. The characters involved are ‘Biff’, Willy’s first-born, or so the play suggests, ‘Happy’, Biff’s younger brother and ‘Willy’. It is set about twenty years ago.
Outside, Happy and Biff are simonising Willy’s expensive red Chevrolet. This is slightly confusing the first time you readBy Daniel Smart 2this because you already gather from the conversation about profit, that he has with his wife a few pages before, that Willy’s income is low. So why have an expensive car? Willy could be trying to fit in with what he would call the height of the business world/society and to make himself have an aroma of power and wealth, to also be impressive. ‘Terrific.
Terrific job, boys. Good work, Biff.’ Willy congratulates his two sons but doesn’t use Happy’s name and does use Biff’s. This shows that he respects Biff more and does not treat them equally.
As the audience, we see this as unfair and an immature way to treat Happy. Later on, Happy says ‘I’m losing weight, you notice Pop?’ This shows he knows what is going on and is trying to attract his father’s attention.However what is interesting is how Willy’s relationship with his two sons flips as later on we see that Happy has more respect from his father and respects his father more than Biff. Biff: ‘he had all the wrong dreams.
‘ Happy: ‘don’t say that.’ This could be because Biff never achieved anything with his life and didn’t want to, but Happy did, and followed in his father footsteps of being a salesman. It is as if Happy is trying to compensate for the attention that he never had. As the audience we feel sorry for Willy because there seems to be a distant relationship between him and his son, we know how hard Willy’s life is and how many emotions he has hidden away inside of him, (affair) stress, anger and frustration are only a few emotions concealed in Willy’s incredibly complex character, so pity the frailer of the upbringing of Biff who is not successful, and the collapse of his and fathers friendship.
So we can understand the disappointment and guilt that it was his fault, Willy could be feeling.Another scene, telling the audience more about the type of person Willy is, can be found in Act One, pages 24-25, in which Willy is recalling an affair he had with someone who is entitled ‘The Woman’. Miller does not give The Woman a proper name because she could be anyone. Willy could have had affairs with more women.
Also, he doesn’t want her to be a character in herself, but more a means of conveying what Willy’s weak spot is. ‘Me? You didn’t make me, Willy, I picked you’.The woman compliments Willy, which may make him feel less of a failure. In addition he might be using her to buy his products.
Willy’s job may not be the most interesting, and on the longer of his car journeys he may feel solitary but none of these excuses can account for his betrayal of Linda’s trust. Consequently as the audience we dislike him even more than we already do. ‘Willy darling, you’re the handsomest man in the world’. ‘Oh no, Linda’.
‘To me you are the handsomest’. From this we get the impression that Linda does not know about the affair and her husband is feeling guilty and most likely regretful for what he has done.By Daniel Smart 3Miller uses more than just the past to help us understand Willy as a character. He also shows us Willy’s thoughts, ambitions and opinions through his relationship with other characters in the play.
Willy’s relationship with his sons is quite dependable at this point in time. They call him ‘Pop’ which shows their affection towards their father. Biff and Happy have friends at the house but they are not spending time with them due to their father being home. Willy’s deceptive side tries to impress his sons by boasting about how well liked he is when in reality he is just telling them a lie.
‘I can park my car in any street in New England and the cops protect it like their own.’ This is blatantly bogus and yet he still says it to impress Biff and Happy to engender respect and adoration.Willy does likewise by using the same method with his wife. When Willy arrives home he tells his wife about how well he did that day and how much he has sold.
‘I’m telling you, I was sellin thousands and thousands, but I had to come home.’ This is also a false statement. He is willing to lie, even to his own family, so that everyone will think he is a great success. We know this is untrue for when his wife tries to calculate the profits; Willy puts the price lower and lower.
Willy always seems to be trying to convince people that he is a high achieving salesman, so perhaps he is trying to convince himself too.Words like ‘bastard’. ‘Wanna’, ’em’ and ‘whatta’ are used by the writer to make the play seem more realistic and the characters more lifelike by using colloquial, American, modern-day language that is easier to understand and relate to. Willy repeats himself, ‘Biff, you’re too young to be talking seriously to girls.
..too young entirely, Biff.’ This is one of the many times Willy repeats himself.
This could be his way of trying to convince himself that what he says is right and true. Not only does he repeat himself but in addition he also contradicts his own words, thoughts and opinions.’I’ll whip him, I’ll whip him’ and then just a few minutes later ‘shut up, there’s nothing the matter with him!’ Directions are important in every play but especially in ‘The Death of a Salesman’ emphasised by the variety and mixture of present and past. The directions help us grasp the written version of the play and bring the play to life with movement and props.
In the play, directions are used mainly to shows change from present to past. Some examples would be ‘(Moving to the Forestage)’ and ‘(He takes her in his arms)’. Both these examples mean that the actors don’t have to say everything that they do.Everyone has a past.
Everyone’s past has influenced their character. The past is always important and in the back of your mind, but not quite asBy Daniel Smart 4pressing as what is happening in the present. This is the case for most people but not Willy Loman. Willy constantly goes back in time, relivingconversations and events.
We get the impression that Miller’s attitude to the past in understanding Willy Loman as a character is crucial. Millerrespects the past, defining it as serious and an everyday part of life. Willy always harks back to the past when he still had the chance to be somebody famous well liked and known, the American dream, striving for a better life. Arthur Miller helps us understand why the book was written via his interview in which he said, ‘The past is with us all the time, informing and influencing our actions and choices.
If we are to understand Willy, we must be aware of the emotional burdens and the formative influences which he carries with him from the past.’
