Death of a Salesman - Weebly.docVIP

OBJECTIVES FOR THE STUDENT By the end of this unit, the student will be able to: 1. Identify and discuss the following themes in this play: A. The city as a place of confinement and restriction versus nature, the country, as a place of openness and growth. Note the following motifs: 1. Recurring use of the flute, a musical instrument associated with the woods; 2. Repeated references to being “boxed in” by apartments, etc; 3. Repeated references to wilderness, open space, etc.; 4. Repeated references to seeds and planning. B. Who we are in terms of our real talents and ambitions. Note this conflict within Biff and repeated references to “who we are,” “who you are,” etc. C. The American Dream. What is it for Willy, and how does he hope to achieve it? What goes wrong? D. The corrosive effect of lying and dishonesty. Note: 1. The role of theft and stealing 2. The many times the Lomans, particularly Willy and Happy, exaggerate or distort the past. E. The tragic hero as a man obsessed by his dream. Consider Miller’s comment in the 1966 Paris Review. “I’ve always been aware of that kind of agony, of someone who has some driving, implacable wish in him which never goes away, which he can never block out. And it broods over him, it makes him happy sometimes or it makes him suicidal, but it never leaves him. Any hero whom we even begin to think of as tragic is obsessed, whether it’s Lear or Hamlet or the women in Greek plays.” F. Relationships between fathers and sons. Consider the relationships between Willy and his father; between Willy and his sons; between Charley and Bernard. 2. Identify and discuss those techniques of staging that lead critics to label this play as “expressionistic.” (Note the stage directions for the set, lighting, use of music, appearance of the characters at different ages, and the appearance of some characters who are dead.) 3. Discuss in what manner, and to what extent, this is and is not a realistic play. Elements of plot, dialogue, c