Death of a Salesman Essay Writing

When discussing the play remember to keep focus on big ideas: American Dream – play shows us the darker, crueler side of America through Willy’s failure to achieve success. Willy’s interpretation of the Dream is flawed and his relentless pursuit of it shows his incapability to understand the world around him. Link to capitalism/consumerism/social drama. Tragedy – play shows us that small men can have greatness. Those same men can experience loss, despair and failure. Family life – Miller shows us a family on the brink of destruction. A family so reliant on dreams, denial and deception that they will be destined to repeat the same mistakes over and over.

Father and son relationships. Willy’s failure as a father seen throughout – causes Biff to feel alienated from the world. Also examine Happy’s failures. Appearance vs. Reality – linked in with deception. Willy’s concept that what is important is to be ‘well liked’ is clearly nonsensical. Bernard’s success and Charley’s unexpectedly poetic lines in The Requiem prove this.

Memory and dreams - Willy’s retraction into memory shows an inability to deal with the truth or reality. Cruelly, these memories are not the golden harbour of safety he requires, rather they serve to reveal his own faults a man. The only place he can feel safe is in dreaming of the future. However, through the imagined conversations with Ben we understand that Willy does not have the answers and is doomed to fail - Biff’s dismissal at end Role of women. Mostly bystanders who serve to highlight the faults of men. Linda, on the other hand, is far more complex. She is deserving of our sympathies and her isolation at the end could perhaps be seen as a critique of overtly savage and masculine world.

Questions from previous exams Choose a play in which there is a breakdown in family relationships. Explain the reasons for the breakdown and discuss the extent to which it is important to the play as a whole. Discuss…

Tragedy – flaw in characters cause breakdown. Shows the struggle of the ordinary man and his eventual downfall. Essentially analyse the play’s characters (2). Social drama – it is society that causes the breakdown. Miller commenting on brutal society in which the Lomans live.

Choose a play in which a character is seeking the truth, avoiding the truth or hiding the truth. Explain to what extent the character achieves this aim and discuss the extent to which it helps our understanding of the play as a whole.

Avoiding the truth An analysis of character – Willy’s failure to see Biff for who he really is. Contradictions, failure to address failures as a father (memories) and see truth. Scene with Howard showing true nature of capitalism – doesn’t stop him in his futile search for success. Dreaming of the future/ Wrong dreams. Unable to see who he really is. Symbolism of seeds and the futility of the fact they will never grow. Climax with Biff – still doesn’t see the truth. Only hope is that, through his actions (suicide), family will see truth. Elements of tragedy in the fact that the cruel cycle will live on in Happy and Biff still has not learned how to live in society. He may look to escape from it, but one day it will catch up with him.

Choose one essay and…. Plan in detail with quotes and bulleted analysis.