Death of a Salesman: Difference between revisions

Once upon a time (in the 1940s), playwright [[Arthur Miller]] (some time husband of [[Marilyn Monroe]]) set out to disprove one of the fundamental theories about the [[Tragic Hero]] -- specifically, that the [[Tragic Hero]] must be royalty, nobility, or some other type of great man who has far to fall (which he does) and much to lose (which, again, he does). Miller intended to write a play with an [[The everymanEveryman|everyman]], a [[Meaningful Name|low man]], as the [[Tragic Hero]]. He may instead have created an entirely different archetype, the [[This Loser Is You|"pathetic hero"]]. Either way, in doing so, he wrote what is often considered the greatest American play.

It's''''Death of a Salesman''''' is a very stagy play, since it's from Willy's dreamy, hallucination-and-flashback-ridden perspective. They managed to turn it into a very faithful, satisfactory movie, with [[Dustin Hoffman]] as Willy and [[John Malkovich]] as Biff.