For the final assignment, please see the prompt below. Write
a short 2-3 page response (DOUBLE SPACED) using a bit of textual evidence on Arthur Miller’s
Death of a Salesman
.
***By the way, most students don’t know that Arthur Miller was married to Marilyn Monroe!
Arthur Miller’s
Death of a Salesman (drama).
The 2-part video can be found here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7lGIUzUKOE (part 1)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvAts4osIQY (part 2)
The text can be found here:
https://joycej.kenstonlocal.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/109/2015/01/Death-of-a-Salesman.pdf
ASSIGNMENT PROMPT:
Death of a Salesman
(first performed in 1949) presents many significant and
discernible themes and ideas. For example, it explores the pursuit of
the American Dream (everyone in the play seems to be pursuing it: Ben,
Charlie, Bernard, Willy, Biff, and Happy). It explores the idea of
disillusionment, it examines the dangers and effects of believing in
false values, it examines Willy’s desire for respect and reputation, it
examines the importance Willy gives to appearances and pride, it
explores Willy’s attitudes toward death and his desire for martyrdom, it
explores the indulgence of the illusion that Willy, himself, nurtures
about the level of success he, Biff, and Happy have achieved, and it
examines the idea of victim-hood vs agency (in other words, is Willy to
blame for his lack of success or is society to blame?).
In a carefully written 2-3page response DOUBLE SPACED,
discuss how the play explores one or more of the ideas presented above.
As you prepare a response, think carefully about how these conflicts
are addressed by several of the major characters in the play.
This should be about a 2-3 page response DOUBLE SPACED.
To help you with this paper, you might want to look carefully
at the scenes below. These questions and scenes will help you with your
response.
1. What is the significance of the scene with Willy and Howard (reference to Dave Singleman)?
2. Discuss the significance of the exchange between Willy and Bernard (the exchange they have in Charlie’s office).
3. Willy and Biff (final exchange at the end of the play)
4. Contrast Biff and Happy and discuss what each represents?
5. What is Willy’s dream? Why does Biff ask him to “burn it”?
6. What is the significance of Ben and Charlie and Bernard in the play?
7. Discuss the significance of the Requiem and what it adds to the play.
8. Discuss the significance of the flashbacks in the play
