Death of a Salesman – Write a critical appreciation of the Requiem

In Death of a Salesman milling machine fuses the realist and expressionist styles with an ultimately realist purpose. Throughout the course of the get, we light upon the positions of Willy Lomans last two years of life intertwined and overlapped with those of his memories and fantasies. This use of daydream scenes is an expressionistic device. However, it is not only these memory scenes which can be said to be expressionistic, as some of the expressionistic scenes in the count take place in the present, when Willy is not even there, and therefore cannot be said to be a result of his troubled mind.One of these scenes is the Requiem, when the characters contain the wall lines to come downstage, and the apron represents the graveyard. As Willy is already dead, this cannot be thought of as a distortion of his mind. This extension of expressionistic devices to non-memory scenes fronts to suggest that we the audience see them through Willys eyes. Brian Parker suggests that this tec hnique forces the audience to become Willy Lomans for the duration of the play. We see in the requiem scene how Willys dream of a large funeral, like Dave Singlemans, to prove to his boys how well-liked he was, proves to be just another(prenominal) false dream.Above all, Willy seems to prize the emotional appeal of being popular, like Singleman, and it seems to be social standing that really motivates him. His expectancy that his funeral would be well attended by all those who liked and watch overed him was a false hope and the belief that he was respected is clearly unfounded. both of the boys feel his death was unnecessary. gifteds feeling that he could have helped Willy is just another empty Loman speech, devoid of any real meaning.We see during the course of the play that Happy neglects to give Willy any help whatsoever, he abandons his father in the restaurant and as Linda points out in Act Two Not one, not another living soul would have had the cruelty to walk out on that man in a restaurant. puncher does not see his father as a failure, he realises that Willy had the wrong dreams. All, all wrong. While both boys have absorbed their fathers ideas, Happy lives them and is determined to beat that racket, Biff has now realised that he doesnt have to conform to a society which measures spate in terms of popularity and material wealth.Biffs declaration, I know who I am, proves to us that he has realised his fathers limitations, epoch Happy seems to have inherited his fathers trait of self-delusion. Millers characters speak with realism, as American people of this era actually did, and do not have long say speeches about their innermost feelings. At such an emotional time Charleys remark that Willy was a happy man with a batch of cement may seem inappropriate but we have to take into account that ordinary people do not speak in poetic language.Charleys speech in this scene is one of the most memorable passages in the play. It serves as a kind of eu logy, which removes blame from Willy as an individual by explaining the gruelling demands and high expectations of his profession. Charleys admiration and respect for Willy is evident in the line Nobody dast blame this man, and his speech demands that we should admire Willy for his drive and dream. Charley observes that a salesmans life is a constant upward struggle to remove himself and he supports his dreams on the power of his own image riding on a smile and a shoeshine. What started out as a tribute to Willy becomes a generalisation towards all salesmen, Miller points out that there are many low-men. Charley points out that when the salesmans advertising self-image fails to inspire smiles from customers, he is finished in Willys case this was psychologically, emotionally and physically as well as his career. According to Charley a salesman is got to dream, this substitution of is for has seems to indicate a necessity for a salesman. Miller suggests that the salesman is literal ly begotten with the resole purpose of dreaming.Many writers of this era were concerned at the increasing emphasis on materialism and consumerism, such as Steinbeck. In many ways Willy has done everything that the American stargaze of unrestrained individualism and assured material victory outlines as the path to success. He has a home and a cheat on of modern appliances he has raised a family and journeyed forth into the business world full of hope and ambition. In spite of all this Willy has failed to receive the gains that the American Dream promises.Millers contempt for a society in which a man is worth more dead than alive is obvious. Death of a Salesman condemns the American Capitalist society, which throws people on the scrap heap as soon as they are unable to contribute to the financial gain of others. On the opening night of this play Miller recalls a woman angrily describing the play as a time-bomb under American Capitalism. We see how the Requiem does not allow this , that the Lomans are assoil. Miller rejects the view that this is a play designed to overthrow the social system of America.He claims that aims rather to destroy this pseudo life that thought to touch the clouds by standing on top of a refrigerator. The American Dream and the way in which capitalist society measures people in terms of material success is once again condemned in Charleys line No man only needs a little salary, suggesting that no man can live on money and materiality alone without an emotional or spiritual life to provide meaning. Lindas feeling that Willy is just on another trip suggests that Willys hope for Biff to succeed with the insurance money will not be fulfilled.One could even wonder whether or not the family received the insurance money as no mention is made of it, although this could also be interpreted as the money is of no real importance to them. It is bitterly ironic that a man, who kills himself because he feels a failure, fails in death. Lindas co mment also seems to strip Willys death of any of its imagined dignity the trip Willy has now undertaken, will end just as gainlessly as the trip from which he has just returned from as the play opens.Lindas statement were free which is repeated three ways can be interpreted in three different ways, Willy is now free from earthly unhappiness. The couple are free from the need to earn money for the mortgage and, in another sense, the family is free to act without the pressure of Willys dreams. In this scene we see no more of Willys memories, there are no expressionistic devices such as Ben, who represents Willys desire for success.Bens absence suggests that Willy has finally achieved the success that he so desperately wanted in life but could never realize. The expressionistic device of the flute motif that opens the play also ends it we see how Miller parallels the structure of the play throughout. The haunting flute music, which symbolises Willys pursuit of the American Dream of f reedom and success, and the visual imprint of the solid neglect of apartment house, seem to suggest that nothing has really changed and Willy dies just as deluded as he lived.