Context

Miller: Death of a Salesman

In this course, Professor Grace Ioppolo (University of Reading) explores Arthur Miller’s masterpiece, ‘Death of a Salesman’. We begin by thinking about the historical context in which the play was written, focusing in particular on the development of American theatre between the 1930s and 1950s. After that, we think about the opening of the play, the character of Willy Loman and the themes of capitalism and the American Dream. In the third module, we explore the relationship between Willy and his two sons, Biff and Happy, before turning in the fourth module to the treatment of women in the play. In the fifth module, we focus on the climactic scene of the play – the scene in which Biff walks in on his father with another women – before moving on in the sixth module to consider the play’s ending. Who is to blame for everything that has happened? Has anyone learned anything?

Note: We use the Penguin Modern Classics edition of play (ISBN: 978-0-141-18274-2). Students using a different edition of the play may encounter slight differences in both the text and the page numbering.

Context

In this module, we think about the historical context in which ‘Death of a Salesman’ was written, focusing in particular on the development of American theatre between the 1930s and 1950s (especially the Group Theatre and the Actors’ Studio), as well as the changes in American politics, society and culture between the 1930s and the 1950s.