Chocolate Lovers Afnan Abo-Al-Hassan Amal Wazna Razan Al-Ali Salwa Al-Hmyani Sara Al-khattabi

 Introduction about the play.  Themes:  Reality vs. Illusion.  Individual vs. Society.  Individual vs. self.  Atonement.  Betrayal.  Symbols.

 Title The complete title of the play is Death of a Salesman: Certain Private Conversations in Two Acts and a Requiem. aeternam dona eis Domine In Roman Catholic ritual. The sentence in which it occurs is Requiem aeternam dona eis Domine, which means "Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord." Requiem means rest. Requiem also refers to a song for the dead.

 Type of Play Death of a Salesman is a Drama of tragedy and pathos. It contains two acts and a conclusion called a “Requiem.” Death of a Salesman focuses on an ordinary character, a common American man. The play won the Pulitzer Prize and a Tony after it debuted in New York City.

Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman is considered by many to be both the playwright's masterpiece and a cornerstone of contemporary American drama. the play was first produced in 1949 and struck an immediate, emotional chord with audiences. The work garnered numerous honors and awards.

 Much of his success is attributed to Miller's facility in portraying the universal hopes and fears of middle-class America. Through his main character, Willy Loman, Miller examines the myth of the American Dream and the shallow promise of happiness through material wealth.

Themes

The family, couldn’t distinguish between reality and illusion, particularly Willy. Willy cannot see who he and his sons are. He believes that they are great men who have what it takes to be successful and beat the business world. Unfortunately, he is mistaken. In reality, Willy and sons are not, and cannot, be successful.

Willy very often lapses into a flashback and appears to be reliving conversations and situations that occurred years ago. This itself is an inability to see reality. This reality versus illusion problem eventually brings Willy's downfall. In the end, Willy believes that a man can be "worth more dead than alive”. Charlie, always the voice of reality tells Willy, "A man isn't worth anything dead."

Willy is constantly striving to find the key to attractive over customers and becoming a true success. He worries incessantly about how he is perceived by others. He blames his lack of success on a variety of superficial personal personality:  His weight.  The fact that people “don’t take him seriously”  His clothing.  The fact that he tends to talk too much.

Willy’s perception of what he should be is continually at odds with what he is:  An average salesman with delusions of magnificence and an out-of-date perception of the world around him.  He truly believes that he can achieve greatness, and cannot understand why he has not realized what he feels is his true destiny.  He completely denies his actual talent for woodwork, believing that pursuing such a career would be beneath him somehow.

Willy’s life charts a path from one abandonment to the next, leaving him in greater despair each time. Willy’s father leaves him and Ben when Willy is very young, leaving Willy neither a physical (money) nor an indefinable (history) legacy. Ben eventually departs for Alaska, leaving Willy to lose himself in a warped vision of the American Dream. Likely a result of these early experiences, Willy develops a fear of abandonment, which makes him want his family to conform to the American Dream. His efforts to raise perfect sons, however, reflect his inability to understand reality.

Willy’s primary obsession throughout the play is what he considers to be Biff’s betrayal of his ambitions for him. Willy believes that he has every right to expect Biff to fulfill the promise inherent in him. When Biff walks out on Willy’s ambitions for him, Willy takes this rejection as a personal insult (he associates it with “insult” and “spite”).

Symbolism

 Symbols Symbols are objects, characters, figures, or colors used to represent abstract ideas or concepts. Arthur Miller has subtly used enormous symbols in "Death of a Salesman". The American connotation of being "Well Liked" is governing the unsuccessful life of Willy Lowman and his family. In Willy's opinion "Charley is not liked. He's liked, but he is not well-liked".

Willy Loman had indulged himself in American Myth of being well liked and personal attractiveness was of much importance to Loman's family rather than personal talent and due to this reason Willy was leading an unpleasant life full of debts.

 Seeds Seeds represent for Willy the opportunity to prove the worth of his labor, both as a salesman and a father. His desperate, night-time attempt to grow vegetables: signifies his shame about barely being able to put food on the table and having nothing to leave his children when he passes. The seeds also symbolize Willy’s sense of failure with Biff.

 Stolen lumber: This symbolizes Willy’s acceptation of stealing and lack of understanding what really goes on.  Tennis rackets: Ironic symbol of Bernard’s success since Bernard goes to play tennis with a friend who owns a tennis court. It is ironic since it was the Lowman brothers who thought sports equipment would be their success.

The symbolism that Miller employs in this play are very important in communicating the significance of the central theme of failure within a success oriented society. Throughout the play, Willy, the main character, refers to diamonds many times, which are very significant symbols and contribute to the story as a whole.

To Willy, these diamonds represent material wealth and a justification of ones life and the ability to pass material goods onto one's children. These diamonds also signify Willy's failure as a salesman and as a father.

A symbol that is even more critical to the understanding of the play Death of a Salesman are the stockings that Linda, Willy's wife, is seen mending throughout the story. During the play, Willy has a bizarre obsession with the condition of Linda's stockings. This obsession foreshadows his later flashback to his son Biffs discovery of him having an affair on his wife in a hotel room in Boston.

Biff accuses Willy of giving Linda's stockings away to the woman he was having the affair with. The stockings therefore symbolize Willy's betrayal of his wife and his two sons.