Function of the Requiem in "Death of a Salesman"

Résumé du document

Arthur Miller (1915 – 2005) once revealed as regards his writing of Death of a Salesman that he “wished to create a form which, in itself as a form, would literally be the process of Willy Loman's way of mind”, and in this respect, the setting of the whole play actually stands for a flexible medium which helps to serve that purpose. As the eminent American dramatist also pointed out, within the main protagonist's mind as well as in the play as a whole, “the voice of the past is no longer distant but quite as loud as the voice of the present”. Indeed, to Miller, Death of a Salesman did not stand for a theoretical notion, but rather for the tangible and material icon of Willy Loman's own head on stage, disclosing the play, in such a way as to make the audience penetrate it and literally plunge into the protagonist's inner thoughts. As a matter of fact, the play was primarily entitled The Inside of his Head, and undeniably, whoever watches or reads Death of a Salesman finds one's self immerged into the convolutions and intricacies of the brains of the leading role. It is worth mentioning that Death of a Salesman, being a drama, therefore aims at theatrical representation. Even if one can consider drama as a literary creation, one has to bear in mind that intrinsically, it is meant to be performed in front of an audience. As a consequence, throughout one's analysis of a play one had read only, one has to try to envision the stage with the actors and the props being displayed before him. As a matter of fact, a play could be defined as a written composition setting down human action through the enactment of actions operated by characters, who interact with each other through dialogues, in such a way as to entertain the spectators. Death of a Salesman does not actually stand for the so-called “traditional drama” as far its structure is concerned: Miller did not split his plot into five acts, each comprising a certain number of scenes, as it is archetypal of Greek Drama particularly. Instead, he partitioned his play into two acts and a Requiem -the work of art being evocatively subtitled Certain Private Conversations in Two Acts and a Requiem-, but significantly, there is no division in scenes in the play, which gives the impression of a linear plot. By adopting such a peculiar configuration, Miller chose to put the emphasis on the plot as a whole, and not on specific incidents. Death of a Salesman has often been regarded as a “closed drama”, because it focuses on one crucial action, represented by Willy's disarray and resulting collapse. However, even though Death of a Salesman does not follow the conventional subdivisions of ancient drama, Miller took particular care over the implementation of the three theatrical rules, namely, the unity of action, place and time. However, it is astutely a play made up of interruptions, and paradoxically, the unremitting dramatic tension of Death of a Salesman could be regarded as one of its most outstanding characteristics: indeed, tragic density is to be noticeable from the very beginning of Act One to the Requiem which closes up the play.

Extraits

[...] Indeed, from the very beginning, everything seems to echo the Requiem, but not in the same way as we have mentioned already. The Requiem, offering a puzzling closure to the play: obviously, the flute, the buildings and the mentioning of “another trip” link this last scene with the opening of the drama, emphasized by the very end of Act Two: Now all move toward the audience, through the wall-line of the kitchen. At the limit of the apron, LINDA lays down the flowers, kneels, and sits back on her heels. [...]

[...] Thanks to Charley's important speech in the Requiem, we are able to appreciate Willy's state of mind as a consequence of the pressures of his environment, the surrounding society and his profession. Even though the reader or the spectator keeps on wondering throughout the play whether Willy will finally triumph in being “number -despite the title of the play-, the clear answer given in the Requiem is It becomes clear that the protagonist's dreams of “being well-liked and popular” and of having “real friends” were nothing more than an illusion. [...]

[...] His words serve as a kind of respectful eulogy that removes blame from Willy as an individual, by explaining the gruelling expectations and absurd demands of his profession. In this respect, the Requiem answers many questions aroused by the two acts that precede it. We will see further in our analysis that the Requiem essentially offers solutions to our interrogations as regards the characters of the play -and especially the so-called “Loman Brothers”, but this is not really the point here. It is worth mentioning that the Requiem also serves the purpose of continuing the sundry themes of the play. [...]

[...] Indeed, we find many inconsistencies in the Requiem have been highlighted. Willy is the sole warrant for, a subject of, the transitions from objective to subjective points of view. Then, how is it possible that at the end of Act Two, just before the Requiem and after Willy's death, the “leaves of the appear? Why is the flute sound to be listened to? Many interpretations can be drawn. On the other hand, even if the Requiem may have seemed a fitting closure to the play, it is however unsatisfactory: it says nothing really new, nothing that has not been better expressed in the previous action. [...]

[...] On top of that, we are given a few explanations for Willy's suicide through Charley's philosophical sayings: Nobody dast blame this man. You don't understand; Willy was a salesman. And for a salesman, there is no rock bottom to the life. He don't put a bolt to a nut, he don't tell you the law or give you medicine. He's a man way out there in the blue, riding on a smile and a shoeshine. And when they start not smiling back –that's an earthquake. And then you get yourself a couple of spots on your hat, and you're finished. [...]