Context

Question 1

When was the play written ?

Answer 1

1949

Question 2

What is significant about 1949 ?

Question 3

What was the play inspired by ?

Answer 3

Millers experience of ‘The Depression’

Question 4

What effect did ‘The depression’ have on Arthur Miller ?

Answer 4

The depression put a great strain on his family and forced him to become a salesman for a short period - thus the name - “death of a salesman” could be allegorical.

Question 5

What was going on in America when Death of a salesman was wrote

Answer 5

• Beginning of the cold war
• The end of WW2
• Post - war America was facing a lot of problems with racial discimination and social inequalities in American society

Question 6

Outline the main ideas in ‘tragedy and the common man’

Answer 6

. The common man can be subject to tragedy
. We all experinece the same emotions no matter status
. the tragic feeling is evoked when we are in the presence of a character who is ready to lay down his life
. We cannot all relate to the higher status
. Tragedy should look at the individual and society

Question 7

The American dream

Answer 7

• a major theme prominant throughout the play
• the widespread belief that the United States is a land of opportunity and that individual hard work can bring economic success

Question 8

In Millers essay : the nature of tragedy, what are some of his arguments ?

Answer 8

• Tragedy makes us aware of what the character might have been
• Tragedy arises when there is the presence of a man who has missed the chance to accomplish his job
• A balenced potrayal of the human being in his struggle for happiness

Question 9

What is ‘Death of a salesmam about according to Miller’

Answer 9

@the play looks from the edge of the grave at life