DEATH OF A SALESMAN

Question 1

‘I realised ________ was the ________ ______ a man could want’

Answer 1

‘I realised selling was the greatest career a man could want’

Question 2

‘I’m the ___ _______ man’

Answer 2

‘I’m the New England man’ - Willy’s self definition is centred around his career

Question 3

‘you end up _____ ____ ____ than _____’

Answer 3

‘you end up worth more dead than alive’

Question 4

‘its the ____ _____ you can have’

Answer 4

‘its the only dream you can have’

Question 5

What type of character is Ben?

Answer 5

Mephistophelean

Question 6

Miller’s experience of the Wall Street Crash

Answer 6

Lost everything, forced to move to Brooklyn

Question 7

Link American Dream and Willy Loman

Answer 7

American Dream promoted the idea that hard work would achieve success- we see how hard Willy works therefore Miller exposes the falsity of the AD

Question 8

How does Miller contradict classical tragedy?

Answer 8

‘Tragedy of the common man’. Argues that tragedy wouldn’t appeal to the mass if it wasn’t applicable to all

Question 9

When does Miller believe that the tragic feeling is evoked?

Answer 9

When we are in the presence of a character who is willing to lay down his life, if need be, to secure one thing- his sense of personal dignity’

Question 10

When does Miller believe that the tragic feeling is evoked?

Answer 10

When we are in the presence of a character who is willing to lay down his life, if need be, to secure one thing- his sense of personal dignity’

Question 11

Inevitable events can also be caused by the ‘_____ __ _________’

Answer 11

‘the wound of indignity’

Question 12

Why does Miller think the concept of a high ranking tragic hero is outdated?

Answer 12

Concepts of Elizabethan justice are no longer interesting

Question 13

What else does Miller believe tragedy derives from (particularly relevant to the common man)??

Answer 13

The fear of being displaced

Question 14

‘his _________ nature, his temper, his _______ dreams and _____ cruelties’

Answer 14

‘his mercurial nature, his temper, his massive dreams and little cruelties’

Question 15

‘she is ______ off his _____’

Answer 15

‘she is taking off his shoes’

Reminiscent of a servant

Question 16

Linda’s decisive defence of Willy

Answer 16

‘I won’t have anyone making him feel unwanted and low and blue’

Question 17

Ben is ‘_______ ________’

Answer 17

‘success incarnate’

Question 18

Expressionism

Answer 18

Art form- uses exaggeration or distortion to depict inner truth

Question 19

Features of expressionist plays (3)

Answer 19

Abstract setting
Intense style of acting
Episodic action

Question 20

Absurdism

Answer 20

Often uses contradiction

Question 21

Features of absurdism

Answer 21

‘Symbolic’ set
Fractured time structure
Non- rational events (eg Ben)
Disruption of language and meaning

Question 22

Psychological realism

Answer 22

Elevated acting into an art- detailed and psychologically credible approach to characterisation

Question 23

Mobile concurrency

Answer 23

Where the past and present are shown on stage (usually by coloured lighting)

Question 24

Symbolisms (3)

Answer 24

The stockings, the car, the rubber hose

Question 25

Willy's reference to 'making it'

Answer 25

Symbolic of his crushing sense of failure as he is unable to 'make it' as a salesman

Question 26

'He's not allowed to ___ into his ______ like a ___. ________, _______ must ______ be paid to _____ _ ___'

Answer 26

'He's not allowed to fall into his grave like a dog. Attention, attention must finally be paid to such a man'

Question 27

Miller's use of lighting

Answer 27

Light effects used to undercut Willy's optimism

Question 28

'work a lifetime to pay off a house. You finally own it, and there's nobody to live in it'

Answer 28

Futility of capitalist society

Question 29

'In the greatest country in the world, a young man with such- personal attractiveness, gets lost'

Answer 29

Reiterates Willy's view that personal attractiveness is what equates success

Question 30

Quotation for claustrophobia (capitalism)

Answer 30

'boxed us in' | 'windows and bricks, bricks and windows'

Question 31

Theme of competition

Answer 31

A03 links to capitalist society- even Willy perpetuates this by comparing Biff and Happy

Question 32

Megalopsychia

Answer 32

Greatness of soul

Question 33

How does Linda shift blame for her avoidance ?

Answer 33

'Biff, I swear to God! Biff, his life is in your hands'

Question 34

Mythical figures as a motif

Answer 34

Willy relates Biff to Adonis- contributes to his deluded understanding of the world

Question 35

The American West, Alaska and the African jungle as motifs

Answer 35

Represent potential to Biff and Willy | Alaska and the jungle symbolise Willy's failure

Question 36

Seeds as a symbol

Answer 36

'nothing's planted. I dont have a thing in the ground'

Question 37

Stockings as a symbol

Answer 37

Symbol of Willy's guilt, and of betrayal | At the time, stockings were highly prized and difficult to maintaim

Question 38

Diamonds as a symbol

Answer 38

Symbol of short term success | 'I see it like a diamond'

Question 39

The rubber hose as a symbol

Answer 39

Symbolic of Willy's desperation to commit suicide | Irony that he is struggling to pay for gas

Question 40

Treatment of women in DOAS

Answer 40

'the woman' defined only by her gender therefore what she can provide for men Happy and Biff see women as polar opposites, each to fulfil their needs

Question 41

Isolation in DOAS

Answer 41

``` Expressionist setting ('bricks and windows, windows and bricks') Willy's career isolates him Willy is isolated in his delusions ```

Question 42

Power in DOAS

Answer 42

Willy believes he has power, whereas in actual fact he is at complete loss of power due to his social position

Question 43

Inevitability in DOAS

Answer 43

'I'm tired to death' | 'I slept like a dead one'

Question 44

Why is Willy's suicide so sad (but also so ironic)?

Answer 44

His suicide is just another deal with the insurance company

Question 45

'He wants his sons...

Answer 45

...to destroy his failure'

Question 46

How does Biff describe the idea of being a salesman?

Answer 46

'a measly manner of existence'