Death Of A Salesman CRITICS

Question 1

Eleanor Clarke

Answer 1

It is of course the brutal capitalist system that has done Willy

Question 1

Arthur Miller

Answer 1

I believe that the common man is as apt a subject for tragedy as kings are

Question 2

Dennis Welland

Answer 2

Willy’s repression of the past is a barrier to maturity and ego-development

Question 3

Sheila Huftel

Answer 3

Willy fell only from an imagined height

Question 4

Lee Siegel

Answer 4

Biff’s very idea that he will correct his father’s wrong dreams by living the right life is, in itself, a grandiose dream

Question 5

Jessica L Tracy, Richard W Robins

Answer 5

Willy’s self-esteem is highly dependent on feedback from his sons

Question 6

Jessica L Tracy, Richard W Robins

Answer 6

Willy’s search for fame, fortune and admiration is the hallmark of his identity

Question 7

Barclay Bates

Answer 7

Death of a Salesman is about the triumph of the present over the past

Question 8

Guerin Bliquez

Answer 8

Linda’s facility for prodding Willy to his doom is what gives the play its direction

Question 9

Guerin Bliquez

Answer 9

To overlook the part she plays in her husband’s pathetic downfall is to miss one of the most profound levels in Arthur Miller’s subtle structuring of his tragedy

Question 10

Christopher Bigsby

Answer 10

If personal meaning lies in success, then failure must threaten identity itself

Question 11

Raymond Reno

Answer 11

All that gave Willy divinity in the first place was the affection and respect he thought he commanded.

Question 12

Raymond Reno

Answer 12

At the end of his life the cult of Willy’s divinity has faded.

Question 13

Raymond Reno

Answer 13

The action of the play lies in Willy’s efforts to regain the worship Biff once gave him.

Question 14

Raymond Reno

Answer 14

He brings tragedy down upon himself. Not by opposing the dream but by living it

Question 15

Terry Otten

Answer 15

A childlike victim of the cultural values he adopts virtually without question

Question 16

Terry Otten

Answer 16

Because Willy is so wedded to the dream, nothing less that his death can free him from it.

Question 17

Terry Otten

Answer 17

As tragic protagonist Willy, must above all gain some measure of awareness.

Question 18

Terry Otten

Answer 18

We must ask why he invests so totally and self destructively in support of the dream

Question 19

Arthur Miller

Answer 19

He has primed his own son Biff for his revolt against what he himself has done.

Question 20

C. Bigsby

Answer 20

It is not truth, but Willy’s commitment to illusion that kills him.

Question 21

C. Bigsby

Answer 21

It is faith in the supremacy of the material over the spiritual.