General Quotes Flashcards
“A _______ is heard” Act 1.
Very first words of the play
melody
What is the importance of the beginning words
“A melody is heard” Act 1 ?
This presents a perfect world created by music through the synesthesia of the senses eyes and ears. However more specifically to the narrative, this melody exposes Willy’s mental lucidity through the emotional trauma of abandonment in his childhood; this distant link to his juvenile years reveals to the audience his fragile state of mind as his past becomes intertwined with his present.
“grass and trees”- Act 1
What is its significance?
presents the pastoral from the outset
“an _____ glow of orange”- Act 1
angry
“solid _____ of apartment houses” Act 1
vault
Explore the quote
“solid vault of apartment houses” Act 1
Miller employs the theory of the glass ceiling when referring to the “solid vault of apartments houses”, suggesting that these apartment houses are entrapped within the economic and social “solid vault” which capitalism confines them to. From this, Miller enforces the tragic aspect of inevitability in order to explore the tragic fall of Willy, who is an “embodiment of the common man.” Through this, the ‘common’ universal suffrage of mankind can be appreciated by all audiences, as tragedy is not limited to those noble figures as claimed by Aristotle. The juxtaposition between the central home of the Loman’s in Willy’s memories and at present, indicates the reality of his ambitions which were founded upon the falsity of the American Dream. While their home once symbolized hope and expansion, it becomes hemmed by kitchen units, and their garden barren from darkness. The home becomes a site of Willy’s frustrated ambitions and a reminder of his unfulfilled dreams. Just as the house is besieged by apartment buildings, Willy’s ego is besieged by doubts and mounting evidence that he will never experience the fortune promised by the American Dream
“_____ seeming home”-Act 1
fragile
“there is a kitchen with ___ _____”- Act 1
three chairs
“there is a kitchen with three chairs”- Act 1
Explore this quotation
Miller’s enforcement in the play of “three chairs”, is dramatically effectual in physically allowing the audience to visualise the implication of the mis en scene employed, which is concievably to emphasis the position of the gender roles in which Linda Loman is subjected to due to the oppression of the patriarchal society that she is positioned in 1940’s America. The “three chairs”, there in refers to the concept of the inferiority of women as the ‘quintessential housewife’, the fact that Linda does not, suggestively, have a delegated chair within the family dining area infers that in fact she presumably waits rather than dines; substantiating her role as a wife and mother during this period. It could also be said that the “three chairs” implies a distortional family structure of disunity in which the shortage of “chairs” reviews. On account of the lack of “chairs”, it is therefore implicated that the family are not a close family unit and so analysis the dysfunction and questions the relationships between constructs early on, through doing this Miller encourages the audience to be tentative of how they act to one another allowing a greater understanding of the tragedy and how, or whom augments it.
What is mis en scene?
“placing on stage, visual theme
“an ___of the dream ______ to the place”
air
clings
“an air of the dream clings to the place” Act 1
The association of the mass noun “air” allows the audience to understand the significance of the “dream” within the formation of the play. The previous description of the “solid vault of apartment houses”, alludes a sense of entrapment which arguably Miller uses to illustrate the captivity of the ‘common man’ from Capitalist America. In this way, the employment of, “an air of the dream”, in particular “air”, suggests a free, unconfined space; exploring perhaps that Willys American “dream” to be a successful salesman, alleviates the suffering of the “solid vault of apartment houses” that is the ‘glass ceiling’ of Capitalist America. Furthermore, “air” could as well indicate that there is a necessity for “dreams” as “air” is necessary to survive, therefore although a clear message of Miller’s play is the falsity of the American Dream, he could however more specifically be implying that the wrong “dream” is where inevitability of failure arises, such as Willy who does not accept his position as a ‘low man’ which in respect to classical tragedy is his hamartia. In despite of this, the point that also Miller descries that the “dream clings to the place,” as well develops a sense of desperation, ergo inferring that Willy is unwilling to let go and would rather “cling” to a “dream” than accept his defeat. It is dramatically ironic therefore that the “dream” be described in association with “air”, which hints the impression of a weightless entity, when actually the pressure of the “dream” to be successful serves as a figurative weight on Willy who cannot escape his failure through the fixation of the “dream” which ultimately results in his tragic downfall in the dénouement.
“kitchen at centre seems _____ enough” Act 1
actual
What is suggested of the fact that the “kitchen at the centre seems actual enough”? Act 1
This suggests that that value of their kitchen is questionable an therefore communicates to the audience of the potential financial strain on the family
How in the opening paragraph of Act 1 is Willy already suggested to have the wrong dream in being a salesman when it is described that “on a shelf over the bed a silver athletic trophy stands”.
he wanted to be one and lived through biff
feeble
There is clear evidence of athletic achieves which contradicts his career path a salesman
Contrastingly, the fact it is “silver” infers that Willy Loman has never and could never be a success or achieve first place in life, always coming second
It is as well significant to understanding the character of Willy that the “shelf over the bed” had a “silver athletic trophy”, as usually this would signify that his dream was to be successful in athletics, however he actually departs from his physical success in order to achieve more prestigious fortune following his brother Ben, and suggestively his father figure, to be a salesman. Willy’s inability to recognise his strengths in order to be successful results in his inevitable tragic fall as he is therefore unable to attain any victory as he has the wrong dream. The impact of the American Dream as well is used by Miller to explore its unattainability due to there always being something more to achieve, the fact that Willy has his trophy could therefore indicate he has already achieved success in sport which was not fulfilling and so he turned to being a Salesman to fill his void. Another interpretation could be held that the “silver” of the “trophy” symbolises how Willy Loman has never been first place, never achieved complete success as a second class ‘common man’, this could assume that he attempts to live his dream of athletic success through his son Biff as a child, consequently leading to Biff’s own tragedy as he does not have his own dream. The description of Willy such as being, “dressed quietly”,does not suggest that he has or ever did have the build of an athletically aesthetic person which could assume why he emphasised the build of Biff in the past referring to him as a “god” and his negligence to consider the unrealistic opportunity of a “low man” reaching fame and wealth.
