Death of a Salesman Reflection #1

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Death of a Salesman. As a reader my first impression of the title was, “Well, this play is obviously about a salesman and his death that will happen at some point in the plot, most likely the end. What is the point of me reading it?” I continue to struggle with this question even as I write this journal entry. Very rarely do I meet pieces of theatre I do not like, so I try to connect these pieces that strike a discord in my heart and analyze why they invoke such a negative reaction in me. Another piece that is regarded as quality theatre is that of Robert Wilson’s Krapp’s Last Tape, a post-modernist performance art piece that I saw performed in Seoul during the fall of 2010. I was agitated by the weak storyline, just as I have been reading this play by Arthur Miller. However, in reflection on Wilson’s piece I realized that when as an audience member you marginalize the story in favor of the staging, the piece takes on an entirely new meaning. Therefore, I have decided in this blog entry, as I continue to discover the purpose behind this play, I will focus on the technical execution of the piece and how it accents the story Miller is trying to tell. I will also look at what other themes the staging could be trying to get across that the story might not focus on. 

The opening stage picture in Act One creates the mood for the rest of the play through lighting and sound. Even if one knows nothing about the plot and simply knows this play is about impending death of a man, or of the disintegration of a household, the opening set up reflects those ideas of fragility and foreshadowing demise. The first thing the audience senses is the melody played on the flute, which the author describes as “small and fine, telling of grass and trees and the horizon” (1). Not only does this melody foreshadow the constant reflection to the expansive nature the neighborhood used to have that occurs in the play, but in contrast with the dark and ominous angular shapes one sees appearing on the set the small sound displays how the industrial is overcoming the natural. Miller writes that “only the blue light of the sky falls upon the house and forestage; the surrounding area shows an angry glow of orange”. The light blue color that covers the house resembles that of glass, a material that reminds the audience of the fragile nature of the family that resides within that home. Miller even goes as far as to describe the house as being surrounded by a “solid vault of apartment houses”, further juxtaposing the ideas of the modern and condensed living of the future closing in on the family that was stuck in their singular mode and was reflecting on memories constantly.