Death of a Salesman
(Arthur Miller)

Arthur Miller was born in New York City in 1915. He studied at the University of Michigan, and while a student there he began writing plays. He won various prizes for his playwriting while in college and during his senior year one of his plays was performed by the Federal Theater Project in Detroit.

In 1947, Miller wrote his first largely successful play, “All my Sons” and, in 1949, he wrote another successful play, “Death of a Salesman”, which earned him a Pulitzer Prize and national notoriety. His next play, which was critically acclaimed, was “The Crucible” (1953), which reflected the anti-Communist hysteria that rippled through the country during the 1950’s. Miller was awarded the New York Drama Critics Circle Award twice and received the Oliver Award for “Broke Glass” in 1993.

“Death of a Salesman” is viewed by many as the first great American tragedy and Arthur Miller’s most famous play. It describes the painful conflicts within one particular family, though it reflects the conflicts of the larger picture, the nation’s values, as well. “Death of a Salesman” examines the realities of achieving the American Dream and the price that one must pay for it. Miller asserts that the American Dream is merely a manifestation brought on by consumerism and greed in the wake of wartime tragedy.

The message of “Death of a Salesman” became fuel for other writers to join into the existentialist movement of literature, creating a new type of expression in writing by means of self-realization.