The Significance of Music in Arthur Millers Death of a...

The Significance of Music in Arthur Millers Death of a Salesman Human emotions are something that we seldom find a way to express clearly: from simple hand gestures, to a disgusted face. To understand his novel more thoroughly, Arthur Miller uses the most understandable method of comprehension, music, to express the emotions of the characters in his play, Death of a Salesman. The characters, Willy, Linda, Biff, Happy, and Ben, have a certain style of music and instruments portraying them to show the reader what type of emotional person they are. The beginning of the play starts with a soft, sweet, flute medley that announces Willy’s gradual trek home from Yonkers. This slow tune of confusion ends abruptly as Willy comes†¦show more content†¦The play has a sense of joy in it. Willy’s flashbacks always occur toward the same time where the Lomans were happy. Starting with Biff’s football days in high school. The music in those scenes would make anyone feel like they were on top of the world, just like Biff and Willy felt. Then comes Ben. Ben is Willy’s savior. Always acting like a parental figure, Ben was Willy’s answer to everything. A pure, fast paced song represented Willy’s hopes. The emotions involved in this type of music were mainly enthusiasm, confidence, and courage. Biff’s example of when he decides to go and see Bill Oliver and ask for a loan to start the sporting goods business is a good example of music interpreting confidence. Another bit of confidence is f elt when Willy is going to ask Howard for a stationary job in New York. The music that sounds troublesome in this play would have to be anything that involved the Woman. The Woman is involved in many conflicts, but mainly between Biff and Willy. When Willy is in the bathroom at the restaurant, a cheerful song begins, along side of the Woman’s laughter. The instant that Biff sees the Woman, the music stops, then begins once more but in a slow, droopy manner. Now the music stops after a life has been wrecked. This type of music has been foreshadowing his oncoming death by starting merry andShow MoreRelatedEssay on Death of a Salesman2925 Words   |  12 Pagesâ€Å"Death of a Salesman† written by Arthur Miller in 1948 attempts to give the audience an unusual glimpse into the mind of a Willy Loman, a mercurial 60-year-old salesman, who through his endeavor to be â€Å"worth something†, finds himself struggling to endure the competitive capitalist world in which he is engulfed. Arthur Miller uses various theatrical techniques to gradua lly strip the protagonist down one layer at a time, each layer revealing another truth about his distorted past. By doing this, MillerRead MoreArthur Miller s Death Of A Salesman And Tennessee Williams A Streetcar Named Desire1812 Words   |  8 Pagesposition of high standing. In Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman and Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire, drama is created through the use of discussing the downfall of an ordinary person. By placing ordinary people into crisis situations, it allows the audience to connect and relate to the situations presented. Drama is created in both Miller and Williams’ plays by the set and sound. In both Miller and Williams’ plays, the set is used to create drama. Miller’s play takes place in a New YorkRead MoreEssay on Death of a Salesman and Street Car Named Desire4007 Words   |  17 PagesBiff: â€Å"will you take that phony dream and burn it before something happens† Compare how the authors of Death of a salesman and â€Å"street car named desire explore the conflict between truth and illusion Truth and illusion are utilized in Tennessee Williams â€Å"Streetcar Named Desire† and Arthur Millers â€Å"Death of a salesman† through the use of the character; to lead the reader to a possible conclusion on the beliefs that went into the American dream that prompted people to work hard was that americaRead MoreStudy Guide Literary Terms7657 Words   |  31 Pagessharply-defined main characters. A form of extended metaphor, in which objects, persons, and actions in a narrative, are equated with the meanings that lie outside the narrative itself. The underlying meaning has moral, social, religious, or political significance, and characters are often personifications of abstract ideas as charity, greed, or envy. Thus an allegory is a story with two meanings, a literal meaning and a symbolic meaning 4. allusion- A reference in one literary work to a character