The movie Death of a Salesman as scripted by Arthur Miller offers a vivid description of the struggle of a middle-income businessperson. The title in itself gives the viewer suspense and curiosity of knowing how it turns out for the protagonist Willy Loman. Willy toils hard to fend for his family through business and his ultimate goal, as the film director depicts is for Willy to see the success of his sons, Biff, and Happy. The commodity that Willy sells is not mentioned throughout the movie, which could imply that his merchandise is of things not seen, a business of self. The scripting of the movie, the setting of the scenes, its direction, costume choice and language use are, however, open to criticism.
There exists a conflict of interests with Biff wanting to become a successful farmhand while his father feels that by Biff doing so he would end up as a waste. On the contrary, Willy wants his son to achieve greatness through making use of his talent. This misunderstanding trails on until the end of the movie when it ends in a tragic that is marked with emotion and grief. Willy takes his life. He does this after the realization that he had failed as a father to put blame on his son Biff for not becoming who he had always wanted him to be. This conflict helps to reveal the drama that audiences yearn for in a movie. It is conferred to the qualities of a true thriller.
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In his thoughts, Willy justifies his decision before committing suicide that the only way to help his son is by killing himself so that Biff could use insurance money, which is his inheritance as capital to start his own business. A classic example of a father who wishes the best for a son. The emotional appeal that comes with this scene is immense. One that gives the audience a sense of connection with the movie and offers a platform for self-reflection as it gives the audience a call to express pity towards Willy on the turn of events.
It is worth noting that the structure of the movie comes with its detriments as well. The diction that Arthur Miller uses does not present the issues handled by the movie, as one would expect. Grammatical connotations do not come out clearly from the sentences uttered by Willy in some of the scenes. For example, the use of “I”, “me” and “we” is depicted the language of a less educated Willy but much of this appears as pretense from this character rather than the grammar mistakes that would be made by one that is intrinsically uneducated.
The title choice is also unfavorable. From the audience point of view, the sales business should be the main stressor that should offer psychopathy to the protagonist, Willy. However, as the director of the movie reveals through flashbacks, Willy had an existing medical with the bipolar condition. It is, therefore, difficult for a consumer to associate the depressive and manic episodes that Willy erupts into in the various scenes of the movie, with the overwhelming difficulties in his business. One would rather assume that the mannerisms Willy expresses are due to his existing medical condition.
The flashbacks registered in Willy’s memory are not conclusive in a way that explicitly shows a watcher that they are thoughts of past occurrences experienced by the protagonist rather than expressions of Willy’s aspirations. The director of the movie does not bring out the quality to distinguish objectivity of these flashbacks in displaying facts, from the subjectivity of the character’s personal thought process.
In conclusion, the movie Death of a Salesman is a combination of artistry theatrical works that presents its issues in a moderate fashion of a tragic classical show. The use of language, costumes and setting to bring out drama and the appeal for emotional attachment from the movie has been weaved together to depict the personality of the central character. Nevertheless, the movie has its shortfalls in its direction.
