Open Prompt #5

Unlike the novelist, the writer of a play does not use his own voice and only rarely uses a narrator's voice to guide the audience's responses to character and action. Select a play you have read and write an essay in which you explain the techniques the playwright uses to guide his audience's responses to the central characters and the action. You might consider the effect on the audience of things like setting, the use of comparable and contrasting characters, and the characters' responses to each other. Support your argument with specific references to the play. Do not give a plot summary.

When reading a play, one often finds themselves facing more ambiguity in the text than in prose. Arthur Miller is a playwright who has an extremely explicit vision of his plays. Miller uses specific descriptions of the play's set, the divergent success in life of Willy's family and Charley's family, and the conflicts between the major characters to convey his message indicting the contemporary American society and its principles.

The settings that Miller present to the audience shape their mood, and their take on the characters; actions on the stage. Compared to many other prominent playwrights, Miller is extremely detailed in his stage directions. By analyzing his directions, the reader can see the effects that Miller wishes to create, and what meaning that it conveys. In the first scene, the abstract nature of the set, with rooms that have no visible boundaries and towering dark figures of apartment buildings, gives a dreamlike quality to the play. This leads the audience to suspend realism in there reception of the characters' actions and dialogue, as well as hint that the main character, Willy is out of touch with reality. Thus, the audience is not surprised when Willy fades in and out of flashbacks to earlier days. In addition, the musical component of the setting, with the flute that fades in and out makes reference to Willy's father's profession, as well as an allusion to the Pied Piper. Miller's uses the Pied Piper to represent the American way, leading individuals like Willy awry. The setting, both visual and musical, allows Miller to advance his message cricriticizing the American way.

Miller juxtaposes the success of Charley's family and the failure of Willy's family to criticize the American way and his contemporary American society. From the beginning of the play, it is clear that Willy's family is not extremely accomplished. Willy is an aging salesman, Biff is out of work, and Happy lives a mediocre life as an office worker. However, the extent of the family's failures only become apparent when Miller details the interactions between Willy and Charley, as well as Willy and his son, Bernard. The deception that Miller has Willy's family play on itself, as well as on the audience, is broken when it is revealed that Willy has been forced to accept charity from Charlie on a weekly basis. In addition, it is revealed that Bernard has become very successful, despite his portrayal as Biff's subordinate in their younger years.

Miller uses specific descriptions of the play's set, the divergent success in life of Willy's family and Charley's family, and the conflicts between the major characters to convey his message indicting the contemporary American society and its principles.