Context/Critic

• Tragedy and the common man


  A common man can be as tragic as a king
• Tragedy is not pessimistic
• Tragedy makes people question the state of society
• American Dream - set of ideals where freedom includes succes and upward social mobility
• Arthur Miller - Thought society was unjust, critical of capitalism
• Capitalist/Consumerism - Miller thought consumerism was the basis of people's existence
• Consumerism 


  Wealth is not evenly distributed
• Salesmanship and selling


  DOAS set in post war economic boom- selling wasan easy job
• Realism


  Attempts to reproduce real life on stage

  Settings and props are often believable
• Expressionism


  Present internal emotions outwards
• Tony Cavender


  Argues that it is just as much a tragedy as Hamlet
• Tony Cavender- Willy


  Willy's fatal flaw is his own mindset and teh overestimation he has for his sons