Essay on Performance Proposal

Submitted By Mirrknight
Words: 1006
Pages: 5

I believe that UNLV should consider the production of Death of a Salesman for one of the slots for next season. Due to the continuous changing of generations I feel this play would have a great impact on its viewers, giving them the idea of how people’s lives go through changes in an attempt to keep up with society and the struggles that coincide with it. This play is a good representation of this as the main character, Willy, is in his own illusion that life is how it was when he was doing better but the reality of the situation is that time is moving on leaving him in the past. I see pride as the main seed within this play due to how it makes characters work towards what they believe no matter what obstacles are interfering. Willy is my prime example as he lets his pride take control into making him believe he is still successful even though he is only surviving day by day. The theme is how pride can create a gap between reality and one’s expectations, which is why Willy becomes increasingly more delusional throughout the play as he tries to get a grip on reality. The idea of this play could be that pride can be a source of self-deception, which can be seen through Willy’s alternate world compared to what is really going on around his family. Some of the background information to this play is that Willy married Linda and had both Happy and Biff. Other events occur when the two boys are still growing up such as Biff playing football back in highschool and also failing math. Biff can be seen as an unsuccessful person due to the fact that he hasn’t maintained a job but is due to him not finding the right thing for him. It is also revealed that Willy had cheated on his wife when he traveled for work and Biff discovers this making him feel less proud of his father, creating more tension between the two. Some of the last events to occur before the play begins is Willy’s attempted suicide letting us know that things aren’t going well for him. Seeing as these events are important to the story I feel the play has a moderate point of attack. The dramatic conflict is that of Willy vs society seeing that the events in the book tie in to him as a character or he tries to impose on these certain situations. The first major climax is when Linda reveals that Willy has attempted suicide in the form of wrecking his car as well as contemplating using gas to kill himself. It can be assumed that he understands that he isn’t living in the world that he wants to so he tries to end everything because he cannot keep up with the pace that society is evolving at. This is still seen when the second action occurs, him getting fired from his job. Society had this point wasn’t in need of his service so letting him go is one of the major climaxes as he comes to realize that he really is living in a false reality. The final climax would be when he is waiting in the restaurant for Happy and Biff, who are out with dates. This gives can be viewed that he can’t even have a family that stands together like any other family in the ideal viewpoint of society. The resolution is when Willy gives up and in turn, passes away. To sum up the actions in the play the protagonist, Willy, is trying to keep his family together by ignoring his past mistakes and attempting to live what he thought was the American dream. The counter-through action is society pushing Willy into trying too hard keeping his family together since he is unable to keep up with its pace. So in the end