Death Of A Salesman Suspense

Though out high school, we learned of what professors deemed the classics including Death of a Salesman. This play was written in the 1950s, by Arthur Miller, about a man, Willy Loman. He was a salesman and had been all his life, but his career was coming to an end. Willy was getting old and senile, he was no longer making money for his company. His wife Linda, is noticing he is going under and finds out he has plans to kill himself to allow his family to claim his life insurance. After losing his job, he eventually succeeds by a car accident. His sons Biff and Happy are left to pick up the pieces of their broken mother. Death of a Salesman is by no mean a bad play, but scholars have attached far to much importance to it based on lack of suspense and over use of flat characters. …show more content…
Even though, death is the likely end of a tragedy, we learn soon after the play has begun Willy Loman has been trying to kill himself. There is no suspense or sense of wonder. When “Linda comes [..] downstairs and tells Biff and Happy of her fear that Willy is planning to kill himself (she had discovered a piece of rubber hose connected to a gas pipe in the basement)”, we have learned what becomes of Willy Loman (Neinhuis). Drama's should be perplexing. We also learn early on Willy has become a failure at his job. He no longer has what it takes to be a traveling salesman. Even after 30 years, “The company takes away his salary to make him work on straight commission” (Neinhuis). Willy Loman's life is already spiraling down when we meet his two