Crucial Role of Women in Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman Essay

Crucial Role of Women in Death of a Salesman In Arthur Millers Death of a Salesman, women maneuver a crucial role in Willys life and in the lives of the other characters. While the roles themselves have not changed since the play was written, societys public opinion of these roles has changed greatly. When it was written, Millers representation of Linda was seen as a portrait of the ideal American wife. She was a nurturing wife and mother, loyal to her family, and almost overly corroboratory of her disconsolate husband Willy. The other women in the play, however, were seen as working women, or women who care about money as opposed to emotional support. This view has almost spun clxxx degrees since the feminist movement rocked society. Critics rethought the role of women in society and in marriage (Murphy and Abbotson 6), and concluded that the women in the play are much more complex and coercive than earlier interpretations had given them credit for. Not only are the women a recreation for the men in the play, they can be seen as heavily prestigious on the lives of the men with whom they come into contact. Willys entire pathetic life could have been turned around if only Linda had encouraged him to follow Ben to Alaska rather than take a firm stand the couple cling to the seemingly safe life they had begun to build. The secretaries, who at first glance seem to exist merely to perform such menial tasks as typing, actually are able to block Biffs and Willys entrance to the offices of the powerful men who could advance their careers. (Stanton 131) In addition to being far more powerful than archaeozoic critics of the play recognized, the women in Death of a Salesman also are far more complex. Women are not simply good or bad - supportive wive... ...Works Cited and Consulted Arthur Millers Death of a Salesman. Harold Bloom, ed. New York Chelsea House, 1988. Miller, Arthur. Death of a Salesman. 50th Anniversary ed. New York Penguin Books, 1999. Murphy, B renda and Susan C. W. Abbotson. Understanding Death of a Salesman A Student Handbook to Cases, Issues and diachronic Documents. The Greenwood Press Literature in Context series, Claudia Durst Johnson, series editor. Westwood, CT, London 1999. Stanton, Kay. Women in Death of a Salesman Readings on Death of a Salesman. Ed. Thomas Siebold. San Diego, CA Greenhaven Press, 1999. 130-137. Guth, Hans P. and Gabriel L. Rico. 1993. Discovering Literature. catastrophe and the Common Man by Arthur Miller. Upper Saddle River, NJ Prentice Hall. Oakley, J. Ronald. Gods Country America in the Fifties. New York Dembner Books, 1990. 245.