Death of a Salesman raises many issues, not only of artistic form but also of thematic content. Dramatically speaking, the play represents Arthur Miller’s desire to modernize the tragedy of Aristotle described in the Poetics. Aristotle held that tragedy portrayed the downfall of a king or noble, whose fall from grace was the result of a tragic flaw—generally held to be hubris, or an excessive amount of pride. Miller, on the other hand, believes that tragedy—or the individual’s desire to realize their destiny—is not solely the province of royalty. It also belongs to the common man—in this case the “low man,” as in Willy Loman.

Willy’s tragic flaw stems from the fact that he has misinterpreted the American dream, the belief that one can rise from rags to riches. For Willy, the success of that dream hinges on appearance rather than on substance, on wearing a white collar rather than a blue one. It is this snobbery, combined with a lack of practical knowledge, that leads to his downfall.

Indeed, much of the lasting popularity of Death of a Salesman, both in the world of the theater and in the canon of English literature, lies in its treatment of multiple themes. Too didactic or moralistic for some modern readers, who see the author as heavy-handed, the play nevertheless raises many pertinent questions regarding American culture. Many younger readers have even credited it with preventing them from making the same mistakes committed by the characters.

Chief among these themes is an indictment of the capitalist nature of the American dream—the belief that through the pioneer virtues of hard work, perseverance, ingenuity, and fortitude, one might find happiness through wealth. Implicit within this dream, however, is the assumption that money leads to fulfillment, regardless of the type of work that one does in order to attain it. While Willy himself was never successful as a salesman, he remains confident that his son Biff will be able to make it big in business because of his good looks and his past glory as a high school football star. Willy makes the error of celebrating popularity over know-how, style over substance. He taught Biff that being “well-liked” would carry the day, thus ignoring the damaging truth that Biff’s habit of petty theft—whether it was lumber from a nearby construction site or a football from the locker room—would ultimately lead to the boy’s downfall.

The way in which this theme informs the play is also the key to its form, since Willy constantly relives the past through a series of flashbacks. These scenes present Biff and Happy as they appeared in high school, providing the audience with a glimpse into the happy past that shaped the unhappy present. Another theme thus emerges: that the decisions made in youth have a direct impact on one’s life in maturity. In addition, by seeing past events, the audience is forced to admit that Willy lives in a world of fantasy and denial, where he is unwilling to confront his own role in contributing to his son’s unhappiness.

Indeed, the linchpin of the play surrounds an event in Willy’s past, when Biff discovered his father committing an infidelity with another woman. Crushed by his newfound glimpse into the world of adults, the adolescent Biff learned that his larger-than-life father was all too human, that he was “flawed.” Thrust abruptly from the world of innocence into the world of experience, Biff sabotaged his own life by refusing to attend summer school, thus preventing him from making something of himself at the university. Instead, he took a series of...