SOURCE: Rosinger, Lawrence. “Miller's Death of a Salesman.” Explicator 45, no. 2 (winter 1987): 55-6.

In the following essay, Rosinger discusses the allusions to classical drama and mythology in Death of a Salesman.

In commenting on Death of a Salesman, Arthur Miller has stated emphatically that modern tragedies need not be bound by Aristotelian principles, especially since the tragedies of our time can revolve about an ordinary person, a Willy Loman, rather than one of high status.¹ It is therefore interesting to note that the vocabulary of Death of a Salesman in several instances suggests an older type of drama.

For example, Miller imparts to the salesman's world an element of earlier tragedy when Willy, speaking of his deceased boss, asserts: “That man was a prince, he was a masterful man” (133).² The word “prince” (with its ironic hint of royalty) is again stressed in the restaurant scene, when Willy goes to...