Musical Motifs - Literature Essay Samples

Arthur Millers Death of a Salesman is a deceptively simple play. The simplicity of the play, however, quickly dissolves into a respectful ambiguity through Millers ingenious stage directions, nonverbal expressions and, most importantly, his musical design. From the opening notes to their final reprise, the audience is enormously attracted by what Tennessee Williams called the plastic theatre (Williams 213). The use of musical expression complements the textual version of the play creating a more lucid production. This willingness that Miller has to open up his theatre to more than merely a language-embedded performance allowed him to create a lyric drama, a more poetic theatre through the melodic themes. The musical motifs assume important roles in the production, roles accentuating the conflicts that the Lomans articulate to the audience through language. They foreground, through metaphor, many of the plays deeper ambiguities and discords.Millers musical themes express the com peting influences in Willy Lomans mind. Once established, the themes need only to be sounded to evoke certain time frames, emotions, and values. The first sounds of the drama, the flute notes small and fine, represent the grass, trees and horizon. These are objects of Willys and Biffs longing that are tellingly absent from the overshadowed home on which the curtain rises. This melody plays on as Willy makes his initial appearance, although, as Miller tells us, he hears but is not aware of it (1165). Through this melodious music we are thus given our first sense of Willys estrangement not only from the nature itself but also from his own deep nature that confuses happiness with success.The flute music also holds important past references for Willy. Ben informs Willy that their father made flutes and sold them during the familys early wanderings (1185). As Ben enters into their fathers biography a new music is heard, introducing an additional musical theme as the father is char acterized by a high, rollicking tune (1184). The tune is differentiated from the small and fine melody of the natural landscape (1165). This distinction is fitting, for the father is a salesman as well as an explorer. The rollicking musical theme that is heard in reference to his name collides with the tender music that he is remembered for. This represents the conflicting values that he possessed and passed on to those around him, thus giving evidence to Willys adverse correlation between happiness and success.The fathers tune shares a familiar likeness to Bens idyllic (1182) music. This theme presents itself falsely, as it is associated in depressing and discouraging contexts. Bens theme is first sounded after Willy expresses his exhaustion from his pursuit to succeed (1182). Then it is perceived again after Willy is fired in Act II. This time the music precedes Bens entrance. It is heard in the distance, then closer, just as Willys thoughts of suicide, once repressed, no w come closer at the loss of his job. When Bens idyllic melody plays for the third and final time it is in accents of dread (1228), for Ben reinforces Willys wrongheaded thought of suicide to help finance and support Biff and the family. This idea of selling out relates to the abandonment that Willys father portrayed since Willy can not remember much about him. The fathers and Bens themes contribute greatly to Willys disillusionment about life. They are thus in opposition to the small and fine theme of nature that begins and ends the play. The whistling motif elaborates this essential conflict. Most people envision whistling to be an outdoor activity that accompanies work. A whistler in an office would be a distraction. Biff Loman is fond of whistling, thus reinforcing his ties to nature rather than the business environment. Happy seeks to stifle Biffs true voice:Happy: Bob Harrison said you were tops, and then you go and do some damn fool thing like whistling whole sounds i n the elevator like a comedian.Biff (against Happy): So what? I like to whistle sometimes.Happy: You dont raise a guy to a responsible job who whistles in elevators! (60)Happy holds many of the similar values that his father does, as he believes that success and acceptance are the roots to happiness. He attempts to explain to Biff that to succeed, and thus gain happiness, he must not forfeit his desires. This corresponds to Willys estrangement from nature to gain successfulness.Later in Act 2 the whistling theme reverberates again as Howard Wagner plays Willy a recording of himself whistling Roll out the Barrel just before Willy asks for an advance and a New York job (1198). Willys uneasiness with the recorder that plays the whistling reiterates the concept of Willys estrangement and more importantly his blindness to the truth. Being that Howard is a very prosperous man and is the person whistling on the recorder, disproves Willy and Happys idea that whistling is disapproved by business authorities. In a sense, Howard is showing Willy that happiness does not lie in ones success but rather with his connection with nature and finding himself.Willys conflicting desires to work in sales and to do outdoor, independent work are complicated by another longing, that of sexual desire, which is expressed through the raw, sensuous music that accompanies The Womans appearances on stage (1179, 1215). It is this music of sexual desire that insinuates itself in Act 2. It is also heard just before Willy, reliving a past conversation, offers this ironic warning to Biff, Just wanna be careful with those girls, Biff, thats all. Dont make any promises. No promises of any kind (1174).This raw theme of sexual desire contrasts with Linda Lomans musical motif. She is characterized by a maternal hum of a soft lullaby. This comforting music becomes a desperate but monotonous hum at the end of Act I (1195). Lindas monotonous drone, in turn, contrasts with the gray and bright music, the boys theme, which opens Act II. This theme is associated with the great times (1195) that Willy remembers with his sons before his adultery is discovered. Like the high, rollicking theme of Willys father and like Bens idyllic melody, this gay and bright music is ultimately associated with the false dream of materialistic success. The boys theme is first heard when Willy tells Ben that he and the boys will get rich in Brooklyn (1185). It sounds again when Willy implores Ben, How do we get back to all the great times? (1218).In his final moments of life, Willy Loman is shown struggling with his furies, sounds, faces, voices, seem to be swarming in upon him (1229). Suddenly, however, the faint and high music enters, representing the false dreams of all the low men. This false tune ends Willys struggle with his competing voices. It drowns out the other voices, rising in intensity almost to an unbearable scream as Willy rushes off in his car. As the car rushes off, th e music crashes down in a frenzy of sound. The clamorous music softens as it becomes the soft pulsation of a single cello representing death and the end of Willy Lomans struggle for success. The play ends in the form of the flutes small and fine refrain. It persists despite the tragedy we have witnessed insinuating that nature and following ones true self is the foundation of happiness.From page to stage, Arthur Miller meticulously structures Death of a Salesman upon a cluster of regressive musical images, images that correspond directly to Willy Lomans fall. Without paying much attention the music in the play help the audience experience the mood that each character adds. Upon further examination, the sounds contribute to the musical motifs that underlie and support the overall theme that Miller is addressing. From the conflicting nature of the flute to the controversy of whistling, Miller magically addresses the disillusionment of the American dream through Willy Loman.Barne t, Berman, Burto, and William E. Cain. Death of a Salesman. An Introduction to Literature. New York: 1997.Williams, Tennessee. Production Notes of Plays, The Theatre of Tennessee Williams, vol. I. New York: New Directions, 1971.