Weekly Task Two: Importance of the Stage to Miller

In the following article a critic discusses the ideas of the stage (and therefore realism) in Death of a Salesman. Read the article and considering also what we have drawn, seen and discussed in class answer the following question.

How do the opening stage directions differ from what we normally expect of 'a play'?
Why does Miller describe the scene the way he does?
What themes does this suggest and what do they tell us about Miller as a writer and the plays meaning?

1. Mainly because the stage is set up from the beginning to the end, with no big changes in the scenery. Also, Miller gives exact directions to the possible director about the scenery, lights and even the mood.
2. Maybe because he wants the first scene to contrast with the rest of the play, or maybe he wants to create a retrospective view into the common life and the dreams and desires destroyed by it or unachieved.
3. The play is a very interesting one as it gives the viewer an arbitrary view of the World we live on and, as said in the last question, it creates a sort of retrospective view towards the dreams and aims.

1) On the death of a salesman the opening stage directions are different from normal mainly because it says exactly what to do and what to have in each part of the stage what it is different from Shakespeare for example because he doesn’t give stage direction and leaves the interpretation for the director instead Miller gives all the directions so the director has to do it as he wants and with out any interpretation.

2) I think Miller describes the scene like that firstly because he want the play to be the way he want that’s why he gives so many directions so finally the play end exactly as he wants it to be. Also he wants to present a theme that is the contrast with the reality and the dreams. The reality is shown on the house witch is a humble and little house and the dreams is shown in the opening part when the outside is describes as calm and beautiful what is very different to the reality of New York.

3) As said in the question above this first introduction of the scene shows the themes of the contrast of the dreams and the real world. This tells us that Miller maybe think that reach this dreams is impossible because he presents us the unrealistic surrounding and then immediately shows us the reality of a poor house what shows us that this is the reality and is very difficult to change it.

1- In the play “Death of a Salesman” the opening stage directions are different from normal mainly because Miller is very precise in his directions, and what he actually imagines what is going to happened is what happens. Also, as reviewed in class, Miller opens the scenery of a normal house, revealing every single secret inside of it, opening to the public what an everyday house has to hide from the outer world.
2- As in question 1, Miller is trying to, in a sort of way, demonstrate what a normal house may look from the outside world but be very different from the inside. I think that’s why his directions are so precise and specific, so everything goes like he wants them to go so the message is clear enough for the audience.
3- I think the main theme in this play (as pointed before) is the difference a everyday house may have in its inside (with family secrets, problems, etc…) and the outside (representing the outside world and when the family hides there family problems from the other people. This obviously show that Miller is trying to send a message to the audience that someone might look very differently as they really are.

1. The main difference in the stage is that in Death of a Salesman the stage is more static than a normal play. Maybe, Miller is more direct, this means that he goes straight to the point.

2. I think Miller made this type of description because he wanted to have a detailed atmosphere using many directions for it to be more interesting for the readers and to have a play exactly as he want it for it to be contrast with the real world.

3. How I said in the last question, the house is contrasted with the real world, which represents the dream. This suggests that Miller is telling us that the contrast of the poor house and the surrounding means that is impossible to change his situation.

1. The first thing that we might notice that differs from what me consider 'normal' plays, is that in 'Death of a Salesman' there are lots and very specific stage directions. This is probably because Miller wanted his play to be excactly what he pictured in his mind and not what someone else might interpret.

2. He wants it to be specific, he wants to show what a family looked like in their private moments and not pretending to be something else that they aren't. He wants to show intimacy, their fights, their personal spaces. He might want to contrast what their peaceful and humble house feels like against all the tall building and the busy New York city, dream vs. reality.

3. I think that Miller tries to illustrate the themes of dream vs. reality, hope against oportunity, because you can hope for a dream and try to acomplish your goals, but not necesarilly there will be the oportunities that you need to achieve it. It's about effort and always trying hard.

1. The difference between other plays and 'Death of a Salesman’ is that Miller gives many specific stage directions. And we are not used to this type of play, there is nothing left for the director to interpret, everything is clear and direct. We assume this is because he wanted his play to be presented in the way he wrote it, using every detail as he decided; with no other director’s interpretations.

2. Miller describes the scene in a very explicit way, we can see every moment lived in the house, there is no privacy, no secrets. He shows us everything a family leaves and how they face it. He contrasts dream vs. reality, the fact that life is not perfect against the life of someone in New York City that surrounds them.

3. As I mentioned in the answer above, Miller contrasts dream vs. Reality, this is one of the main themes and it is linked to the pursuit of happyness. This might tell us that the author believes that with no opportunities goals can’t be reached, and he represents this through a small house in the centre of N.Y where everything seems to be perfect.

1. The main difference is that Miller gives us so many details about the stage, which include mood, light, etc, so that we can picture the stage as he imagines it not as someone might interpreter it. As we also reviewed in class, this is not what we are used to see in plays, like Shakespeare’s plays in which there are no stage directions.

2. Miller describes the scene as he does because he wants to illustrate the reality of the everyday life, so that the stage supports the play’s atmosphere and reality.

3. I think that Miller is trying to contrast reality (represented by the house) against a dream and show us that reality can be much harder than it looks and in order to achieve your dream there must be opportunities and hard work.

1.- The directions in the Death of a Salesman are different from the directions in a normal play because Miller gives many specific directions so that the director has nothing to interpret because every thing is very clear. We can deduce that he did this because he wanted the play be just like he wanted and like he pictured it in his mind.

2.- Miller describes the scene very detailed because he wanted to create an atmosphere just like he wanted to be. Also he wants to remark the theme of contrast between reality and dreams. He presents the reality in the house, as very humble and little and the dreams in a very peaceful and beautiful description of NY.

3.- Miller suggests mainly the theme of the contrast between the reality and the dreams. Maybe, he wants to make the reader think that it is impossible to reach your dreams .

In Death of the Salesman are different to what we normally expect on the opening of a play. This play has a lot of stage directions, so the play looks just as Miller wanted to. The director in this case can’t interpretate how to arrange the scenery because Miller wants to show the play just as he imagines it.

Miller wants his scene to be specific. It contrasts the reality with the dreams, their calm humble house against all the city buildings from New York, as if it was trapped. Inside the house, we can also see the intimate family life, there is no privacy and no secrets.

Miller mainly suggests the contrast between dreams and reality. Reality is represented by the little house trapped in New York, and reality is much harder than we think its is. You need opportunities, hard work and effort to achieve your dreams.

1.What we normally expect in a play is that, for example in Shakespeare, the characters briefly introduce us to the setting, but in ‘Death of a Salesman’ Arthur Miller exposes us a very detailed scenario, we get clearly his ideas.

2.Miller describes the scene in a very specific way, by this we get clearly his ideas, for example the contrast between music and the stage, or the idea that he wants to show an open private life, he wants to make it personal. By this he makes sure the audience is receiving the correct message, and when other directors carry out this play, the main ideas won’t be altered.

3. The themes that are suggested are hard life, how difficult it is to succeed and make our dreams come true , how we need to be more open to our environment, since the house is a very personal place, he makes us question how we are not as open as we should be.

1. Death of a Sales Man is different to what we normally expect because Miller has used many stage directions to show precisly what he wants to interpretate to the audience and nothing else.

2. Miller describes the scene with many stage directions to show exactly his point of view, and also to show contrast, for example, between calm music and a big and noisy city like New York, or between reality and the persuit of dreams.

3. The main theme would be the contrast between reality and dreams. This may show Miller's idea of a hard working life and the way you should persuit your dreams.

1. We normally expect a brief description of the scene, as there are some changes. Here there is one specific setting, clearly detailed and described by Miller exactly as he thinks it should be and how he wants it to be, so that the play is not misinterpreted by the director and everything is just as he wants it.

2. He wants to give a clear idea of how the life was in a house, in the middle of a big city such as NY, showing a contrast between this small house and the life outside in NY. Also he describes it very detailed so that the scene is well interpretated, bacuse for Miller it is very important that the scene is well set just as he wants, so there are no changed in his play.

3. The main theme would probably be the contrast between reality and dreams, in a city of dreams (NY) and the reality of the salesman in his little house, showing us the difficulty for achieving goals and dreams.

i cant see the article

1: The opening stage directions differ from what we are normally used to because miller tells us directly how the stage look like or how the the characters act not like in other play that everything depended on the readers interpretation.

2:because he wants us to see or imagine the setting the way he did it when he rote the play.

3: I couldn't see the article I don't know what he question is talking about.

1. the opening stage direction of "the death of a salesman" differ from what we normally wait from a play because in this story we found lots of stage directions from Miller, as in other plays such us Shakespear plays we dont found such specific direction from the author so the director has the possibility of him choosing the details on stage.
2. Miller describe the scene in such "every day" way because of the fact thats the really theme he wants to create and "every day" theme. He wants to show the audience all the problems, discussions and other things that happen on a family house where nobody is hiding something to each other and the people are shown like they really are, very transparent, not acting or trying to be somebody their not. it is also described this way to show the contrast life of the house and city.
3. I think Miller is trying to suggest us that life outside its very difficult and its very hard to achieve your aims also so there also a theme between achieving the goals and the reality that maybe its not how we wanted it to be.

1.- The main characteristic of the stage directions of the play "Death of a Salesman" is that they are very detailed. Not like most of the plays that let the director interpret most if not all of them.

2.- For Miller it is very important that the director creates a scenery exactly how he described it, so that it is acted in the way he wrote it and not the way the director interpret it. It is also to emphasise a contrast between a big and active city like New York and a calmed and lonely house.

3.- Reality is hard; and much harder when you are dreaming and life shows you that reality is very different to what we hope to be. This is when a salesman has to work hardly every day to try and achive some dreams that, probably will never become true.

1) Arthur Miller describes us the stage directions very detailed. Normally, it would have a small and brief description, but this one has a long and explained stage direction.

2)He describes it that way because he wants to create an atmosphere of this family and its very detailed so it could be more exact and show the family life.

3) The themes that they suggest are of the real world and the problems of the family at those times. Job problems, social and economic.

1. Arthur Miller uses very descriptive directions. We would normally expect that directions are brief, but in the case of Arthur Miller, directions precise, that express what HE wants, like the stage,, directions and lights

2. It is very important for Arthur Miller because he wants the act to be the way he wants. Thats why he uses exact directions because he wants the director to do the way it is written, not the way the director wants.

3. A. M. wants to show the contrast between dreams and reality. When you live in the dreams (fantasy world) makes it more difficult to live in the real world. In the case of the opening directions, we are described New york as a city with may buildings, and in the middle there is a house. This makes us a contrast between the real world and the world of the salesman

1. The opening of the stage directions is very descriptive and uses a metaphoric language which is not very objective and therefore not so easy to interpret. For example, the melody in act 1 is described as "small and fine, telling of grass and trees and the horizon". This makes it more complex for the composer to achieve his job.

2. I think that Miller wanted to show how the relationship between the family was, to show their intimate moments and their feelings for each other. he makes this moment very specific, creating a more interesting atmosphere for the audience. He gives the idea of a very charming and peaceful house against the giant and noisy city, which makes the image of the contrast between the dream and the real world.

3. As I said on question 2, what Miller tries to create is a contrast of a little and harmonious house being intimidate by the big dangerous New York city, which applies to the idea of dream v/s reality.

1- Arthur Miller stage direction is very descriptive and detailed, as he specifies very well how he wants things, like lights and staging.

2-Miller's objective i think was to show the everyday life of families, the arguments, and how they get a long during the day. The atmosphere created is very interesting.

3-Their is a contrast between the little house in the middle of a big and emperious city, creating also a contrast between the real world and the dreamed life.