💼 Death of a Salesman – Context Explained! | A Level English Literature | Let’s Learn Series
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SLV5yfbisEM

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0:04 Hi everyone. Uh John Heath here again for Milton Rose Learning with another Let's Learn video on death of a salesman context. Okay, so we're all about the
0:15 illusions of the American dream here and being crushed by capitalism. So we're going to tease out some of the key contextual factors um around that those
0:25 kind of themes. Then we'll look at how that context really plays into the um in action into the play itself and affects the kind of characterization and the
0:34 narrative. And then we'll finish by three of the best contextual quotes that you can then drop into your essays and try and get the high marks. Okay, so
0:43 first off, let's have a nice look at the context. Okay, so there we go. Okay. So, as we can see there uh with
0:56 the traditional kind of American housewife, the um key features of 1940s uh America. So, first off, we have um a time of kind
1:07 of uh post Great Depression America and there was uh economic insecurity here. So, it left many families kind of struggling with some job losses and
1:18 poverty was still patchy in American society. It's hard to kind of wrap our heads around. Now, obviously with America being a superpower, but it did
1:26 have a time in this period where it was a bit patchy in terms of its economics. So, success was very uncertain despite loads of hard work. You could really
1:36 work your socks off and still not succeed or or get much money here because of um the disparity in in the kind of economics of the country.
1:46 Second key contextual point is traditional gender roles. So men were expected to be breadwinners uh to bring the money home basically and women would
1:56 manage the home. So often kind of failing to pro to provide you know to be a bread winner for a man often led to shame and identity crisis as we see with
2:08 Willie Lman. Okay. It's kind of when they don't feel like they're bringing home the money, they start to kind of worry and it leads to kind of mental
2:16 trauma and things like that. So it was a really really big issue in this period. Then moving on we have um again with a charming image there of US consumerism.
2:28 Um we have um there was big changes in uh US society. So post-war identity crisis. So first off then Willy's breakdown which he has
2:42 reflects the uncertainty that um that kind of many men felt in postwar World War II America where traditional roles and social values were starting to
2:52 shift. you know, uh, a lot of people came back after World War II and wanted to change American society and things like that. And those who were kind of
3:00 left behind really struggled to keep up with that and it led to, you know, their identity crisis which is explored through the character of Willie
3:08 obviously. And then I think a big contextual point there as well is the illusory American dream. So the American dream as we've se
3:17 saw in other videos probably if you've if you've had a look on the channel um the American dream is the simple concept that if you work really hard anybody can
3:26 make it. You can become rich and powerful and live live in a big house and have a fast car and all this kind of stuff. But for many people it's not true
3:35 and it's an illusion. So the rise of advertising and consumerism in the 1940s and50s which the image kind of really symbolizes there um created expectations
3:46 of success uh where yeah you think oh it looks really good in the magazines and stuff so I'm going to make it myself but often
3:55 those expectations are unrealistic and it kind of fuels Willy's obsession with image he's constantly chasing this American dream and thinks yeah I'm going
4:04 to be as good as kind of in the advertising But it just never happens. The American dream is shown to be one big lie to many people and that's the
4:13 ultimate tragedy of the play. He's chasing an impossible dream. Okay. So, how does this play out with uh with Arthur Miller's views then? The
4:24 kind of big man. He's looking very very serious there. Um so, what does what do we think he believes? Well, if I was teaching your class, I would be
4:32 highlighting two kind of big uh big points here. I think first off, in Death of a Salesman, Arthur Miller is critiquing the American dream. He's
4:43 showing how the dream of success can trap ordinary people in a false hope. It provides them with this kind of false narrative of success and yeah, you're
4:52 going to be a millionaire and things like that, but it's all just a lie and you're never going to get there anyway. It's kind of quite pessimistic in that
5:00 sense uh in my my opinion. So it leads to disillusionment and despair because obviously when you when your hopes and dreams are dashed then how do you react?
5:11 Well, mental trauma and and potentially mental illness. So it's it's kind of almost to Arthur Miller the American dream is a bit like a sick joke. It's
5:20 kind of just it looks all glossy in the advertising but it's something which you know 99.9% of people will never reach. and Willie Lman will never reach. So
5:29 it's extremely savage an extremely savage critique of the American dream. That's the first thing to understand from from Arthur Miller's perspective.
5:39 The second thing is broader than that. It's an attack on capitalism, our whole economic system. So he exposes a system that values
5:49 profit over people because ultimately that's what capitalism is. Uh I'm no Marxist, but capitalism is built inbuilt kind of to a degree on exploitation and
6:01 things like that and of people's labor. And it shows ultimately how Willie is discarded once he's no longer useful to cap to a capitalist system. So once he
6:12 no longer has the skills or the or the ability to sell his labor on the market, then that's it. Okay? You're just almost chewed chewed up and spat out by
6:21 capitalism. So I think Arthur Miller is very much um kind of critiquing capitalism um as well as the American dream. I think it's got a dual track
6:31 approach there. Okay. So with that in mind, how does this play out in context? As you can see with the it is all about money really in
6:43 some ways. It's the monopoly money there. Um now let's look then how does it play out in the play itself? Well, first off then we have capitalism and
6:53 the American dream. So Willie Lman's obsession with success in inverted commerce shows the dark side of the American dream where selfworth is tied
7:04 to money. If you've got money and status and you look good, then you are doing well in American society. But as we've learned, not everybody can, you know,
7:15 not everyone can be a millionaire. So when characters like Willie Lman don't become millionaires and become successful, it often leads to failure
7:24 and despair because these characters now feel like they they're not worth anything in a in a in capitalist society. So it triggers this kind of
7:33 negative almost doom spiral where they just the character just goes down and down and down and down and can't ever reconcile their identity with not having
7:42 all the money and success that they want. very tragic in that sense. Then we have um gender roles and family expectations.
7:52 So Linda obviously the wife uh of Willie. So Linda's quiet suffering and support of Willie reflect the 1940s ideal of the loyal housewife because
8:03 women in this period were seen to you know support your man to go out and earn a living. whilst Willie pressures Biff, the son obviously, to live up to a
8:14 narrow masculine definition of success. So Willie is kind of like schooling Biff in a negative way to kind of, if I'm honest, just to repeat the um repeat the
8:26 mistakes that he's making. So, it's almost a double tragedy of Willie kind of leading this kind of very silly existence, but then trying to get his
8:34 son to live up to it as well, which he can never live up to and and kind of repeat the mistake. So, that makes it a double tragedy, if I can put it that
8:42 way. Then we have uh generational conflict and disillusionment. So, Biff's rejection of his father's
8:52 dream shows a post-war shift in values. As we know at the start, you know, at the start of the lesson that American society was changing and Biffy's is a
9:00 different generation. So he sees things in a very very different way. So younger generations began questioning this materialism, just kind of buying stuff
9:10 constantly, bigger houses, cars, clothes, and all that materialistic stuff that didn't really mean anything. and he chases more authentic personal
9:20 fulfillment because yeah, I I agree with Biff up to up to a point. You know, life isn't all about kind of material things. There are other things in life that
9:29 probably um create happiness as well, but it's just not part of the American dream. So, there's a real social conflict there, almost an ideological
9:38 conflict as well that you it'd be good for you to reflect on that for your essays. Now with that in mind then let's have a
9:46 look at some of the key quotes. Okay. So first off then we've got Willie Lman. I do like that image. He's bewailing his life there. Okay. So let's have a look
10:00 at Willy's um kind of American dream. So it said he's liked but not wellliked. Now, that shows Willy's belief that charm, being liked by people, equals
10:13 success, and that in a sense reflects capitalist ideals up to a point. But Miller is critiquing that shallow version of the American dream. So, being
10:24 liked doesn't really equate to anything. It kind of it's not it's not anything I can take to the bank. It's not going to lead necessarily to success. So he has
10:35 this kind of very misplaced, very shallow conception of charm equal in success which just is so far away from the truth that it's just kind of almost
10:46 whimsical and silly really. But it's nevertheless a really interesting quote to show Willy's psychology in terms of the American dream.
10:55 Then we have the eversuffering Linda. Okay, so let's have a look here then. So Linda on struggle. So she says um quite a revealing quote here. A small man can
11:09 be just as exhausted as a great man. So let's unpick that together. So it highlights that workingclass hardship and demands
11:20 um and and she's sorry demanding dignity for ordinary people in a postwar capitalist world. She's saying kind of the working class and people like Willer
11:31 who have to go out and earn an honest crust. You know, they are working in a sense just as hard as the kind of bigwigs who own all the factories and
11:39 all the kind of office blocks and all this kind of stuff. The working class matter and I think that's what that quote is really getting at. And it's
11:47 almost feeling like Arthur Miller's talking to us there directly through Linda. And it's kind of trying to kind of stand up for the workingclass people
11:56 in this capitalist society that almost doesn't care about them and just kind of gets rich off their labor. And then,
12:07 oh, it's got to give the last word to Willie. Let's have a uh a little look at this one. Okay, so Willy's regret. So towards the the back end of the play, he
12:17 says he uses an interesting metaphor. Nothing's planted. I don't have a thing in the ground. Now, what he's kind of saying there is
12:26 he has no irons in the fire. No, no kind of ways of making money that that's going to kind of like like a plant growing that's going to kind of blossom
12:34 and then he can take the money from it. But he says, "I've got nothing planted." So it symbolizes Willy's failure and the growing disillusionment with the
12:42 American dream. He's kind of getting a bit tired of it by now. Um, and he's kind of left with nothing real or lasting. Nothing's planted. He's saying
12:51 like, I'm just going to get nothing out of this. So, you've kind of wasted wouldn't say wasted your life, but you've kind of just been chasing a dream
13:01 that was never going to happen for you. And that's the ultimate cruelty of the American dream. It's it's it lies to people. This is what um Arthur Miller
13:11 would say. It lies to people with clever advertising and glossy kind of magazines and things like that, but you can never really reach it. And then when you, you
13:21 know, kind of collapse in in a heap because you haven't reached it, well, that's just the end. And and there's there's nothing more to be done. So,
13:28 it's again quite pessimistic there. And I really feel empathy and sympathy there for for for Willie. It's actually quite quite an emotional kind of quote there.
13:38 Okay, then. So let's just have a nice little overview at the end. So we've teased out some of the key contextual factors about 1940s America and some of
13:49 the changes that were happening. Uh we've teased out as well some of the context in action. So critiquing capitalism and the American dream
13:58 especially within this play. And then we've just pulled out three of the best uh key contextual quotes which should be really good for you to analyze. And then
14:08 like I say, as as I normally say, pop those into your essays and into your exams as long as you analyze them really really well. Okay then. So, um obviously
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