Thursday 12 March 2009

Death Of A Salesman Essay Plan

A plan for a 45 minute essay for the Higher exam should fit comfortably on one side of an A4 sheet if its typed, or both sides if it's handwritten. I've chosen a fairly typical drama question. This plan features topic sentences and bullet points. You should probably include at least three longer quotes in your plan, and make sure you have memorized these before the exam.

Question -

Choose a play in which one scene or moment determines the fate of a main character. Explain fully why you think this is the key moment in the character’s fortunes. In your answer you must refer closely to the text and to at least two of: key scene, characterization, climax, dialogue, or any other appropriate feature.

A scene of a play which made a strong impression on me was the scene from ‘Death of a Salesman’ by Arthur Miller when Willy Loman meets his sons Biff and Happy in the restaurant. In this essay I will show why I think this is the key moment in the character’s fortunes.

In this scene, Willy’s problems come to a head.
  • The start of the play: the first line of the play is ‘It’s OK. I came back.’
  • His age and health
  • He asked his boss, Howard, for a different position so that he did non have to travel – the boss let him go instead. Willy’s response was to tell a ‘story’
  • He has ‘no stories left’ in his head – he can no longer fool himself or the people around him
  • He refused a job offer from his neighbour Charley out of pride

At the start of the scene, we are reminded of the characters of Biff and Happy.
  • They are drinking and trying to pick up some women
  • Willy always thought Biff would be a great sportsman and sees his son as a success
  • Biff failed to get the loan from his old boss, Oliver, for a sports goods company and stole a fountain pen instead
  • Biff has realized that his whole life has been a lie, and tells Happy he wants to tell Willy the truth

This scene shows Biff trying to have an honest relationship with Willy.
  • Biff is adamant he was a ‘shipping clerk’ instead of a ‘salesman’
  • Willy has met Biff’s school friend, Bernard, who was not athletic but has turned out to be a success. Bernard tells Willy about how Biff had flunked maths, and Willy lied to Bernard about Biff’s success

This scene features flashbacks which tell us the truth about Willy.
  • Biff catches Willy cheating on Linda with a woman: the audience sees him in a hotel room
  • Shows the audience why Willy and Bif's relationship deteriorated, as well as Willy's declining mental state

The importance of this scene is that …
  • Biff has tried to confront Willy with the reality of their lives
  • We have learned that Willy is a liar and a cheat
  • Willy returns home and begins planting grass seeds in his back yard, showing he is deluded
  • Willy decides to commit suicide, to give his family money

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