ShmoopTube
Where Monty Python meets your 10th grade teacher.
Search Thousands of Shmoop Videos
Early 20th-Century Literature Videos 47 videos
Brave New World is supposed be an exciting book about a negative utopia and the corrupt powers of authority. So where’s the big car chase? What's...
Are humans civilized, or are we just savages waiting to come out? William Golding's novel Lord of the Flies tackles that question.
You might be hearing a chorus of farewells if you recommend A Farewell to Arms as the next read for your Fabulously Feisty Feminist Book Club.
Death of a Salesman Summary 79509 Views
Share It!
Description:
A salesman dies—sorry to ruin it for you. But in addition to giving away key plot points in the title, Arthur Miller also liked to make some pretty weighty points about the American Dream. What is it, and who gets a shot at it? Only your hairdresser knows for sure.
Transcript
- 00:05
Death of a Salesman, a la Shmoop The name’s Willy Loman… traveling salesman
- 00:11
and family guy extraordinaire.
- 00:13
I’m not exactly… around anymore… may I rest in peace. But I’m about to tell you
- 00:19
the story of a man…a great man…
- 00:21
…the kind of man you should be if you want to be remembered like this!
Full Transcript
- 00:25
Yeah, I like to think I was living the dream back when I was… living… in the 1940s…
- 00:32
Sure, being a traveling salesman came with a few roadblocks …
- 00:35
…a boss that just couldn’t see how valuable I was to the company …
- 00:40
A…uh, little problem on the side…
- 00:49
And the occasional vision or two of what my life could have been…
- 00:55
But in the end I had it all – a great job, a beautiful wife and two sons who wanted to
- 01:01
be just like their old man…
- 01:04
…businessmen….fathers…visionaries…!
- 01:06
Well, Biff and I had our issues… for a second there, he wanted to be a farmer, ha!
- 01:18
But I think I put him on the right path when I gave him the best present a father could
- 01:21
give his son…
- 01:22
…I gave him my life. Okay, okay, I know it sounds a little psycho
- 01:30
when I put it that way, but listen –
- 01:32
Biff had so much potential to become everything I wanted him to… I mean, he himself wanted
- 01:38
to be…
- 01:39
All he had to do was believe!
- 01:40
…and get a little money.
- 01:42
That’s where the whole “have father commit suicide-collect insurance money pass GO”
- 01:47
thing came in.
- 01:48
I just…drove into a tree. A man’s got to make some sacrifices for his family, right?
- 01:55
Before I died, Biff kept trying to tell me that I was lying to myself, that the American
- 02:02
dream was actually a nightmare….
- 02:05
….but he was just going through a phase. I’m sure he’s grown out of it by now and
- 02:12
is everything I’ve ever wanted him to be...
- 02:13
He’s probably gotten that loan from the boss who loved his work…
- 02:13
He’s forgotten about our little…problem…
- 02:13
And he’s taken advantage of everything America has to offer every single one of us, so long
- 02:17
as we work hard, believe…
- 02:20
…and occasionally kill ourselves.
Related Videos
This video defines utopias and dystopias, and investigates how a utopia might become a dystopia. Can a seemingly perfect world actually be a dystop...
We may all be fools when it comes to love, but thankfully none of us will accidentally switch places with our twin brother and fall in love with ou...
They say that honesty is the best policy, but Jack lies about his identity and still gets the girl. Does that mean we should all lie to get what we...
Ever wish you could remember everything that you ever studied? How about everything that everyone has ever studied? Yeah, pretty sure our brains ju...
Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man is an American classic. Hope you're not expecting any exciting shower scenes though. It's not that kind of book.