The Character Of Truth In Death Of A Salesman, Glengarry Glen Ross & Streetcar Named Desire Essay, Research Paper

The Character of Truth in Death of a Salesman, Glengarry Glen Ross

& Streetcar Named Desire

In the three plays we discussed in American Literature class, the common thread that runs through all three is how the authors use truth to establish plot. In the play Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller, the playwright portrays truth as relative. He gives us little or no sense of which of the competing truths is the more accurate one. In Glengarry Glen Ross by David Mamet, truth is nonexistent. In Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams, the playwright gives the audience members a definitive sense of what is true, even though the characters in the play themselves don’t recognize or acknowledge that truth. While each playwright portrays the character of truth differently, the significance of the character of truth in each play plays a large part in the theme of each play.

In Death of a Salesman, truth is relative. The play’s setting contributes to our understanding of the significance of truth in this play. Miller uses the sense of time on stage in an unconventional way to illustrate that for Willy Loman, “?the voice of the past is no longer distant but quite as loud as the voice of the present.” We see this illustrated in Miller’s use of lighting to allow the audience to see the truth of Willy’s life in the present and the past. For Willy the truth is a blend of the past and the present.

Miller portrays Linda, Willy’s adoring but over protective wife, as a buffer between her husband and their two adult sons, Biff and Happy. She knows and acknowledges the truth about Willy but at the same time covers up for him. In a conversation with Biff Linda says, “When he brought them (his employers) business, when he was young, they were glad to see him. But now his old friends, the old buyers that loved him so and always found some order to hand him in a pinch – they’re all dead, retired. He used to be able to make six, seven calls a day in Boston. Now he takes his valises out of the car and puts them back and takes them out again and he’s exhausted. Instead of walking he talks now. He drives seven hundred miles, and when he gets through there no one knows him any more, no one welcomes him. And what goes through a man’s mind, driving seven hundred miles home without having earned a cent? Why shouldn’t he talk to himself? Why? When he has to go to Charley and borrow fifty dollars a week and pretend to me that it’s his pay? How long can that go on?”

Arthur Miller hides the truth throughout most of the play and at the end he reveals the truth through his character of Biff. Biff said to Happy in a conversation about Oliver, (potential business contact) “He walked away. I saw him for one minute. I got so mad I could’ve torn the walls down! How the hell did I ever get the idea I was a salesman there? I even believed myself that I’d been a salesman for him! And then he gave me one look and – I realized what a ridiculous lie my whole life has been! We’ve been talking in a dream for fifteen years. I was a shipping clerk.” Toward the end of the play Biff said to Willy, “No, you’re going to hear the truth – what you are and what I am! ?.We never told the truth for ten minutes in this house!” In this play, Death of a Salesman, these three examples display the assumption that truth is relative.

In Glengarry Glen Ross, we see that the truth is nonexistent. The context of the play concerns how the hierarchical business system leads to corruption. Nonexistent truth in a business world gives those in power a rational to act unethically. The effect on the little guy is that he turns to crime. Aaronow is a good example of this. The author leads us to believe that Moss has convinced Aaronow to break into the office and steal the leads that everyone wants so badly. Moss has already made a deal with Graff to sell the leads to him if they could steal them. Then supposedly Graff was to give them a job.

Moss: “You have to go in. You have to get the leads.”

Aaronow: “I do?”

Moss: “Yes.”

Aaronow: “No.”

Moss tells Aaronow that even if he didn’t steal the leads for him, “?.you’re an accessory. Before the fact.” “I didn’t ask to be.” Aaronow replied. So the audience was left with the idea that Aaronow stole the leads until the very end when Levene got caught. The playwright leaves us with no idea what truth really is.

While Miller portrays the truth as relative, and Mamet portrays the truth as nonexistent, in Streetcar Named Desire the truth is objective. Tennessee Williams chooses to reveal to us the truth in his play. He gives his audience a definitive sense of what is true, even if the characters themselves don’t recognize or acknowledge that truth. This is evident in the issue of Blanches’ drinking. In scene one Stanley asks Blanche “Liquor goes fast in hot weather. Have a shot?” “No I – rarely touch it.” Blanche replies. In scene five Stella brings Blanche a Coke. “Is that Coke for me?” she asks Stella. “Is it just Coke?” Stella replies, “You mean you want a shot in it!” Blanche says, “Well, honey, a shot never does a Coke any harm!” In scene nine Blanche is drinking to escape the music in her mind. Mitch comes around the corner in work clothes startling Blanche. It’s obvious that he has had a few drinks on the way over. Blanche says to Mitch, “I don’t know what there is to drink. I – haven’t investigated. ?What am I looking around for? Oh, yes – liquor.” She crosses into the closet pretending to search for the bottle. “Here’s something. Southern Comfort! What is that, I wonder?” Each time the playwright shows the audience the truth about Blanches’ drinking problem, but Blanche herself neither sees this nor would she admit it if she did see it.

The playwright Arthur Miller gives us little or no sense of which of the conflicting truths is the more accurate one in his play, Death of a Salesman. In Glengarry Glen Ross, no truths at all exist in the play. However, Tennessee Williams gives the audience a definitive sense of what is true. The character of truth is portrayed differently by each playwright and plays a large part in the theme of each play.