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Is ‘Death of a Salesman’ by Arthur Miller a Great Tragedy?
‘Oedipus Rex’, ‘King Lear’, and ‘Death of a Salesman’: lies, myths and Aristotelian inversions
‘I believe that the common man is as apt a subject for tragedy in its highest sense as kings were.’
— Arthur Miller, Tragedy and the Common Man
A few short days ago, I was channel-hopping to find something half decent to watch when I stumbled upon a repeat showing of an interview of Anthony Sher and Greg Dolan on BBC Four.
Anthony Sher had just passed away, and obviously, this was being shown as part of a tribute to a great actor—great is so overused today, but great he most certainly was—and one of our greatest Shakespearean actors. After the interview (and to prove my point, it seems) was a recording of Henry IV Part 1 in which Sher takes up the mighty role of Falstaff. When I say Sher is Falstaff, I do not mean Sher played Falstaff; I mean Sher was Falstaff.
Anyway, my piece today is not on that perfect transformation — maybe another day eh? — but on a comment made by the interviewer Sue MacGregor to Greg Dolan after telling us that Dolan had chosen Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller to open the Stratford season on Shakespeare’s birthday.
WHAT?! Oh, sacrilege. Thou has committed infamy Greg Dolan. This pronouncement caused a mighty stir. I am not surprised. But he answered that it was chosen to mark the centenary of Miller’s birth. Oh. Right. All is therefore forgiven. I am joking. Nothing to forgive. But then came this mighty and weighty question she asked,
“Are there any similarities between Death of a Salesman and King Lear?”
Antony Sher and Greg Dolan were going to do Lear together in the next season I believe. This interview was recorded in late 2015. What a great — yep great — question. And although Sher and Dolan did not answer in any detail it certainly got me thinking and this is the result of my own cogitations.
I suppose you could see this as my own personal tribute to Anthony Sher. I was lucky enough to see him act, but not in Shakespeare. I saw him act in Peter Flannery’s Singer with the RSC, Barbican Theatre in 1990, and in numerous recordings. But…
