Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman is a simple but imaginative play. For over fifty years, it has been stirring up controversy over its form and its structure. Basically, the form of the play is a modern tragedy, not a classic one, but its structure is quite complicated and interrelated. Just as the title of the play suggests, we know the protagonist, Willy, is going to die. However, the key point is why he chooses to end his life by committing suicide and when he will do it. Definitely, the answer lies in the structure of the play. In his Introduction to Collected Plays, Miller points out that the protagonist's death "came from structrual image. The play's eye was to revolve from within Willy's head, sweeping endlessly in all directions...."Therefore, in order to explore the inner mind of Willy's death, I would like to take three major dramatic techniques--the treatment of time, the use of the stream of consciousness, and the form of a confession--to explain how the play goes so smoothly and so powerfully.
