Miller and Shakespeare - Ozbun

Arthur Miller and William Shakespeare created two of the most widely known plays in history. One being written more than three hundred years before the other. Yet both plays are still widely known and often recreated to be shown to today’s audiences. These authors are quite similar in the themes and concepts they give off in both pieces that have thus transcended through many years of literature, However in Miller’s Death of a Salesman and Shakespeare’s Hamlet, there are plenty of differences in tone, pacing, diction, and writing style. Even being written years apart as they were, they did seem to share similarities in the plot nevertheless.

First the authors have a shared focus on plot and concepts in both pieces of literature. In both plays, concepts such as sanity and reality play a huge role in the plots. Hamlet is continually haunted by the ghost of his father throughout the play. It is even to the point at which he sees things while in the presences of other people. Quite frequently Hamlet’s sanity is questioned and if he is in the right state of mind. Both father and son, WIlly and Biff in Death of a Salesman are also frequently haunted by memories of the past. The hauntings that occur to Hamlet are much more explicit than the hauntings that occur to WIlly and Biff. As in example, in Act I, Scene 5, Hamlet has a full conversation with the ghost of his father. Most of the hauntings in Death of a Salesman revolve around Willy’s disloyalty in his marriage. The concept of reality is even brought forth in both plays, from Hamlet’s visions of his father to Willy’s faded past. Not only a similarity in concept, but there is a large similarity in plot as well. There is a large similarity in the relationships in both plays. The relationship between father and son is huge and instrumental to both of the plays glory and fame. Throughout the whole play of Hamlet, the protagonist strives to avenge his father’s murder. Hamlet keeps thinking about his revenge on his murderous uncle and the murder is pivotal to the stories plot. In Death of a Salesman, the story is based on the life of a salesman father Willy. WIlly desperately wants his son Biff to make it big in the business world. Both plots are similarly wrapped around these relationships.

In contrast, there are plenty of differences between both authors writing styles. Miller uses a very unorthodox style in how he goes along with the plot. Most authors don’t choose to do so, but he went along and attempted to blur the main characters present and past. This style is in direct relation with the overbearing theme of the play. Meanwhile Shakespeare uses one of his most original styles in Hamlet. There is a combination of verse poetry, in which most commonly he uses iambic pentameter. As well as prose, which is just like Miller’s style in Death of a Salesman. Prose being the writing style or method of dialogue that is used everyday. Or how people talk on a daily basis and is not in any type of verse or rhyme. “How noble in reason! how infinite in faculty! in form, in moving, how express and admirable! in action how like an angel! in apprehension how like a god! the beauty of the world! the paragon of animals! And yet, to me, what is this quintessence of dust?” (Act 2, Scene 2) This being one of the more famous examples of prose. Another difference between the authors is how they pace each. Miller being more of a modern author and using prose, has a much quicker pace in the literary piece than Shakespeare’s Hamlet. The tone of Hamlet written by Shakespeare is more of a dark and uncertain one. Hamlet is a very dark play and it starts off from the very beginning and leaves the audience and readers thinking. “Who’s there?” (Act 1, Scene 1). Puts the reader into a state of mind where thoughts of anxiety and uncertainty come into play. Whereas in Death of a Salesman, the diction and tone is quite intense. Readers may not even realize this however. Through the use of this, Miller is able to give off easily what the protagonist of the play Willy must go through and the hardships of his life. There are plenty of pressures modern society places on WIlly in the play. Which also makes the tone tragic.

Lastly in conclusion, Arthur Miller and William Shakespeare share plenty of similarities in both of these wonderfully done literary pieces. Including a shared focus on the plot and concepts. Which makes it quite easy to compare their styles of writing. Yet easily the two authors in Hamlet and Death of a Salesman showed plenty of their differences as well. The largest difference being the style of their writing and how they portrayed characters with this style. The ways Miller and Shakespeare wrote these shows a clear sophistication in their literature. This being the reason why these two plays have remained popular and relevant years after their creation.