When I was in high school, we were told the great American playwrights were Eugene O'Neil, Tennessee Williams and Arthur Miller, and Death of a Salesman Miller's greatest play. Well, I'd give my teacher two out of that three. I've always found Miller both preachy and underwhelming. All His Sons, the other play by Miller taught me in high school always seemed rather crude in its moral message, and rather a so what. I admit I do have a soft spot for Miller's one historic play, The Crucible, even if it's metaphor for McCarthyism is rather transparent. But I just can't reading Miller compare his turgid lines to the beauty and piercing intensity of O'Neil and Williams and put him into the same category. Their language soars--Miller is definitely pedestrian. One could say that suits the subject of this, his most famous play, the iconic Willy Loman. The bottom line of the play can be expressed in a line by his wife: "Attention, attention must finally be paid to such a person." Willy is supposed to be an American everyman--a traveling vacuum cleaner salesman. The play is supposed to direct our attention to the dark side and shallowness of the American dream. I admit that might be a lot of why I do feel such antipathy for the play--I feel so resistant and resentful of its message (and that I was forced to read it.) I admit this might play better on the stage and film than on the page. And I do recommend reading it--for reasons of cultural literacy alone.
