(Biff lifts her to her feet and moves out up right with her in his arms. Linda sobs quietly. Bernard and Charley come together and follow them, followed by Happy. Only the music of the flute is left on the darkening stage as over the house the hard towers of the apartment buildings rise into sharp focus, and the curtain falls.)
– Arthur Miller
Death of a Salesman, Requiem. These are the closing words of Arthur Miller’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play, regarded as one of the great plays of the 20th century and often said to be America’s greatest. The sound of flute music opens the play and also closes it, it is the last thing that the audience hears. It symbolizes Willy’s connection with his flute maker father, his longing for the past, and the relationship between fathers and sons. It is also symbolic of the death of Willy’s dreams. The visual image of the towering apartment buildings represent how society encroached on and swallowed up those hopes and dreams.