Death of a Salesman

Like many other novels and plays, Death of a Salesman, written by Arthur Miller,

was made into a movie. Directors try to portray the book exactly how it is written, but

this can sometimes make the movie too long. When actors and actresses are hired

that differ from characters in the story, changes need to be made. When Death of a

Salesman was being filmed, Dustin Hoffman was casted to play the part of Willy Loman.

In the play, Willy is a large, strong man. Hoffman on the other hand, is quite the

opposite. He is a small, skinny man who is not very intimidating. I feel that perhaps a

man who fit the description of Willy in the book should have been casted rather than

Dustin Hoffman. If the book has a large, strong man as one of its characters, then why

would they hire a small man to play the part of that character? Despite this, I think

Hoffman did a great job playing Willy and even though he didn’t fit the description, he

acted out the part very well.

In the play, Willy says to his wife Linda that his co-workers and clients don’t like

him. He says that they make fun of him and call him names such as “walrus.” In the

movie however, since Hoffman is a smaller man and not at all overweight, he says they

make fun of him because he is so short. There aren’t many differences between the