Glengarry Glen Ross by David Mamet

In David Mamet’s play, “Glengarry Glen Ross”, a group of sales representatives, Shelly Levene, Richard Roma, Dave Moss, and George Aaronow, are placed into a competition that sets all of them against each other. Their bosses challenge the four men to compete against one another in a sales competition where the winner with the most sales will receive a brand new Cadillac and the two people with the least sales will lose their job. With the ultimatum of losing their job, the men struggle to out due each other in hopes that they will come out on top (Mamet 21). Through dialogue and tone, Mamet presents the characters with a sense of desperation and determination; thus, he propels the story into countless affairs of deception and cheating, and ultimately shows how people are willing to do whatever it takes when driven to the edge and placed into a do-or-die situation.

The use of dialogue is essential to the representation of the characters and their conflicts in “Glengarry Glen Ross”. Language plays a dominant role in nearly all aspects of the play. Each individual in the play has their own unique way of communication, representing who they are as sales men. Take for instance, in Act I Scene I, Levene pleads to Williamson for better leads as Williamson is leaving the office. Although Williamson does not cooperate with Levene, Levene still stops Williamson several times and attempts to make bargains. “Fuck it…. Get on my side. Go with me. Let’s do something,” Levene tells Williamson in this scene (Mamet 23-24). This use of dialogue demonstrates the persistence and strong desire to succeed. Their conversation shows “speeches overlapping” and “thoughts unfinished”, thus emphasizing Levene’s persistence and determination to win over Will...

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...cters show how distressed they are when threatened with losing their job, allowing Mamet to portray the difficulties and struggles of what it takes to come out on top. The characters will do whatever it takes to survive. Their attempts to sale reflect society’s selfish ways of always trying to be the best. Moreover, it demonstrates the desperate side in all humans that awaken when threatened.

Works Cited

Browne, Terry. “An overview of Glengarry Glen Ross." Drama for Students”. Detroit: Gale.

Literature Resource Center. Web. 17 Mar. 2014.

Mamet, David. Glengarry Glen Ross. New York: Grove Press, 1983. Print.

Worster, David. "How to Do Things with Salesmen: David Mamet's Speech-Act Play." Modern Drama 37.3 (Fall 1994): 375-390. Rpt. in Contemporary Literary Criticism. Ed. Janet Witalec. Vol. 166. Detroit: Gale, 2003. Literature Resource Center. Web. 27 Mar. 2014.