Arthur Miller 's Death Of A Salesman Essay

The play, Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller, takes issue with those in America who place too much stress upon material gain, at the expense of other, more admirable human values. Miller uses flashbacks to provide exposition, to foreshadow the upcoming tragedy, and most importantly to reveal character traits. An analysis of the main character, Willy Loman, illustrates the underlying theme that the concern over material success breaks down the bonds between men that form the basis of a smooth-functioning society.

Death of a Salesman a modern drama that we have read in our class as one of the 3 peace's of literature our professor deems to be important to read. The main characters having a similar theme that they are put into situations out of there control. For the most part they want to be doing the right thing. Weather it's Oedipus form his famous play hunting down the truth even though he knows that if what he is first told is right that he has fulfilled the curse placed on him and must be exiled, or its Hamlet trying to trick everyone he knows into thinking that he is mad to avenge his father. Even willy he tries to lie to his wife to make her feel better about their bleak life. Due to the large gaps in the time periods of when these works of literature have been written there is an evolution. Oedipus Rex and Hamlet are considered tragedy of their time but Death of a sales man is the only one that can't be labeled as a tragedy.

An immense desire for personal satisfaction, and extraordinary reputation can often result in a sickly, perverse distortion of reality. In Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex, a man well known for his intellect and wisdom, finds himself blind to the truth of his life, and his parentage. William Shakespeare’s Hamlet also contains a character that is in search of the truth, which ultimately leads to his own demise, as well as the demise of many around him. Arthur Miller’s play, The Death of a Salesman, tells of a tragic character so wrapped up in his delusional world, that reality and illusion fuse, causing an internal explosion that leads to his downfall. Each play enacts the struggle of a man attempting to come to grips

A tragic hero is a character who makes a judgment error that inevitably leads to his/her own destruction. The plays Death of a Salesman and Hamlet are both considered tragedies because the main characters play victims in their own illusions of success, failure, and fate. Both Willy Loman and Hamlet, two characters who are similar yet different in unique ways are examples of tragic heroes; from being a common man to a king, from irresolution to own delusions of an american dream, both have different aspects and journeys but have one aim, to achieve their desires. According to one of Aristotle’s rules of a tragic hero the character ,“must be a person of some stature or high position such as a king, general, or nobleman.”

Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman Arthur Miller's play, Death of a Salesman contains many themes of

Arthur Miller presents his play ‘Death of a Salesman’ in the ancient form of a tragedy. Aristotle has defined his idea of the ‘perfect’ tragedy in his text, ‘Poetics’ (350 BC).Here he suggests that the protagonist must fall from an elevated social standing as a result of a “fatal flaw” within the character; the fall from the main character creates resolution to the play which is seen as just; finally, Aristotle identified that the action of the drama should take place within a 24hour timeframe. An ancient play which is believed to be the perfect tragedy is Oedipus Rex by Sophocles. ‘Death of a Salesman’ is definitely a tragic play, but is Willy

    The events in the life of Willy Loman in Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman are no doubt tragic, yet whether or not he can be considered a tragic hero in a traditional sense is a topic requiring some discussion. Aristotle set the criteria for qualities a character must possess in order to be considered a tragic hero. In order to reach a conclusion on this matter, all six criteria must be examined to determine whether or not they are present in the character of Willy Loman.

As though to recreate the connection in life, literature often shows the relationship between past events and a character’s present actions and values. In Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman, Willy is haunted by memories of his older brother, father, and salesman Dave Singleman. Willy’s character and values are constantly influenced by the memory of the three men, compounding upon his deliria throughout the play. Willy considers these men the epitome of success, thus explaining his dependency on all three. Miller’s view on society, men, and the success of the American Dream are portrayed through Willy’s interactions with the men. The American Dream is synonymous with the phrase “the world is your oyster,” but Miller uses Death of a Salesman to criticize the American Dream through Willy Loman and his interplay between the past and present.

The tragedy within the Loman family may not be one as dramatic or physically violent as the one between Oedipus and Jocosta in Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex, however it is one that follows the formatting of Oedipus Rex and lives up to Aristotle’s standards for poetics and film. Aristotle’s view of aesthetics as well as his criterion for tragedy is best illustrated in the one part work titled Poetics. Suzanne Stern-Gillet published a translation of the popular work to The British Journal of Aesthetics in1996. Gillet translated that there are six elements of tragedy that must be included in a work for it to be considered a tragedy (Gillet). Miller’s Death of a Salesman combines the six pieces of tragedy such as plot, character, thought, spectacle, music, and diction through the progression of the play as a whole especially in scenes where Willy falls deeper into hamartia of memory loss as well as the struggle to reconnect

  Willy Loman, the title character of the play, Death of Salesman, exhibits all the characteristics of a modern tragic hero. This essay will support this thesis by drawing on examples from Medea by Euripedes, Poetics by Aristotle, Oedipus Rex by Sophocles, and Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, while comments by Moss, Gordon, and Nourse reinforce the thesis.

According to Aristotle’s theory of tragedy, tragedies are best equipped to be based on a protagonist that is renowned and prosperous, so his good fortune can be dramatically changed. In contrast, Arthur Miller’s essay “Tragedy and the Common Man” states “that the common man is as apt a subject for tragedy in its highest sense as kings ever were.” He proves in his modern essay that the characteristics and emotions of the common man and the highly placed are entitled to be similar. Miller even identifies emotions of a average person and how they result in a better tragedy than those who are highly ranked. In his play “Death of Salesman” he demonstrates that the normal life of a sales man can still make for a great tragedy and that his protagonist, Willy Loman, is worthy of a tragedy.

Arthur Miller was born in 1915, and he died in 2005. He is possibly the most well-known and influential American playwright. He grew up during the Great Depression, so many of his plays deal with the American middleclass lifestyle. His two most influential works are Death of a Salesman and The Crucible. Death of a Salesman is about the tragic white collar worker, Willy Loman, while The Crucible is about the Salem witch trials.

Linda Loman is Willy’s loyal, loving wife. Linda suffers through Willy’s grandiose dreams and self-delusions. Happy Loman is Willy’s thirty-two-year-old younger son, has lived in Biff’s shadow all of his life, but he reimburses by nurturing his ruthless sex drive and professional ambition. Happy represents Willy’s sense of self-importance, ambition, and blind servitude to societal expectations. Charley is Willy’s next-door neighbor. Charley owns a successful business and his son, Bernard, is a wealthy, important lawyer. Willy is jealous of Charley’s success. Charley gives Willy money to pay his bills, and Willy reveals at one point, choking back tears, that Charley is his only friend.

Death of a Salesman is a two-act play written by the great American author, Arthur Miller. The play divulges into the life of an aging salesman, Willy Loman, and the struggles he faces in his life, whether it be his family, his mental state, or his work. Tragedy in itself has many different definitions but the one with the most relevance is Aristotle's. Aristotle defines a tragedy as “the imitation of an action that is serious and also, having magnitude”, Aristotle also notes that a tragedy should have “incidents arousing pity and fear” that build up until the end, and henceforth give the reader an explosion of emotion. Death of a Salesman is a solid example of this definition of a tragedy as the final tragedy is in fact something of magnitude, be it suicide, and as it arouses pity upon Willy for the positions in which he has entrapped himself; as stated by Hoffman in the NPR article, “People are really moved by this play”. A tragic hero is quite literally described as one that tends to fit these five major characteristics; having a flaw in judgement, having a tremendous downfall, the realization that the downfall was no one's fault but his or her own, having an abundance of pride, and an ultimate fate worse than they were due. The definition of a tragic hero has been altered over time as possibilities and life change; as Arthur Miller says, “If all our miseries, our indignities, are born and bred within our minds then all action, let alone the heroic action, is obviously

Arthur Miller’s play, Death of a Salesman, can be termed as a problematic play (NY Times). In the play, various social and personal problems are identified. There is the ‘death of a salesman’ that includes a person having the freedom they require to relieve themselves from the surrounding. The persons involved in the act want to break free from the trends of the routine life. The play can be argued as either a modern tragedy or a problem plays or both. However, the play lies more on the problematic part even though it is not written in the period that encompasses the most significant