Arthur Miller 's Death Of A Salesman

Arthur Miller wrote the Pulitzer Prize winning play Death of a Salesman in 1949. The play inflated the myth of the American Dream of prosperity and recognition, that hard work and integrity brings, but the play compels the world to see the ugly truth that capitalism and the materialistic world distort honesty and moral ethics.

Arthur Miller is famous for many of his different play’s ranging from Death of a Salesman to The Crucible. His play’s all possess a certain type of character that relate not only to the common man but to those who are facing atrocities in society. The Crucible was a very impressive play that took place in Salem in early day America, mainly focusing on the witch trials and the early American thought. While it was heavily historically based, it was also based off of the times of current day America when the play was wrote. He basically critiqued the hysteria of Red Scare and how it affected people. He also went on to write Death of a Salesman, a play that was even more controversial due to its blunt acts. Unlike his other

Since the beginning of its time, America has set a global standard for offering chances at prosperity and career opportunities for qualified adults. Its people have been implicating the idea of the “American Dream” into its culture for many years and has become widely recognized by individuals all across the world. People pack up their lives and families to travel to American soil to try at a chance of a better life, and in doing so, they too venture on a path to achieving this so commonly understood “American Dream.” Arthur Miller, a well-known literary writer in America, seems to disagree with this national phenomena, offering a different view in his play Death of a Salesman. In this play, he demonstrates through the life of an average

Husbands and wives assume a vow of support for one another as they embark on a lifelong journey together through the ups and the downs. In Arthur Miller’s play Death of a Salesman, the main character, Willy Loman, is an aged and failing salesman attempting to provide for his family without asking for help from anyone. His wife, Linda Loman, is one of the most intelligent and levelheaded characters in the play. Although her husband treats her poorly at times, she ceaselessly supports him and does everything in her power to ensure his happiness. Linda understands Willy’s declining mental health and knows that he is becoming less stable each day. Through her continued support of Willy and his unrealistic aspirations, Linda allows Willy’s mental decline to continue without attempting to keep him in check with reality. By ignoring Willy’s mistakes, failures, and blatant suicide attempts, Linda permits Willy’s disconnect from reality to continue until she is freed by his eventual death.

In the play “Death of a Salesman “by Arthur Miller, the father-son relationship is displayed throughout the entire play. Willy the father and his sons Biff and Happy have an unusual relationship; where Willy is an unsupportive father his sons. Both sons have to lie to their father so that he is pleased with them.

Willy was aware of both his family and social responsibilities and never lost sight of what society expected of him-- even after living a tortured life. Willy Loman had two mentors in life, a fellow salesman and his brother Ben who motivated him to achieve his dreams in life. The success of his mentors led him to create a distorted value system that he later passed to his two sons (Hays &Kent, pp. 4). His two son’s Biff and Happy were constantly affected by Willy’s expectations in life. Although the play emphases on the psychological damage imposed on Biff, it also showed that Happy suffered due to his father’s beliefs and attitudes. Linda, Willy’s wife, although tries her best to be a perfect mother, goes to conflicting lengths to encourage her husband to succeed in his daily endeavors despite the challenges. She does this in times of crisis and their daily lives placing their son’s reputation to a position of less important value.

Family will always be there in every decision one makes, they will help through hard times, and they will always be a part of someone. If a relationship between family members isn't strong there becomes a feeling of loneliness and lack of support. One of the most important relationships in family is between a father and his son. How a father treats their son can affect them for the rest of their lives with relationships, careers, and many other aspects in life. In the plays Fences by August Wilson and Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller, two types of father-son relationships are shown. The difference in the relationship causes each son from the play to result in a different way of life. Troy Maxson, from Fences, has an unfulfilled dream which causes a jealousy of his son, and a dominant relationship. This causes tension and bitterness between them and continues to affect his son Cory is more ways than one. Willy, from Death of a Salesman, is always expecting too much out of his son Biff and wants him to fulfill the dream that he never could. Biff is overwhelmed with the pressure his father puts on him and results in an outburst with his father. Both fathers have similarities and differences in their parenting styles which affect their sons in different ways.

Willy wants to be impressive and well liked, be well known. He reveres two men, one is the great salesman Dave Singleman, and another is his brother Ben. They are both very succeeded in getting rich, although by different way. Willy admires their value. Singleman is remembered and loved and helped by so many different people. At the age of eighty-four, he made his living by selling merchandise in thirty-one states even without leaving his room. Ben becomes rich by force, and he always advocates: "when I walked into the jungle, I was seventeen. When I walked out I was twenty-one. And by God, I was rich." Willy chose the job of Singleman, because the job of salesman presents security and recognition in the society. But Ben always appeared in his mind, Ben's adventure of getting rich quickly also stimulated Willy's American dream. Singleman and Ben, both figures vividly reveal Willy's contradictory ideological state. He does not know how to deal with these two opposite senses of value. He believes social personality will make one succeeded, but he lost his real nature. Fuller commented, "concerning this play Mr. Miller has said, `The fact that Willy Loman is by trade a salesman is important, but secondary, Central is that he has taken on a new-a social-personality which is calculated to ensure his material success In so doing he has lost his essential-his real-nature, which is contradictory to his assumed one, until he is no longer able to know what he truly

Many families suffer from dysfunctions. In the Death of a Salesman written by Arthur Miller, you have a dysfunctional family, Willy thinks he is an advanced salesmen getting cheated out of an amazing opportunity in New York, Linda believes her husband Willy is mentally sane and that he just has bad luck, Happy says he’s a salesmen when he has been keeping his real work hidden from his family, and Biff has been bouncing around from job to job down west. Willy, Linda, Biff, and Happy use self-deception as a means to mentally escape the reality of their lives. Biff is the only character who becomes self-aware by the end of the play.

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

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.

What is the correct definition of tragedy anyways? Many people would define tragedy as a disaster, but according to the book The Cambridge Guide to World Theatre by Martin Banham, the word tragedy is “a word whose meaning changes with time and place” (1002). In Medieval times, “tragedy came to mean the downfall of a person of high degree” (Banham 1002), but in recent times, the meaning of the word tragedy has many definitions. According to Banham, “realists refused to limit tragedy to privileged protagonists” (1002). Two famous tragic plays that I found to have a genre of tragedy are Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller and Eurydice by Sarah Ruhl. In both of these plays, the downfall was not of a person of high degree but there was a

It is human nature to work hard and have a luxurious life, but sometimes people put so much pressure into their lives to accomplish their expectations. However, eventually they later figure out that they have lost other values of life. Is it worth it to sacrifice our life for materials? Today in America, many people have lost the real values of life to enjoy with their beloved families and friends because they are working themselves to death to achieve their so- called American dream. They live alone and there is no love of parents and siblings. They may have not noticed the America dream costs them so much, which will cause a bigger regret later. In the play Death of Salesman, Arthur Miller brings a great story of a man who is at very older age and still works hard to achieve his desire, which is the American dream. Later, he notices that his youth is gone and there is less energy in his body. Willy Loman is a salesman, who for decades travels in various states to do business. He has two sons, Happy and Biff and a loving wife Linda who is infatuated with Willy. Willy also discusses their son Biff with his wife that he is now mature and must find his own way to work and earn money. Willy also argues to keep working hard until death to pay the bills. The pressure Willy puts on himself and his family in trying to achieve his American dream destroys his life.

Since the beginning of the human race, struggles and conflicts have been a constant. As individual people and as a world, there have never been perfect times. Arthur Miller’s writing style focuses on how his characters deal with external and internal problems and how their reactions to these problems reflect their characterization. Arthur Miller uses external conflict, internal conflict, and indirect characterization, in Death of a Salesman and The Crucible, to show how ideas of society do not always agree with the ideas and beliefs of others which can lead to a fatal action.

Probably one of the most influential and criticized work of the famous American play-write Arthur Miller, is undoubtedly Death of a Salesman. Arthur Miller wrote Death of a Salesman in 1949 at the time when America was evolving into an economic powerhouse. Arthur Miller critiques the system of capitalism and he also tells of the reality of the American Dream. Not only does he do these things, but he brings to light the idea of the dysfunctional family. Death of a Salesman is one of America’s saddest tragedies. In Arthur Miller’s, Death of a Salesman, three major events happen that contribute to the main points in the tragedy; the Frank’s Chop House scene, when Biff exposes his families flaws, and when Willy commits suicide.