Death Of A Salesman And A Streetcar Named Desire

How can two people watch or read the same story and yet, interpret it completely differently? Does it have to do with the author’s intentions, or maybe it has to do with the viewers’ own backgrounds and ideologies? Whatever the case may be, viewing one piece of work can lead to a wide array of opinions and critiques. It is through the diversity of such lenses that Death of a Salesman, by Arthur Miller has become one of the most well-known plays in modern history. There are many different ways in which a play can be criticized, however, criticisms from the approaches of a Marxist and reader-response will be utilized to further dissect Death of a Salesman. Marxist criticism sees pieces of works as a struggle between different socioeconomic classes; what better way to see Miller’s play than for what it is at face value, the struggle of a middle-class man trying to achieve the American dream (1750). On the other hand, a reader-response criticism comes from either an objective or subjective view; in this case Death of a Salesman will be viewed with a subjective lens based on Willy’s deteriorating mental health (1746).

This essay will describe whether or not Blanches’ unfortunate eventual mental collapse was due to her being a victim of the society she went to seek comfort in, or if she was solely or at least partly responsible. The factors and issues that will be discussed include, Blanches’ deceitful behaviour and romantic delusions which may have lead to her eventual downfall, the role Stanley ended up playing with his relentless investigations of her past and the continuous revelations of it, the part society and ‘new America’ played in stifling her desires and throwing her into a world she could not relate to or abide by.

Blanche has a devastating and scarring past in which her tragic flaw originates from. The elements of love, sex, and death haunt her until she is unable to handle it any longer and loses what is left of her sanity and sparks her unstable mind. To expatiate, Blanche was once married to the love of her life, Allen Grey, until she found

One of the roles of this excerpt is to provide the background towards understanding Blanche, and the justifications for her mental state and actions. It is evident that in the past she belonged to a higher class where extravagance was common. But when her family in

Blanche is unable to cope with her loss of her fortunes and estate at Bell Reve, and the abrupt social shift erupted after World War Two, and this inability to adapt shapes her ultimate anagorisis. In addition, Blanche’s botched relationship with Allen Gray and his subsequent suicide were in all likelihood even larger catalysts for her plunge into delusion. In addition to having a more externally-catalyzed delusion, Blanche more selectively and maliciously employs her delusion. Williams continually points this out throughout the play with profuse use of a metaphorical light to represent truth. The employment of this metaphor reveals to Blanche’s fear of the truth, shown in “…turn that over-light off. I won’t be looked at in this merciless glare!” The clear link to Willy Loman here is that both characters refuse to hear the truth in fear of what it might destroy, whereas in actual fact only through letting go of the past will they reach a true stage of final

A point for Blanche is that she is fear of aging and get lost of beauty. She is scared on  appear on bright light which will reveal her look to Mitch. In scene one, the author Williams make Blanche life of sexual going down like when her husband’s suicide result from her disapproval of his homosexuality which lead to a unwanted end. In scene nine, where the Mexican woman appears selling “flowers for the dead” which made Blanche reacts with panic feeling inside of her like she don’t know what to do. The author uses Blanche experience of sex and death are link up together.

The illusions that make up Blanche’s life while she is staying with her sister are something I have experienced first hand. Her time spent in New Orleans is blurred between what is real and what her mind conjures up for her to believe. At the beginning of the play Blanche lies and knows that she is lying, telling her sister that she is just “taking a leave of absence” (Williams Page???), and lying about her age. However as the play continues Blanche begins to fall victim to her own lies, convincing herself, possibly more than Stella, that Steph Huntleigh will come and save the two sisters. Losing touch with reality more and more as the play continues, Blanche Blanche lives in a dream world, and in scene 7 her reference to a "Barnum and Bailey world, just as phony as it can be-" exposes that she has created an illusion in her mind(Williams, Page 120). Like Blanche, much of my childhood and adolescence was spent denying what was

Blanche’s sole purpose when she comes to live with Stella is to find stability, security, and gain control of her life. In order to cope with the preexisting stress and rising tension during her stay at her sister’s house, she used delusions and illusions as a way to survive. Blanche's world of delusion is categorized by her playful relationships, attempts to revive her youth, and her unawareness in the direction of reality of life. Blanche has a fantasy that her relationship with Mitch can work out when in reality she just wants a safe haven; to not feel lonely. She lies about her age in order to create an illusion to others that she is still young, attractive and desirable. She states, “I don’t want realism. …. Yes, yes, magic! I try to give that to people. I misrepresent things to them. I don’t tell truth, I tell what ought to be truth …” She clearly states that she believes in her own created illusion and she expects others would believe it too. However, her dreams crashed down when Stanley’s realistic point of view came across Blanche’s dissociation from reality. On the other hand, illusions bring to her magic, the image of life that she would like to lead but in doing so, Miller has conveyed that her attempt into living deceitful ultimately lead to her downfall in which it sternly affected her mental and overall

She tries to hold on to him but is unable to keep him attracted. Blanche is lost, confused, conflicted, lashing out in sexual ways, and living in her out own fantasies. She has no concern for anyone’s well being, including her own. Thus, this is her utter most harmful demise. She has no realistic outlook for the future.

In this play Blanche has a praxis: She must get a companion to share her life with who can provide her with shelter, food, and financial support and that’s what makes the whole story happen. This praxis is created when two things happen: First, Blanche finding out that the man she married was having an affair with another man and he decided to shoot himself after she confronted him, and second, the loss of her house in Mississippi. These two things create her need of a shelter, financial support and food therefore she decides to stay with her sister Stella.

In the opening two scenes of ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’ by Tennessee Williams, the audience has its first and generally most important impressions formulated on characters, the plot and the mood and tone of the play overall.

Blanche deals with many issues the loss of loved ones, the loss of the family estate, the inability to deal with reality, rejection from others, and the rape by Stanley. Blanche has also become independent and assertive which is not the typical norm of a southern woman. She has been forced into a world she is not prepared for. Because of this Blanche begins to live in her own world, her own little fantasy. She also uses alcohol and sexual promiscuity to escape from the loneliness she has endured since her husband’s death. Williams shows us through the way Blanche speaks to the paper boy;

One of the play’s main characters, Blanche, has by no means had an easy adulthood. She has had to deal with her sister setting off to New Orleans with her new husband, the death of her father, losing her own husband, and the loss of their family’s beloved plantation, Belle Reve. With all of this going on, Blanche disguises her pain and delusion, and pretends that is does not exist. In a way,

Arthur Miller wrote many plays in his time, but one in particular, written in 1947 and directed in Beijing in 1983, was the “play that established him as a great American playwright” called “Death of a Salesman”. This play was about the difference between a New York family’s life in reality and what they dreamed it would be. An old man, by the name of Willy valued popularity and his friends way more than skills or even a real personality. His goal was to die a man that had all of these things, and he ends up killing himself in the end. Miller’s goal was to “take the audience on an internal journey through the mind, memories, fears, anxieties of his central character.” “Death of A Salesman” has been very popular for over a decade, performed internationally, and was even produced into movies (Kristofoletti). Many people remember this play because of how inspiring it was, also because it did not compare to any other of the ones he had ever written.

Overall, both Williams’s A Streetcar Named Desire and Miller’s All My Sons inform their audiences about various social issues with similar and different devices in order to achieve their purpose. Both plays utilize outer dialogue in order to present the issues with the American Dream in Miller’s work and mental health with Williams. However, they also use different devices such as motifs or mood to raise other problems in society such as spousal abuse and social