Death Of A Salesman Psychology

In 1949, Arthur Miller wrote a play called “The Death Of a Salesman”. This play is known for its compelling view on the mind of the middle class working man. The characters in “The Death of a Salesman” all have various dimensions of development throughout the story. These characters can all be seen as components one collective mind using Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalytic theory; the Oedipal, Id, Ego, and Superego. These characters all strive for success by way of the American Dream and all of it’s inconsistent factors and betrayal that personify it so well.

The Great War killed around thirty-seven million civilians and military casualties. The war was a military conflict including almost all the largest powers in the world. It was a war between two opposing alliances, The Triple Entente (Allies) and The Triple Alliance (Central Powers). The main countries in the Triple Entente were Russia, France and Britain. The Alliance powers consisted of Germany, Turkey (also known as the Ottoman Empire), Austria Hungry and Italy. After five assignation attempts, on June 28, 1914, Gavrilo Princip, a member of a Serbian Nationalist group, assassinated the next king of Austria-Hungry, Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo in Bosnia. One major reason for why World War One occurred was due to the difference over foreign policy between major world powers hence the assassination of Franz Ferdinand. On July 28, 1914, Austria declared war on Serbia as they only gave nine out of ten demands made in the ultimatum from Austria thus bringing all the alliances together. This assassination is what triggered what is now known as World War One, making it spread from 1914 to 1918. World War One was a military conflict among great powers of the world. Most European countries had the capacity of motive and means to engage and were willing to take part in the First World War. The four main causes of World War One consist of Militarism, Alliances, Nationalism and Imperialism.

Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman tells the story of the failure of a salesman, Willy Loman. Although not all Americans are salesmen, most of us share Willy’s dream of success. We are all partners in the American Dream and parties to the conspiracy of silence surrounding the fact that failures must outnumber successes.(Samantaray, 2014)

Willy’s biggest issue with his son is that he let him down by not being any more successful than him. He feels like Biff is failing on purpose just to make him look bad. Although, he has no decent job and is single; Biff has become disoriented about life. Earlier in the play Biff tells Happy, “I tell ya Hap, I don't know what the future is. I don't know - what I'm supposed to want” (Miller266). Biff once looked up to his father as a role model, but lost all faith in him once finding out that he was having an affair. Ever since he has rejected Willy’s commitment of being a husband and also a father. To add to his ruins are Willy’s ideas of how Biff should get ahead in life. Willy taught Biff that popularity was the right way to get to the top, rather than hard-work and dedication. Trying to live by his dad’s standards caused Biff to fail high school and become unable to put forth the effort to become

In the play “Death of a Salesman”, by Arthur Miller, the primary theme can be seen as a conflict between man and society. In which the ambition to achieve the “American Dream” controls the life of Willy Loman and the influences he has. When success is not reached, sends Willy’s mind on a mental ride.

Willy’s perseverance to direct Biff into success has resulted to Biff’s desperate acts to earn praise from his father. However, Biff’s dishonest acts of stealing are often justified by Willy through disregard and excuse, even expressing that the “Coach will probably congratulate [Biff] for [his] initiative”. Instead of correcting his mistakes, Willy continuously expresses his belief of Biff’s predetermined success as a result of being attractive and well-liked. These acts effectively exemplifies Biff’s adherence to self-deception as he imagines himself as an important figure in other people’s lives. It can be seen that his belief of being destined for success prevents him from allowing himself recognize the destruction it brings. As a result, Biff has allowed how Willy views him become how he perceives himself. This self-deception has not only affected the actions in his childhood but as well as his decisions when finding his role in the workplace. As stated above, Willy’s consistent beliefs of his son’s predestined success results to Biff’s immense confidence in himself. However, this confidence have provided him a false perception of himself as he struggle to keep a stable job and even faces imprisonment. It can be seen that Biff’s lack of self-perception and compliance to ideals of Willy has only allowed him to restrain and prevent him from recognizing the difference between illusion and reality resulting in the lack of his

Many workers today go through a low time or a struggle and give up. Today’s workers do not necessarily commit suicide when they are in a low point but they do things such as quitting the job or relying on government assistance. Willy strives to achieve the American dream and he eventually realizes that he has failed and gives up on life. This dream is a belief in America and that all things are possible if you work hard enough (Criticism of ' the American Dream' in 'Death of a Salesman'). Arthur Miller uses this story to expose the problems with pursuit of such a dream: “What Miller attacks, then, is not the American Dream of Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin, but the dream as interpreted and pursued by those for whom ambition replaces human need and the trinkets of what Miller called the ‘new American Empire in the making’ are taken as tokens of true value” (Bigsby). “Death of a Salesman” creates a challenge to the American Dream and shows that an American should live a prosperous and plentiful life instead of get lost and die tragically (Criticism of ' the American Dream' in 'Death of a Salesman'). Gradually throughout the play, Willy gets farther and farther away from achieving his idea of the American Dream. His income slowly decreases to nothing: “as a salesman, Willy stages a performance for buyers, for his sons, for the father who deserted him, the brother he admired. Gradually, he loses his audience, first the buyers, then his son, then his boss” (Bigsby). His problem is that he completely surrenders to the American Dream and by the team he realizes his mistake, he has nothing to fall back on (Panesar). If Willy would have embraced his natural talent for manual labor and his family’s love for the countryside, the Lomans could have a totally different lifestyle (Panesar). Towards the end of the play, Willy became overwhelmed

In turn, Willy ends up killing himself over going mentally insane from all of his lies and overwhelming thoughts. As sort of a tragic reality, Willy dies before he could enjoy a fully paid home, a healthy relationship with his sons and no stress. Willy’s strong love for money and attention make him see himself not as a loving father or husband but rather in purely monetary

The internal conflict begins with Willy’s expectations for his sons and The Woman. Willy struggles throughout the play with having extremely high expectations for his sons, Happy and Biff. Happy and Willy get along well because they are most alike of the two sons. Happy has the same materialistic mindset as

As a salesman, Willy shows he perceives himself highly when talking to Linda about his job: “I’m the New England man. I’m vital in New England” (14). One can also see Willy’s inflated sense of self-worth when he talks to his children about his job: “They know me, boys, they know me up and down New England... I have friends. I can park my car in any street in New England, and the cops protect it like their own” (31). However, even though he is extremely confident about his value as a salesman to his family, the reality of Willy’s reputation at his job is almost completely opposite: “I’m fat. I’m very—foolish to look at... they do laugh at me” (37). Although he essentially brags to his family about his expertise in business, Willy acknowledges the reality that his career is much less successful than he expects it to be. In fact, the inner turmoil inside of Willy from his unrealistic expectation of himself of being a fantastic salesman leads Willy to become mentally unhealthy, and eventually results in Willy committing suicide when he believes that he doesn’t have any self-worth anymore. Willy’s previous inflated self-worth is demonstrated yet again at his funeral, when no one shows up even though Willy thought he had a lot of friends from his job: “Why didn’t anybody come...

The rubber hose represents both success and failure.  It is attached to the gas main in Willy's house and provides him with the opportunity to commit suicide.  Willy sees this as a way to finally do something for his family to make up for years of disappointment.  He will no longer be a burden to them when he is gone, and they will remember him in a positive light.  Yet Willy

The play, The Death of a Salesman, has had an impact on my knowledge of human behavior that actually refers much about the American consumerism as displayed and exhibited in our society today. Society in present day possesses many gifted individuals, however the predominant issue is that these people are not willing to accept that they inhabit in a troubled society. In addition, these people are confronted with more issues than just the ordinary problems. In the story, Death of a Salesman, Willy Loman suggests, “There’s more people! That’s what’s ruining this country!

The years 477 to 431 B.C., saw the city of Athens experiencing a huge growth in intellectual and artistic learning. This was known as the Golden Age of Athens. The Golden Age was one of the most memorable in the history of the world. This was a period that introduce drama, music, literature, architecture, art, and philosophy in Athens. It was a period categorized by such high and diverse levels of achievement that many astute intellectuals refer to the experience as “the Greek miracle”. Even those individuals who did not believe that such miracles can happen actually acknowledge that it is possible that the Greeks who were very competitive were definitely inspired on a higher level of innovation in their field by seeing the bar being raised

Did you ever think about where your drinking water comes from? The water that we drink was initially sea water that has undergone a scientific process called desalination. Desalination is a chemical process in which natural compounds are separated from water, making the water clean and drinkable. Traditionally, sea water is propelled through hydraulic pumps which create a flow to separate the water from the sea salt. Hydraulic pumps require certain chemicals that are harmful to humans and these chemicals sometimes are cross-contaminated in the drinking water being produced. Personally, I don’t want to drink chemicals that are threatening to my life and that cause harm to the environment. Many

As well as, the capitalism system and the form of money economy are essential themes in the play. Miller argues the absurd false ideas of both father and sons which drive Willy into death (Clark 631-35).