University Degree: Arthur Miller
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English Essay- Death of a salesman
This refers back to the stage directions when w***y returns back for another visit to the past, it is said that " The apartment houses are fading out and the entire house and surroundings become covered with leaves" this may be that the pas has something to hide, and sets a scene of a better more happier life, a change in mood and the coming of the past. This is where the hope of the American Dream comes into the play.
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Death of a salesman
As w***y had grown up without a father, for him, Ben took the place of a 'father figure', conversely Ben never seems to guide w***y or answer any of w***y's questions, 'What's the answer? How did you do it?' Ben replies with 'Oh, there's a story in that.' He never seems to give any support or advice to w***y, instead he claims of his own success; 'When I was seventeen I walked into the jungle, and when I was twenty-one I walked out.
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In All my sons, characters often invoke money as a reason for relinquishing ideals or hopes. Comment
Joe Keller, the protagonist of the play, is a character that has strived to achieve the American dream, and the material comforts offered by modern American life. He interprets the American Dream as merely business success alone, and in his pursuit of it, relinquishes other parts of the so-called Dream. He sacrifices his human decency and a successful family life when he issues the order for the sale of sub-standard cylinder heads. However Keller can live with his actions because he believes through the selling of the faulty plane parts, he has maintained economic stability (by keeping the business alive)
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Analyse and evaluate Millers choices of form, structure and language to express meaning
w***y takes none of this into account: because Ben became so rich so fast that w***y looks up to him as an idol. Ben offered him the opportunity to go to Alaska with him, a very tempting offer for w***y. w***y agonises acutely over what, with hindsight, given his present failures, he considers a mistake made by not going with Ben. In Act I he talks to Charley about Ben's death, w***y - ...we got a letter from his wife in Africa.
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Discuss the themes of success and failure in Miller's 'Death of a Salesman'
w***y sets himself goals to a standard, which are too high for a salesman like himself. "....was rich! That's just the spirit I want to imbue..." w***y's age doesn't help with what he wants to achieve. He becomes de-moralised by this and continues to set more goals which are unachievable for a salesman at the age of 60 like himself. With w***y continuously setting standards too high he continues the theme of failure throughout this play. But it isn't just w***y who suffers, it's the whole Loman family. In contrast to w***y's views on success and failure his son Biff, sees both in a different way.
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Examine how Arthur Miller creates a sense of dramatic tension in the final scene
The tragedy that occurs however is personalised through the mental stumbling and emotional complications of a few ordinary lives. These other, more general issues are intertwined with the main thread of the story and add to the devastation of the outcome. It is Alfieri, Miller's principle narrative character that links these issues in his bleak commentaries that analyse the development of the play and communicate the passage of time. His role is reminiscent of the Greek chorus narratives that frequented the traditional Greek tragedies fold. Arthur Miller intended the play to be a modern version of this genre, in which a central character is led by fate toward an inescapable destiny.
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(Based on Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller) The American Dream, the aspiration held by many people in the United State to live better (have a house
Without idealism the mankind would be lost. But as everything in this world, there must be a balance between ideals and reality, otherwise it will become a utopia, some romantic dream with no real future. The play "Death of a Salesman" is the perfect example to support this thesis, its main character, w***y Loman; a sixty one years old salesman, in a capitalistic world is at the bottom of the hierarchic order. He posses nothing, and he makes nothing, so he has not got any sense of accomplishment whatsoever.
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HOW WELL DOES A VIEW FROM THE BRIDGE FIT INTO THE TRAGEDY GENRE?
I think that Eddie's main character flaw is his unwillingness to accept reality. His reality contains a secret desire for Catherine; this, to Eddie is something disgusting and immoral - as to him she is a daughter and some conflicting inner voice tells him that it is the only way it can be. For her he has an intense love but maybe this love arises from desire. I believe his secret desire for Catherine motivates him a great deal that exposes other/new flaws to the audiences, for instance jealousy and stubbornness. We can see from Eddie's actions and the way he talks to Catherine that he has some sort of secret desire for her.
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"Evacuation was a great success" Do you agree or disagree with this interpretation? Explain your answer using the sources and knowledge from your own studies.
However, all the people in the photo are looking at the camera so it looks as if it has been posed and possibly used as propaganda. Furthermore, source D shows how evacuation was a success. It shows some evacuees taking a bath; they all look happy which is a sign to show that the children enjoyed themselves. The children also look very clean and healthy; this was very common for evacuees as it was a result of the clean country life.
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"Everyone fails in a waste of misplaced energy and Miller offers no comfort to his audience" - Discuss this comment on 'Death of a Salesman'.
w***y unsurprisingly finds this humiliating and difficult to believe, 'you can't eat the orange and throw the peel away - a man is not a piece of fruit'. w***y has no status as a businessman and he confesses that 'the trouble is, Linda, people don't seem to take to me'. w***y believes in the fantasy of the American Dream which suggests that wealth and an attractive personality alone can make him happy. We even see w***y being patronised when his boss addresses w***y as 'kid', representing that w***y is still seen as a kid in the business world.
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The Salem Witch Trials
They were no longer acting like good quite Puritan maidens but more like something possessed (Roberts 26). On January 20,1962 nine year old Elizabeth Parris and eleven year old Abigail Williams began to act strangely, displaying screaming, convulsive seizures, trance-like states and mysterious spells. Within a short time other Salem girls began to demonstrate similar behavior (Sheffield). Sometimes they would get on their hands and knees and act like mad dogs. All over the community the girls drew a crowd, some seemed to think all they needed was a good whipping to set them straight, others stood looking at them in helpless horror as the girls endured their fits.
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Discuss the view given of the American way of life in 'Death of a Salesman.
The basis for the dramatic conflict in 'Death of a Salesman' lies in Arthur Millers conflicted relationship with his uncle, Manny Newman, also a salesman. Manny imagined a continuous competition between his son and Miller refusing to accept failure and demanded at least the appearance of complete confidence in his household. Miller in his youth had written a short story about an unsuccessful salesman, which he revived after his experiences with his uncle. The result was that he produced one of the most successful dramas in the history of the American stage.
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Evans-Pritchard's Witchcraft, Oracles, and Magic among the Azande tells us little about the occult but a great deal about common sense and morality in close personal relationships. Do you agree?
It is important to note that to the Azande a witch is an unremarkable agent. Referring to someone as a witch is simply stating a fact, rather like you or I calling someone a doctor. The actions of a witch are not seen as eerie; rather they are seen as aggressive (page 19). To the people of the Azande witchcraft is as much a part of life as taxes may be for us. As such, they must live with witchcraft and as much as possible deal with it. So why do the Azande have a concept of witchcraft, how does it help them understand how the world around them works?
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Consider how one character other than w***y Loman in Death of a Salesman and one character (including the chorus) other than Oedipus in King Oedipus contribute to the 'action' of each of these plays.
Therefore, Greek Theatre laid more importance on the text as this could be easily projected around the amphitheatre; action was conveyed through the spoken word rather than through physical movements and gestures. A 'dramatic revolution' took place in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, with a move back to ideas similar to those of the Greek Theatre. The plays of Ibsen and other playwrights of his era such as Chekhov, placed a huge importance on the use of dramatic texts.
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Eddie brings about his own downfall. Discuss this statement with close reference to the beginning of act 2 (43-50) - "A View From The Bridge".
In act 2 we were expecting Eddie to be more suspicious of Rodolfo and begin to change because of it. Eddie's character and character changes dramatically throughout the play as he begins to be a noble character and ends up as a tragic hero. At the beginning of the play, Eddie agrees to take Rodolfo and Marco in, saying: "It's an honour B., I mean it." In the beginning of the play, Eddie mentions Vinny Bolzano as he told the immigration bureau about his uncle.
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Caplan is a theatre critic. She argued that "The Crucible" is s****t in its portrayal of women. Consider Miller's presentation of female characters. How far do you agree with Caplan's view?
Miller's presentation of Abigail Williams is one of my main causes for agreeing with Betty Caplan on the grounds that Miller's presentation of female characters is s****t. She is introduced as a strikingly beautiful seventeen-year-old girl, an orphan, and she also retains an endless capacity for dissembling. That is how she is introduced and that is how she remains throughout the entire play. She has no grounds for redemption and it appears as though Miller makes no attempt to develop her character in any way.
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What do you find interesting about the way Miller presents the character of Abigail in act 1 of the crucible?
When trying to convince Parris that she didn't conjure spirits she doesn't hesitate to blame those around her, "(Whispering) Not I, sir - Tituba and Ruth" she uses another one of her useful attributes here her endless capacity for dissembling. This exploits the extent to which her dissembling reaches. She is able to convince her own uncle that other people conjured spirits and that she had nothing to do with the incident. By allowing the character of Abigail to have an endless capacity for dissembling, Miller intentionally creates a false barrier in front of Abigail.
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Compare the ways in which the Miller presents John the Carpenter in 'The Miller's Tale' with the ways in which Miss Fozzard presents Bernard in 'Talking Heads 2.'
As there is not 'I' the story relates directly to the reader, therefore as a reader we tend to relate to the character the narrator relates to, and in the same way find humour in the way that John the carpenter is treated as the Miller obviously finds this tale humorous. This technique also helps to portray Nicholas as being pathetic, as the audience can see that all other characters know how he is being manipulated except for himself. This is expressed in the narrator's comment about Alison and John, "she knew it better than he."
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The Crucible - Do you agree that Proctor is a "melodramatic hero" whose committed choice for personal sacrificing death returns order to the world?
In the village most if not all were Puritans. This was a very simple religion that extreme strictness on religion and morals therefore his problem was sinning against one of the 'Ten Commandments' being a great fault in the Puritan society. Salem society influences the ideas and actions of John Proctor. He fulfils the requirements of a "melodramatic hero" by his actions throughout the story. His "melodramatic hero" position is shown by his efforts to save his wife from being put to death, his attempt to prove the children are making fraudulent claims, and his unwillingness to confess to practising witchcraft when accused.
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Tokyo ben and Kansai ben - Japanese has many local dialects.
The first difference is vocabulary. Different dialects use different words for the same things. For example, "arigato"(thank you) is used in Tokyo ben while "maido ookini"(thank you) is used in Kansai ben instead (Rie-Higuchi,2002). The easterners say "yano-assatte"(the day after tomorrow), "shoppai"(salty) and "-nai"(not) whereas the westerners use "shi-asatte" (the day after tomorrow), "ka-rai"(salty) and "-n" or "-nu" (not) (Shibatani,2002). The second difference between two dialects is spelling. The numbers of syllables decrease in Kansai ben. Many words in Tokyo ben are shorten when are used in Kansai ben. For example, the word "yoku"(very well)
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A View From The Bridge.
As the play progresses his actions can be shown in an incestuous manner even though they are not blood related, even at the beginning of the play when she tries on her new dress, he tells her to turn around to see the back which is quite suspect. He appears to be watching her every move as if he wants her all to himself which seems to be unnoticeable to the other characters. The tension in the household rises greatly at some points and is eased at others to a climax which ends dramatically all because of Rodolpho's the close relationship with Catherine.
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The American Dream in Death of a Salesman and A Streetcar Named Desire
him, as it did to his father, as his words "I've always made a point of not wasting my life, and every time I come back here I know that all I've done was waste my life" (Baym 2118) indicate. Perhaps, this difference was brought about when Biff found out about his father's affair back at the age of 17, and exclaimed "You fake! You phony little fake!" (Baym 2166) at both his father and the American Dream. It may explain why "From the age of seventeen nothing good ever happened to him" (Baym 2152), because it was then that
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The office scene (pages 59 - 66) is a crucial part of the play as it sees the turning point in w***y's career and encourages the last part of his mental downfall towards destruction and dramatises many of the central concerns that are shown throughout.
The technology is grasping Howard's attention, but at the same time blocking out anything that w***y is trying to say - similar to the new order of business taking over from the old order, including w***y. New businessmen and new technology are crushing w***y and he is getting left behind. The wire recorder is playing Howard's son reciting the capital cities of American states and is effectively recalling the American Dream. This also shows Howard's relationship with his children and emphasises how proud he is of his children and this is seen in contrast to the relationships that w***y shares with his sons.
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Oleanna, written by David Mamet.
When Carol asserts that she is the one speaking, John continues to interrupt her with apologies for interrupting. Ironically, he repeatedly says he wishes to level with her. Carol's lack of understanding also causes interruptions in the flow of conversation. When she does not know what a word means she interrupts John to ask for simpler terminology. When he gives her a synonym for the word in question Carol replies, "Then why can't you use that word?" (2.1811). Carol certainly seems to think that he overuses big words in an attempt to belittle her. The anger and aggravation created by this also contributes to failure in communication; they both feel they are not given the opportunity to say what they need to.
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After the fact Salem witch trials.
Because nothing like that have ever been seen before and because doctors were not able to find any symptoms or causes of the behavior, physicians concluded that the girls were under the influence of Satan. Now days a diagnosis of this sort is not feasible. In a way the people of Salem were obsessed with the Devil they blamed the Devil for a lot of hardships that they faced. In February of the same year prayer services and fasting were held by Rev.
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