The falsity ofthe American Dream is the dominant theme of Arthur Miller's play. Willy Loman represents the primary target of this dream. Like most middle-class working men, he struggles to provide financial security for his family and dreams about mak...
The falsity of the American Dream is the dominant theme of Arthur Miller's play. Willy Loman represents the primary target of this dream. Like most middle-class working men, he struggles to provide financial security for his family and dreams about making himself a huge financial success. After years of working as a traveling salesman, Willy Loman has only an old car, an empty house, and a defeated spirit. Miller chose the job of salesman carefully for his American Dreamer. A salesman does not make his/her own product, has not mastered a particular skill or a body of knowledge, and works on the empty substance of dreams and promises. Additionally, a salesman must sell his/her personality as much as his/her product. Willy Loman falsely believes he needs nothing more than to be well liked to make it big. Minor The tragedy of the dysfunctional family, which helps to keep the American Dream alive, is a second important theme of Miller's play. Linda and Happy especially work very hard to keep the fantasy of the dream of success alive. In the dysfunctional Loman family, the wife is restricted to the role of housekeeping and bolstering her husband's sense of self-importance and purpose. A contradictory role given to her is that of the family's financial manager. In effect, Linda juggles the difficult realities of a working class family
Death of a Salesman: The Loman's Misguided American Values
Rick Welch Professor Frantz Writing Seminar December 2, 2002 Death of a Salesman: The Loman's Misguided American Values Arthur Miller's The Death of a Salesman explores the Lomans' values. The entire family values a misconceived notion of the American dream. The American dream is something that we all chase after, yet we have different concepts of it. Willy Loman's vision of this dream is a rather distorted one; he and his family never really obtain the dream. They never actually have all the stability, success, security, and love that they expect they will, and are constantly worrying about finances. After hearing his bills, Willy exclaims: "A hundred and twenty dollars! My God, if business don't pick up I don't know what I'm gonna do!" (Miller 1933). This constant worrying about money also eliminates the chance for having a happy, communicating family, because it inhibits all of Willy's time. Willy Loman is a part of our capitalist society; he measures success by material wealth and popularity. One author writes, "Miller dramatizes the limited nature of Willie's values of material success and continual optimism" (Magill 1). Wealth and success are all the things that he values; he believes that they are the American dream. Willy teaches these values to his sons, "It's not what you say, it's how you say it -- because personality always wins the day" (Miller
Death of a salesman
How can this play said to be about fathers and sons? In this play there are various relationships between father and son. As the writer, Arthur miller was Jewish himself the importance of the relationships between father and son are dominating in this play. One of the father and son relationships which are linked into this play is the relationship between Willy and his father, or, the lack of relationship. As we first find out on page 31 during one of Willy's flashbacks with his brother Ben, Willy asks Ben 'Where is dad?' This shows the audience of Willy's need to have a father figure there to guide him. As he had grown up with the absence of his father, when Willy tells Ben 'I still feel kind of temporary about myself' (page 35) this suggests to the audience that the non-existence of his father is the source of Willy's failure. Without a father present, Willy is not sure on how to bring 'his boys' up. When they were younger he believed that the key to success was to be 'rugged, well - liked, all around' but, in contrast we find out that this has not helped them during later life. As Willy had grown up without a father, for him, Ben took the place of a 'father figure', conversely Ben never seems to guide Willy or answer any of Willy'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
A View From The Bridge.
The A View From The Bridge 'A View From the Bridge' was written by Arthur Miller during the 1950's but was actually set in the '40's when Italy were waging war and currently suffering from a depression. This caused many Italians to immigrate to America and escape their homeland's demise. Many Italians living in the U.S.A felt secluded from the rest of the American society. The government then restricted the amount of migration which resulted in large quantities in illegal immigration from Italy. The play begins with Alfieri, an Italian American lawyer introducing the story of Eddie Carbone. Beatrice, wife of Eddie is informed that her Italian cousins, Marco and Rodolpho will be arriving at their house that night. Eddie and Beatrice plan to hide Marco and Rodolpho while they work in America illegally to send money home. Rodolpho and Marco arrive and soon settle in. After a few weeks, Rodolpho and Catherine, Beatrice's niece become very close much to the dislike of Eddie when he, Eddie is very authoritative towards her and meticulous to almost every move she makes. This is shown during the opening conversation with her. He talks solely about her appearance. He doesn't want her to start work, he doesn't like the dress she wears which is too "revealing" and resents the way she walks calling it "wavy" amongst other things. As the play progresses his actions can be shown in an
Death of a Salesman: Discuss the Importance of Dreams in the Play and explore how Dreams are Present?
Death of a Salesman: Discuss the Importance of Dreams in the Play and explore how Dreams are Present? Arthur Miller's play "Death of a Salesman" is a detailed review on the capitalist American society of the 1940s. He uses the misfortunes of a salesman named Willy Loman to illustrate this. Miller introduces the Loman family in a depressing mood, dim lighting is used and shows a house that has "towering, angular shapes" surrounding it and with little furniture. This immediately gives the audience a glum feeling about the play. The Loman family is a very stereotypical American family, with the father, Willy, working all day, a loving mother, Linda, and two children, Biff and Happy. As the play develops however, we learn more and more about the real tragedy of the family. Willy believes in the American dream. It was very influential in the American society of the 1940s and still is to some people, today. But only a few people have benefited from it. The American dream is based on the idea that as long as someone works hard, they will achieve great. In Death of a Salesman, there are several types of dreams that are clear. These are the hopes and ambitions of the characters, daydreams fantasies and memories, such as the American Dream. Dreams are a very important part of the play. They encourage the characters into their actions and explain their behaviour both in the past
How do The Odyssey and The Crucible use the hero in order to explore the concerns of their times?
How do The Odyssey and The Crucible use the hero in order to explore the concerns of their times? The concept of what constitutes a hero varies according to the values, culture, context and setting of the society in question. Homer in his epic poem The Odyssey and Arthur Miller in The Crucible through the portrayal of the hero's in their texts; Odysseus and John Proctor, reflect the values of the time in which the text was set but more importantly provide a social commentary on the context of the texts. Both looking to the past to provide answers and draw parallels with the present. The Odyssey was written approximately in 700 BC and was set in twelfth century BC, in what was known as the Bronze Age. The Greeks believed that this earlier period was a more glorious and sublime age, when Gods still frequented the Earth and heroic, godlike mortals with superhuman attributes populated Greece. The Odyssey is episodic in nature and in many ways consisted of nation building myths which were unifying and drew on what was common in Greek culture by detailing the exploits of the classical archetypal Greek hero, Odysseus. Essentially it is an epic tale in which the wicked are destroyed, right prevails, and the family is reunited. On the other hand, The Crucible was written in the early 1950's in America and is set in 1692 in Salem, a small town in colonial Massachusetts. It follows
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".
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" is set in the late 1940's in Down Town, New York. It is about Eddie Carbone, who is an Italian longshoreman who falls in love with his wife's niece, Catherine. He lives in an apartment with Beatrice (his wife) and Catherine. However, when Beatrice's cousins, Marco and Rodolfo, seek refuge as illegal immigrants from Sicily he kindly offers to shelter them. He regrets doing so because Catherine rapidly attracts to Rodolfo. In the beginning of the play Eddie plays a noble character as he accepts to take in Marco and Rodolfo. However at the end of the play, Eddie has become a tragic hero as he makes an error of judgement in thinking he had a right to stop Catherine from marrying Rodolfo. Arthur Miller intended the play to be a modern version of a Greek tragedy in which a central character is led by fate towards a destiny that cannot be escaped. In the end of act 1 Marco and Rodolfo had just settled into the apartment and Eddie has his suspicions of Rodolfo. 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
Account for the continuing popularity of ‘Death of a Salesman’ as a stage play.
Account for the continuing popularity of 'Death of a Salesman' as a stage play. 'Death of a Salesman' is a play that has come to redefine the concept of modern tragedy, whilst simultaneously enrapturing audiences around the globe. A challenge to Philip Sydney's judgement that 'tragedy concerneth a high fellow'i, 'Death of a Salesman' is the tragedy of the common man, tragedy of Willy low man. 'One of the major texts in our time'ii, 'Death of a Salesman' does not follow the traditional Aristotelian definition of a tragedy. This has ignited passionate debate among critics as to whether it is a tragedy at all, whilst ensuring its position and popularity as the epitome of what has been dubbed 'modern tragedy'. It is not the fall of a great man through a predestined flaw (hamartia), and it has been argued that Willy even lacks the self-knowledge to be a true tragic hero. Willy is a man of 'massive dreams', not high stature, although Biff calls him a 'prince', drawing comparison with Hamlet. His self-knowledge is present, countering those who claim to the contrary. It is clearly contained in the lines 'I'm fat. I'm very - foolish' (of himself) and 'I'm always in a race with the junk yard' (of payment of manufactured goods). His flaw lies in his determination to see material wealth as the only path to success. He is swallowed by 'the corporate dream machine'iii. The idea of the
The Salem Witch Trials
Ragan 1 The Salem Witch Trials The year 1692 was a time of horror in Salem, MA. A witch-hunt took place after a group of girls became hysterical while playing in the woods and it was proposed that they were bewitched. These girls accused older women of consorting the devil. Before the trials were over, 300 men and women had been accused. By the time the chaotic witch-hunt was finished, little enthusiasm for the persecution of witches remained in Massachusetts and the superstition of witchcraft ended the trials (Sheffield). The trouble originated in the home of Reverend Samuel Parris who was the minister of the local church. Several girls in the community started spending their afternoons there in the kitchen with Tituba, the Rev. Parris' West Indian slave, to learn magic. The girls had been up to some mischief for some time and were curious about their futures, so they read each others palms until Abigail Williams spread the word about how Tituba could float an egg white in a glass and this unusual practice could tell " what trade their sweethearts should be of" ( Watson 116). As the girls grew closer to one another Ragan 2 something seemed to have come over them. 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
"Willy Loman is such an unpleasant character that it is very difficult to sympathise with him, yet Miller clearly means us to do so." Discuss and evaluate this comment, with close reference to Miller's presentation.
OCR AS ENGLISH LITERATURE 3828,UNIT 2709- COURSEWORK Arthur Miller-Death of a salesman . "Willy Loman is such an unpleasant character that it is very difficult to sympathise with him, yet Miller clearly means us to do so." Discuss and evaluate this comment, with close reference to Miller's presentation. Willy Loman, the main character in 'Death of a salesman', is a complex and extremely fascinating tragic character. He is a man struggling to hold onto what dignity he has left in a changing society that no longer values the ideals he grew up to believe in. Whilst society can be blamed for much of his misfortune, he must also be blamed himself to an equal extent for his bad judgement, disloyalty and foolish pride. Throughout the play the Lomans in general cannot distinguish between reality and illusion, particularly Willy. This is a major theme employed by Miller and a source of conflict in the play. Miller presents Willy in such a way that he cannot see who he and his sons are. He believes that they are great men who have what it takes to be successful and beat the business world. Unfortunately, he is mistaken. In reality, Willy and sons are not, and cannot, be successful. Willy Loman is a firm believer in the "American Dream:" The notion that any man can rise from humble beginnings to greatness. His particular slant on this ideal is that a man succeeds by selling his