Category: Death Of A Salesman

The American Dream

Arthur Miller’s play Death of a Salesman is one of the most brilliant works in the world drama. It reveals numerous important issues to address in any society. However, one of the major concerns of the play is the American system and capitalism, or rather the back side of it. The author contemplates the real nature of the American dream.

Eventually, the playwright comes to the conclusion that hard work does not necessarily lead to wealth and success. Miller claims that the American dream is a kind of delusion which has nothing to do with reality. The author admits that success can be possible if an individual works hard and, more importantly, has goals and takes risks.

Basically, these accounts on the American dream can be regarded as one of the major themes in the play. The theme is conveyed with the help of the plot, characters and dialogue. The author’s use of these constituents enables him to communicate his ideas on the American dream to the reader.

The Use of Plot

Miller tells a story of a salesman who works really hard to support his family. As any other person the protagonist of the play, Willy, wants to become rich. However, he only manages to occupy a rather low position in the company. In fact, the life of Willy’s family is an illustration of Americans’ aspirations. For instance, Willy complains that he should have been “in charge of New York” as he has worked really hard (Miller 4).

According to the accepted formula, his hard work should have already led to financial security (or even great success and prosperity). However, Willy soon understands that the formula contains a mistake. When thinking of (or even talking to) his brother Ben, Willy understands that there is another constituent to be taken into account. This constituent is risking. Miller understands that taking risks is important: “Why didn’t I go to Alaska with my brother Ben that time!” (Miller 26). Eventually, the main character takes a risk to succeed (or rather to help his family to succeed). Willy commits suicide to enable his children to fulfill the American dream.

However, the salesman fails to understand that his children also lack something to realize the American dream. Miller makes it clear that there is another constituent to have in mind, i.e. particular goals. Willy’s boys fail to become successful as they do not really know what they can do in their lives. They do not have particular goals to achieve.

Their energy, their gifts and their ability to work really hard do not help them to fulfill the American dream even after their father provides them with the second constituent of the success, i.e. risking. His risk, however, takes his sons nowhere. Willy exclaims: “I’m gonna show you and everybody else that Willy Loman did not die in vain” (Miller 107).

Nonetheless, this is what does happen. Willy dies in vain as his final risk is not enough to help his children to prosper. Thus, the plot of the play helps the author to convey his idea of the American dream.

The Use of Characters

Apart from the plot, the author makes use of characters to articulate the major theme of the play. Of course, the protagonist of the play is one of the most suggestive illustrations of the disillusionment. Thus, Willy mentions: “Work a lifetime to pay off a house. You finally own it, and there’s nobody to live in it” (Miller 4). The man realizes that he has been working really hard, but he has not advanced in his chase for the American dream.

However, the illustrative power of this character is achieved with the help of other characters. For instance, Ben, Willy’s brother, is one of the necessary backgrounds to draw the reader’s attention to Willy’s life. Ben is a kind of model for Willy who says that his brother “was a genius, that man was success incarnate” (Miller 26).

Ben managed to use the right formula to achieve success. He took risks as he was not afraid of new places, be it Alaska or Africa. He also worked hard as it was no bed of roses to work in diamond mines. Finally, Ben had specific goals to reach and, of course, he was lucky enough to use all these constituents to gain success.

Another bright contrast to the protagonists is the life and achievements of his children. Biff and Happy believe in the American dream just like his father does. They also dream of becoming successful and wealthy. They try to work hard and they can achieve a lot. However, they do not have particular goals.

Biff is not sure what he wants to do. He simply concludes: “I’m one dollar an hour, Willy I tried seven states and couldn’t raise it” (Miller 102). He simply tries things, but has no particular aim to achieve. He is also incapable of risking. Even when he gets the results of his father’s risk (insurance) he is highly unlikely to make it through. He is doomed to fail in fulfilling the American dream.

Thus, the characters serve as illustrations of the major theme. Nevertheless, what makes them so conspicuous is their being so real. The characters appeal to the readers who can recognize themselves in the play. It goes without saying that everyone has had some failures and disillusionment. Of course, nearly everyone has had ideas similar to Willy’s. Thus, the playwright simply draws people’s attention to the real issues providing his own answers.

The Use of Dialogue

Admittedly, the magnificent plot as well as lively characters is not the only thing which makes the play so appealing. Miller creates perfect dialogues. In the first place, it is necessary to point out that the dialogues are real to life which makes the play so appealing. The characters speak the language which is typical for the social layer the characters pertain to and the time when the action takes place. The language is lively and, at the same time, it is really expressive. The author manages to choose the right words for each occasion.

It is also necessary to note that the author manages to convey the major theme of the play with the help of particular words. For instance, the word ‘dream’ appears fifteen times in the play. The characters often mention their (or other’s) dreams. Thus, Biff concludes: “He [Will] had the wrong dreams. All, all, wrong.” (Miller 107) Thus, it is clear that the author reveals his ideas on the American dream. The author stipulates that the American dream is nothing more than a wrong (delusive) dream.

One of the characters expresses a very interesting idea: “A salesman is got to dream, boy. It comes with the territory.” (Miller 107) If to focus on a narrower meaning, the playwright notes that all salesmen should have a dream, as they should be inspired by this dream. It is also possible to look at a broader meaning of the phrase. The author claims that all people need to have a dream as it helps to live. Of course, the author also shows what dreams may come stressing the necessity to choose the right dream.

As has been mentioned above, the author mentions three constituents of the success: hard work, risks and goals. However, it is also necessary to take into account luck which is important to be able to put the three constituents together. Thus, the author reveals the secret of the success to his son:

The whole wealth of Alaska passes over the lunch table at the Commodore Hotel, and that’s the wonder, the wonder of this country, that a man can end with diamonds here on the basis of being liked! (Miller 63)

The words ‘like’ and ‘luck’ sound alike. Besides, in this case these words are synonyms. Thus, each word is meaningful and the choice of every word (and sometimes sounds) is precise.

Conclusion

On balance, it is possible to note that Arthur Miller created a great play that articulates many important ideas. Thus, the author shares his ideas on the well-known American dream which appears to be delusive. The author uses plot, characters and dialogue to communicate his message.

These means enable him to make the reader understand the message and, what is more important, to make the reader think of the matter. Admittedly, the play can be regarded universal as the tools chosen by Miller are still up-to-date. More so, the contemporary American society should also think of the ideas articulated in the play as this may help people choose the right dreams.

Works Cited

Miller, Arthur. Death of a Salesman. Abingdon, Oxon: Heinemann, 1994. Print.

The most outstanding connection between the Death of a Salesman and Street Car Named Desire is illusion. In the Death of a Salesman, Willy, the protagonist, is lost in the illusion that the American dream is only achievable via superficial qualities of likeability and attractiveness. He confuses the dream with philistinism and he ends up hurting his family due to his failure to achieve his dreams. In Willy’s interpretation, the elusive American dream calls men to be attractive and simpatico, but he does not meet the threshold and thus he is a failure. In Street Car Named Desire, Blanche DuBois, the protagonist, is disillusioned and lost in fantasy and thus she cannot deal with reality.

In a bid to avoid the reality, Blanche resorts to lies and scheming hoping to create a kinder world, as opposed to the harsh reality of life. Somehow, Blanche ultimately experiences a falsified form of happiness, but she never overcomes the illusions surrounding her thoughts.

The other connection between the two plays is that the protagonists are sexual outlaws. Both Willy and Blanche have a dark past surrounded by illicit affairs. Willy is romantically entangled in an illicit affair with a ‘woman’ he only encountered somewhere on his way to Boston, yet he is married. On the other hand, Blanche loses her job as a high school tutor after getting involved sexually with one of her male students. She also admits that she normally beds strangers. This sexually turbulent past haunts the two protagonists and to some extent, it contributes to their ultimate destruction.

The play Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller describes the last twenty-four hours of Willy Loman’s life and consists of a set of memoires, dreams, and arguments. It makes many people respond to the problems of the main character as they deal with human dilemmas and failure to accept changes within oneself and society. The purpose of this paper is to find out what Willy believed to be the key to successful selling and to identify whether Willy fits the typical profile of a successful salesman as presented in this course. The themes of the play will be pointed out, as well as the involvement of Willy’s brother Ben will be specified.

The play is concentrated on the description of Willy Loman’s character and destiny. He is a person who desires to reach success and constantly tries to attract attention. Willy believes that the key to the successful selling is to be attractive and good-looking in other people’s eyes, claiming that being smart is not enough (Miller 21). Personally, I cannot agree with him because it is a well-known fact that being good-looking can attract some people only until they become more familiar with an individual. Thus, they would judge this individual mostly by his or her intellect and actions afterwards.

The bitter truth is that Willy does not fit the typical profile of the successful salesman, no matter how desperately he tried to become one in the course of his life. In his desire to have a clean white-collar job he spent thirty-four years working for the company the boss of which ignored his experience, never respected him and fired him when he became less productive. As a result, he had spent his life making successful sales only in his dreams and had to commit suicide trying to acquire insurance for his family.

Although Willy was a salesman, I do not believe that Arthur Miller wrote mostly about sales. As some researchers state, “the complexity of Miller’s play has allowed it not just to endure sixty years, but to flourish as different productions emphasize different aspects of the text, different themes, and different values” (Hays 2-3). It is believed that the play deals mostly with denial, contradiction, and analysis of order and disorder. It is a major opinion that Willy in his self-contradictions and belief in slogans and advertisements represents America itself. The American nation is believed to be the nation of contradictions, being presented as puritanical, hard-working and peaceful, but still engaging in wars, using sex in the advertisements and struggling for personal success (Hays 6). The main character makes a lot of contradictory statements throughout the play.

As it is understood after reading the play, it is Willy’s older brother Ben who fits the model of a successful man and thus constantly appears in Willy’s memoirs. Ben left the city when he was young to explore other continents, and he finally made his fortune in diamond mining in Africa working for himself. Ben might symbolize everything Willy wanted to reach, but never could because of his loyalty to the company that tended to despise him as a salesman.

After covering the main questions stated in the beginning of this paper, it becomes obvious that Willy Loman failed to reach success in life because of a mistaken loyalty to his company, lack of self-esteem and wrong set of values. These mistaken values led him to the failure and death. Even his dreams about splendid funeral never came true because almost no one attended it.

Works Cited

Hays, Peter L. Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2015.

Miller, Arthur. The Penguin Arthur Miller: Collected Plays. Penguin, 2015.

Relationships between Willie and his sons

Willie Loman is a salesman who is constantly on the road than in his home. He also does not make much money from his sales business. However, his two sons, Biff and Happy look up to him as a role model. From the onset of the play, there is something estranging Biff from Willie. Willie has noticed that Biff has an undercurrent and becomes moody towards him. We realize that Biff estrangement from his father is as a result of Biff discovering Willie with a hooker in Boston.

When Miller wrote this play, fathers were symbols of excellence and virtue. The society expected fathers to represent the best for their children. Willie’s affair in Boston changed Biff’s life and changed him into a wanderer. Willie is sad that his son, Biff never had a job which can earn more than thirty five dollars in a week. Linda notes that Biff hates his father. She tells Biff that “Biff, dear, if you can’t have any feeling for him then you can’t have any feeling for me” (Miller 66).

Miller creates a sharp contrast between Biff and Bernard who loves hard work. Ben possesses knowledge superiority. He is not as physical as Biff. However, Biff did not believe in hard work since childhood. Willie taught him that everything in life did not rely on hard work. This idea became Biff’s downfall when he discovered that he had failed his exams.

Biff realizes that his childhood has been all lies. Therefore, he decides not to be like Willie. Biff struggles to become good after his father’s death. His father’s relationship with him created a world of lies and illusions where Biff never faced realities. He struggles to put these lies behind in order to find his true self in life. Willie nurtures Biff to have both desirable and undesirable traits during Biff’s life.

Willie brought up Happy to have little regard for women. Therefore, Happy treats women purely as objects of pleasure. Happy believes in unrealistic ideas of success his father planted in him since his childhood. He carries on with these ideas till the end of the play.

Willie’s responsibility with regard to his sons

We can say that Willie is an epitome of a poor role model to his sons. Willie gives poor advices to his sons especially about women and success. Willie advices Biff thus “Just wanna be careful with those girls, Biff, that’s all. Don’t make any promises. No promises of any kind. Because a girl, y’know, they always believe what you tell ’em” (Miller 44).

Willy’s two sons take this advice. Linda notes that Biff becomes harsh with the girls. This idea shapes Happy to become a hooker and womanizer. He constantly says that he will be marrying, but we never see that happens.

Willie tolerates Biff’s habits of stealing. Biff becomes a thief and even spends some times in jail. When Biff steals a football, his father laughs and jokes about the incident and says “Coach’ll probably congratulate you on your initiative” (Miller 9). The ultimate show of irresponsibility is Willie’s advice about work and success. He believes that charismata and popularity are the means to success in life.

When the play comes to an end, Biff leaves illusions and faces reality. Biff realizes that his habit of stealing was a sense of resentment towards his father. This struggle is an American dream in Biff.

Biff learns that his father’s actions are worse than his words when he discovers about his affairs with a hooker in Boston. This discovery creates a rebellious Biff, distant and ashamed towards his father. Biff knows his father as his role model. However, this act changes everything.

Biff realizes that Willie’s dreams were not realistic. Willie followed a meaningless dream throughout his life even the audiences are not aware of his merchandise. Biff makes a self discovery and vows that what happened to his father will not happen to himself. Therefore, Biff abandons his father’s ways of nurturing him since childhood.

The role denial and illusion in the play

Miller presents the ideas of denial and illusion. Biff, Happy, and Linda cannot distinguish between reality and illusion to some extent. Willie’s sense of denial and illusion is paramount. Throughout the play, Willie has believed that he and his sons particular Biff will one day find great success. The audiences know that Willie is a disrespected salesman. However, he refers to himself as New England man.

Willie claims that Biff is doing big things with his life, but we know that, at the age of thirty four, Biff has never had stable jobs. Biff says that “I’m not getting’ anywhere! What the hell am I doing, playing around with horses, twenty-eight dollars a week! I’m thirty-four years old. I oughta be makin’ my future. That’s when I come running home” (Miller 90). At the end of the play, Biff discovers his true self and escapes the illusions.

The standards Ben sets further traps Willie in illusions. Willie sees Ben in his mind giving him tips on how to become successful in business. Willie struggles to live with the standards that Ben has set, but this is impossible. Willie has a confused perspective on life, and the audience cannot believe his reliability. As the play progresses, Willie hallucinations also gain momentum.

Miller further compounds characters’ illusions to their pasts. Loman’s family feels that they made mistakes in life. Willie’s ideas of success and business look brilliant if he can live to prove their potentials. On the other hand, Biff only admires the days he was an athletic at high school and the days he never discovered his father was cheating and a failure.

Willie’s idea of personality and success is illusions and sense of denying the truth. Willie believes that as a salesman people must like him in order to succeed. Willie denies hard work and engages in illusion saying that it is not what people can accomplish that makes them successful, but rather success depends on how he treats people he knows.

Willie’s sons believe that they can achieve success through good looks and charm rather than hard work. This notion has created failures in Loman’s family. Willie regrets through flashback that he instilled wrong values his sons that destroyed his life.

Willie and Linda conversation shows denial of reality. Willie tells his wife that “Oh I’ll knock ’em dead next week. I’ll go to Hartford. I’m very well liked in Hartford. You know, the trouble is, Linda, people don’t seem to take to me” (Miller 23). It is hard for Willy to recognize reality due to his dementia and deteriorating health both mentality and emotionally.

Works Cited

Miller, Arthur. Death of a Salesman. New York: Penguin, 1998. Print.

Death of a Salesman is a figurative play that uses death not only symbolically represent physical/mortal death but also to allude to the end of personal dreams, wishes, and aspirations. It is a satirical play that highlights the life of Willy Loman, the main character, a traveling salesman who has worked for Wagner Company for thirty-four years and ends up a failure because it is not his trade to be a salesman. Willy is a gifted carpenter. In this paper, Death of a Salesman relationships shall be analyzed.

Willy’s Conflict

This play is a case of reality versus illusion. Willy is a delusional character whose search for higher ideals, far higher than he can attain, leads to his disillusionment. Willy spends his entire life trying to be a successful salesman, like his mentor Mr. Dave Singleman who was a successful and famous businessman. Thus Willy forms the opinion that to be successful, one has to be physically attractive and liked by many.

He tries to impose these ideals to his sons Willy and Happy to no avail. The result is that he ends up a failure and decides to kill himself, hoping the insurance premium will benefit his family. This play is, to some extent, a reflection of Arthur Miller’s life. Biff reflects Miller the real character: Miller was not much an academician and surprised his teachers when he wrote this play. The author was attracted to sports and physical activities rather than books. It was, therefore, a surprise that he would end up an author of a playwright.

Three characters in this play highlight Willy’s unique relationships with people. Biff, Willy’s eldest son, and the two enjoy love-hate. During his childhood, Biff adores his father but later comes to loathe him upon discovering that his father had led him to live a lie. It is through Biff that the reader sees Willy’s disillusionment.

Willy’s mistress is a secretary of one of his clients and represents Willy’s craving for love and affection rather than for pleasure. She makes Willy feel loved. Lastly, Willy’s brother, Ben, a successful businessman, is an illustration of Willy’s unwillingness to come to embrace reality; Ben only appears to Willy in daydreams.

Even though these three characters, as well as the other characters in the play, highlight Willy’s delusional self, it is Biff, the eldest son who illuminates Willy’s disconnect with reality. This paper endeavors to explain Willy Loman and Biff Loman’s relationships and how each is affected by this relationship.

Although Biff Loman is Willy’s and Linda’s eldest son and the personification of Willy’s wildest dreams and desires, father and son enjoy an emotional love-hate relationship throughout their lives. Biff represents everything Willy wanted in life: success.

Biff is the illumination of Willy’s notions of popularity and physical attractiveness rather than hard work honesty and integrity as the way to success. However, being popular does not help Biff to succeed. Willy had created a false impression (in Biff, as well as other family members) about his popularity and how it brought him much success (Miller 100).

Biffs’ search for success through popularity ends up in failure and he later notes that “(he has) always made a point of not wasting (his) life, and every time (he) comes back (he knew) that all (he will have) done is to waste (his) life” (11). Thus Willy’s delusional theory on happiness and success ends up having a very negative impact on the very son that he loved and wished to nurture to success.

Initially, there is so much love between father and son. Willy loves his son so much that during one of the football games that Biff is playing, Willy tells Linda that Biff is “(a) star… magnificent, (and) can never really fade away!” (51).

This love is informed by the unrealistic need to make him attractive and thus liked by many, which is to eventually lead Biff to succeed in life and also as a salesman. Willy encourages Biff to a positive image of himself through dress and not to talk too much less Biff makes a false impression, as the right personality would win him success (21, 48).

Biff’s Conflict

Willy goes to great length to prove that popularity is the key to success and encourages Biff to fight with his uncle Ben, something that has an important meaning and infuriates Lindah so much.

However, Biff falls to his uncle Ben who advises Biff, “Never (to) fight fair with a stranger, boy. (or) You’ll never get out of the jungle that way” ( 34). Biff believed in his father so much that he did not put any diligent hard work in whatever he did. His adoration for his father stated to take a toll on his life because, as Willy commented that “his (Biff’s) life ended after that Ebbets Field game because from the age of seventeen, nothing good ever happened to him” (71).

Biff’s belief in the essence of popularity take s him to seek his father in Boston as he thought that Willy’s popularity would make Biff’s math teacher change his grade and allow Biff to graduate. However, their relationship takes a sudden change for the worst when Biff realizes that his father has been unfaithful to his mother, by keeping a mistress in his hotel room in Boston.

The changing nature of their relationships in Death of a Salesman is reflected through their dialogues and conversations, which expresses anguish, pain, and betrayal. Biff no longer trusts his father and realizes that Willy had led them all in living a lie and a pretentious life (104). Willy retaliates by telling Biff that he has been nothing but a failure (103). As such, Bill comments that:

“(he had been) trying to become what (he didn’t) want to be… (And asks Himself) What (he was) doing in an office, making a contemptuous, begging fool of (himself), when all (he) wanted (was) out there, waiting for the minute (he) say (that he) knew who (he) wanted to be! (105).

This is an emotional realization of the betrayal that Willy led him to believe was the truth. Their relationship was never the same again.

Willy’s greatest need was emotional and psychological. Willy needed to feel liked and loved not only by his family but also by his clients and friends. From his mentor Dave Singleman, Willy thought that success was brought by popularity and attractiveness, and these two ideals subordinated virtuous ideals such as honesty, integrity, and hard work.

Conclusion

As the analysis essay on Death of a Salesman shows, this is delusional and far from reality. Willy strived to make his son Biff like him so much and instead of rewarded his mistakes instead of reprimanding. This ended up destroying not only Biff but also the relationship the two had, which displays the main theme and tragedy of the play. The play is also a reflection of how self-denial can lead to failure. Arthur miller encourages people to discover who they really are and not to be influenced by the successes of others as this is just an illusion.

Works Cited

Miller, Arthur. Death of a Salesman. New York: Penguin Books, 1986. Print.

“Oedipus Rex” by Sophocles, and “Death of a Salesman” by Arthur Miller, are two theater works that best describe the similarities and differences between concerns of modern and classic theater plays. In this paper, the main aim is to compare and contrast these two theater works.

The two plays have conspicuous tragedies, which are closely followed by accidents. Proposals to the queen and the execution of the king are two coincidences in “Oedipus Rex”. However, the two actions also present tragic events that Oedipus deserves to come into terms with, as long as he lives.

On the other hand, as Cohen notes, “the death of Willy is a tragedy while the failure of his son to undertake business is an accident” (21). In this context, the two theatre plays provide insights into how people’s behaviors may afflict their emotions. On the discovery of the truth, Oedipus realizes that truth is not an easy thing to embrace.

Willy cannot accept the fact that his son is not interested in business; consequently, he keeps on pressing him to engage in business. From a different perspective, both theatre plays have main characters that possess heroic qualities. Oedipus does not permit himself to be victimized in any way. Rather, as Bernstein explains, he goes on to show absolute loyalty to Thebes’ people (25). Comparatively, Willy’s decision to take up his life for the sake of his family’s noble cause highlights his heroic traits.

The tragic nature of the two characters is further evidenced by how they are impacted by repercussions of their actions, which are not well thought. Willy commits suicide with the belief that his son would become a businessman, something that does not happen in the end. Similarly, despite the fact that Oedipus does not die, the egoistic characteristics that he possesses make him suffer mentally.

Another significant similarity is that the two stories are manipulative in nature; they inculcate a deep feeling of pity in their viewers. According to Cohen, the two stories manipulate the audience’s emotions and feelings, despite the fact that the viewers ideally know that the two main characters are wrong in what they do (23).

The two characters execute activities, which are both wrong and right in many aspects. “Oedipus is haunted by the feeling of guilt throughout his life because, the activities he performed, assuming the right cause and following his ego and pride, turned immoral later on in life” (Cohen 23). On the other hand, the good cause, which Willy hopes would happen, never materializes when he finally dies. Willy appreciated that taking up his life was wrong; however, compared with the good cause of his family, he was justified.

Amid, the many similarities between “Oedipus Rex” and “Death of a Salesman”, some differences are also evident. As contrasted to Oedipus, Willy does not recognize the value of seeking out the information pertaining to his past life. Rather, “Death of a Sales Man” deploys a number of flashbacks to provide Willy’s background information.

These flashbacks are akin to what happens later to Willy. Through them, Willy experiences a series of guilt that are central to contributing to his tragic demise. The flashbacks act as the source of Willy’s hope since they permit him to blame other people for his own issues.

The “Death of a Sales Man” contrasts “Oedipus Rex” in that, “Oedipus Rex” is a typical example of classic tragedy while “Death of a Salesman” represents modern tragedy theatre arts. In this context, the two theatre works present differing cultures. The Willy’s story contains talks that cut across issues like insurance and sales.

This makes it depictive of the modern world talks. On the other hand, “Oedipus Rex” features traditional settings. In spite of the king perceiving himself as a remarkably confident character, he arouses an opposite perception in the viewer’s mind. In the words of Cohen “Oedipus is unusually full of himself and feels exceptionally perfect” (23). As opposed to Oedipus, Willy does not live to experience the repercussions of his deeds.

The level of heroism for both Oedipus and Willy is also different in the context of classic Greece eyes. This assertion is perhaps well evidenced by Bernstein who proclaims that, in classic Greece, “Oedipus is considered to be a hero on grounds of how he courageously faced his punishment” (25).

However, due the tragic flaws that Oedipus inculcates in the mind of the viewers, he ceases being a role model. Willy, however, is far from being a hero as his excellence and prosperity desires accompany him to the grave. In contemporary interpretation, the story of Willy reflects on normal people possessing normal desires. On the other hand, “Oedipus Rex” depicts extraordinary people’s dreams, largely influenced by extraordinary desires.

Conclusively, both “Death of a Sales Man” and “Oedipus Rex” stir up the viewers’ emotions and feelings. Variations in the two story settings and character traits make the stories different, yet similar in many ways. In the two stories, the main characters are portrayed as being in a continuous race in search of heroism, accomplishments, and more importantly, happiness. However, the repercussions of their actions are different.

Works Cited

Bernstein, Richard. “Long, Bitter Debate from the ’50’s: Views of Kazan and his

Critics.” The New York Times 03 May 1988 late ed.: AL. Print.

Cohen, Robert. Theatre: Brief Version. New York: Von Hoffmann, 2003. Print.

In his stage play “Death of a Salesman”, Arthur Miller introduces us to the family of Willy Loman. There is greater influence of the parents to the children as is portrayed in the play. Willy Loman’s laxity has weighed heavily on the conduct of his sons, Happy and Biff. The main theme in the play is sustained in the play with the sons of Willy attaining their personality from their father.

We learn that one’s upbringing shapes their behavior, whereas one’s surrounding shapes their character. This is quite evident in the case of a parent child interaction as portrayed in the play.

Since most of the time the child will look up to their parents, their ethical and moral values will be acquired from their parents. The impact of parent’s ethical degradation, on their children in is shown clearly in the play “Death of Salesman” by Arthur Miller.

Willy Loman set a very low morality standard for his sons by his actions and therefore he was not a good role model to them. For instance, the theft committed by Biff was never considered as such by his father; on the contrary, the latter actually encouraged his son’s actions.

It could be argued that the father was acting in good faith; on a second thought, though, it becomes clear that his motivation was not to save his children from an obviously harsh penalty for a theft, but pure desire to encourage his children’s worst qualities, such as lying in order to get the appreciation of the authority – a coach, in the given case.

On another occasion, lumber was stolen from a construction site by Biff and his brother Happy. In place of rebuke, they received appreciation from their father for the wrong they did. He was proud of the large amount of lumber they stole.

By praising them, Willy blurred his sons’ vision of stealing as immoral and ethically wrong. Past studies show that what children see as warranted actions from authoritative people, primarily, parents, will later on be considered as generally acceptable by such kids as they grow up. In the case of Biff and Happy, much hope was lost due to their father’s irresponsibility and lack of will.

Apart from dishonesty as the means to get promoted in the eyes of the leader by resorting to theft and lies, Willy also approved of deceit in family relationships, which has affected the boys on a much deeper level, leaving them not only financially irresponsible, but also socially isolated.

There is no need to stress the significance of family support and the significance of trustworthy relationships with relatives; being deprived of the given elements, one is most likely to lead an unhappy life, with no one to care for and no supporting spouse to be by one’s side.

By showing his children that one can legitimately cheat on his/her spouse, Willy destroyed his children’s chance to ever become family men and have supportive spouses. Granted that at some point in their lives, Biff and Happy will forget about this example set by their father, the pattern of family relationships will be imprinted in their mind, which will inevitably lead to them repeating this pattern over and over.

The given event was not the only time when Willy mistreated his wife. For instance, Willy was married to Linda but went ahead to have another woman. He had an affair with another woman because he was not satisfied with his marriage. His poor treatment of his wife misled his sons to see it as acceptable to be dishonest. The children, in turn, viewed women as inferior objects of use.

As a result, Willy’s sons underestimated women in general. To Biff and Happy, they never knew the moral law of treating others as one would want to be treated. This was a major failure on Willy’s part for not shaping his sons on even the most fundamental principles of moral values. In the end, it all turned against him when his sons started treating him the same way he treated other people. He had no one to blame but himself.

In conclusion, the play “Death of a Salesman” points out the flaws often left unattended by parents in having a tangible influence on their children. The complacency in instilling discipline to their children has resulted in moral and ethical decay. Arthur Miller points out the need to inculcate proper moral and ethical standards in children during their upbringing. Doing so will help guard them from committing crimes.

The play also provides an important lesson on the responsibility of the parent to be strict with their children, so that as their children grow, they could be able to differentiate between moral and immoral. It is also clear that the action of the parents with will always serve as a reference point for their children once the latter step into adulthood and start building their own behavioral patterns.

Parents are undoubtedly the ultimate role models to their children; therefore, parents should strive to maintain high standards in whatever they do to create an example for their children to follow.

In the case of Willy, if he had been stern with his children and quick to rebuke them when they steal or do any other thing that was wrong, his sons would have grown to be law-abiding members of the society; it is unlikely that children will grow to be ethical if their parent is unethical.

Introduction

As of today, it represents a commonplace practice among critics to refer to the play Death of a salesman (by Arthur Miller) in terms of being nothing short of a dramaturgic masterpiece. There are indeed a number of good reasons for this to be the case. After all, it is not only that the themes and motifs, contained in the play, are utterly humanistic, but also the specifics of how Miller conceived it to be staged suggest that Death of a salesman can be discussed, as such that marks a revolutionary point in the development of Western dramaturgy, as we know it. In my paper, I will aim to explore the validity of this suggestion at length, while elaborating on what can be considered the play’s overall discursive significance, and outlining the most innovative aspects of its first production in 1949.

Biographical Sketch

Arthur Miller was born on October 17, 1915, in New York. His formative years were strongly influenced by the Great Depression. After having received a high school diploma, Miller worked as a shipping clerk at the automotive parts warehouse, while being often required to take active part in promoting these parts to the potential clients. After his graduation from the University of Michigan, Miller returned back to New York, where he started to participate in a number of theatrical projects, such as the Federal Theater Project – hence, gaining an insight into the essentials of a theatrical production. Around the same time, Miller also began to explore his potential in playwriting.

Miller’s first critically acclaimed play was 1947 All my Sons. It was namely this particular play, which marked the beginning of Miller’s preoccupation with exposing the inconsistencies of the so-called ‘American dream’, to which he never ceased referring in terms of a highly irrational and emotionally damaging pursuit of riches. All my sons instantaneously established Miller as one of America’s most prominent playwrights. Nevertheless, it was in the aftermath of the 1949 production of his tragedy Death of a salesman that Miller gained the status of a ‘cult figure’ in American dramaturgy.

As it will be illustrated later in the paper, there were a number of the objective reasons for this to be the case. Throughout the course of his life’s latter phases, Miller continued to remain strongly affiliated with dramaturgy. Even though his sub-sequential plays, such as The misfits, In Russia, Broken glass and Resurrection blues, were not quite as successful with the audiences as Death of a salesman, they nevertheless did strengthen Miller’s fame, as one of the greatest playwrights of all times. Arthur Miller died in 2005.

The Overall Significance of Miller’s Play

The plot of Death of a salesman revolves around the character of Willy Loman – an aging salesperson, who failed at trying to live up to his dream of becoming a ‘man of substance’ (in the sense of attaining a financial security). The tragedy of the situation, in this respect, is that right until the play’s very end; Willy continues to refuse to admit that, contrary to what he used to believe about himself, he simply did not have what it takes to be able to succeed in business. Essentially the same can be said about Willy’s sons, Biff and Happy – just as it happened to be the case with their father, they could not help ending up being referred to as ‘losers’.

Nevertheless, despite the apparent simplicity of the play’s actual tale, Death of a salesman is indeed utterly powerful, in the sense of how it dispels many urban myths that even today are being commonly associated with the American way of living. The most prominent of them is undeniably the one, concerned with the so-called ‘American dream’, which in turn is based upon the assumption that, for as long as a particular American citizen happened to be an industrious/hardworking individual, nothing can prevent him or her from becoming a millionaire. Many of Willy’s remarks, with which he comes up throughout the play’s entirety, expose him as a typical ‘American dreamer’.

For example, according to this character: “The world is an oyster, but you don’t crack it open on a mattress!” (Miller, 1998, p. 28). This, of course, implies that throughout the course of his life, Willy never ceased believing that one must adopt a rational stance, when it comes to addressing life-challenges – something that would guarantee the concerned individual to be able to attain a social prominence.

Nevertheless, as practice indicates, one’s chances to ‘strike it rich’ have more to do with the notion of blind luck than with the notion of entrepreneurial industriousness. This is exactly the reason why in the play, Willy Loman is depicted as someone who was bound to experience the sensation of cognitive dissonance – the direct consequence of the fact that the character’s image of self and his sense of ‘true-self’ did not quite correlate. As Weales noted, “The distance between the actual Willy and the image Willy is so great… what the play gives us is the final disintegration of a man who has never even approached his idea of what by rights he ought to have been” (1962, p. 171).

Thus, it will be fully appropriate to suggest that Death of a salesman provides a new dimension to the theme of a tragic hero in the works of dramaturgy. After all, prior to this play’s first production in 1949, it was assumed that the act of a tragic hero had to radiate the spirit of honorableness. Ever since 1949, however, this effectively ceased to be the case. The reason for this is that, even though the process of Willy Loman’s mental deterioration can indeed be discussed in terms of a high tragedy, the play’s main character did not fall victim to the external circumstances (as it is being usually the case with tragic heroes in classic tragedies).

Willy’s ultimate demise came as a result of his intellectual inflexibility. This, of course, endows Miller’s play with the clearly defined humanistic sounding. Death of a salesman does not only provide viewers with the in-depth insight into what accounts for the process of Americans being victimized (as a result of their belief in the ‘American dream’) by the consumerist society, but it also specifies the actual reasons, as to why this state of affairs continues to last.

Partially, this also explains why during the initial phases of the Cold War, Miller’s theatrical account of the unsightly effects of people’s compulsive strive to attain material riches, as their main priority in life, balanced on the edge of being declared ‘anti-American’. After all, Death of a salesman does divulge the sheer inconsistency of the so-called ‘American values’ (meant to glorify people’s irrational obsession with trying to become rich at any cost), which America’s policy-makers of the time were trying to forcibly impose upon just about everyone in this country (Gibson, 2008, p. 98). In his play, Miller was able to show that, contrary to what many profit-driven Americans happened to believe, money is far from being considered the actual indication of one’s worth.

There is, however, even more to it – Miller’s play exposes the erroneousness of the popular assumption that America is actually the greatest nation on earth. The logic behind this suggestion is as follows. Death of a salesman clearly refers to the character of Willy Loman as a ‘typical American’ – hence, implying that the rest of people in this country do share many behavioral traits with the play’s main character. Yet, it is namely the fact that, despite his advanced age (63 years old) Willy acts as an utterly infantile (immature) individual, which makes him so memorable, as a tragic hero. The validity of this suggestion can be illustrated, in regards to this character’s inability to critically reassess the soundness of his emotionally comforting but misleading beliefs. As Otten pointed out, “Willy does not understand the corruptness of the (American) dream… he dies in defense of the imperative that consumes him” (2002, p. 36).

This, of course, means that, just as it happened to be the case with Willy, many citizens in this country are in fact ‘grown up kids’, quite incapable of resisting the temptation of instant gratification. Thus, it will be fully appropriate, on our part, to suggest that despite having been written in 1949, Death of a salesman does contain clues, as to what would be the main cause of America’s eventual decline in the future (our present). Namely, the fact that, due to being obsessed with the ‘American dream’ (consumption), many of this country’s citizens do not have what it takes to be able evaluate such their obsession critically. It is understood, of course, that this provides Miller’s play with yet additional credit – being exposed to the dramaturgic masterpiece in question will indeed come in rather indispensable to just about anyone, who strives to pinpoint the main inconsistencies of the American way of living.

The Play’s 1949 Production

The first theatrical production of Death of a salesman (directed by Elia Kazan) took place on February 10, 1949, at the Morosco Theatre in New York. This production turned out to be a huge success, which in turn contributed rather substantially towards the popularization of Miller’s play throughout the world. According to Most, “Within a year of the Broadway opening (in 1949), productions had been mounted in Great Britain, Denmark, Sweden… (Miller’s) play has seen three successful Broadway revivals since its opening in 1949” (2007, p. 548). There appear to have been two major reasons for this: the fact that Miller’s play parted with the classical conventions of a dramaturgical tragedy, and the fact that the play’s staging presupposed the incorporation of the elements of realism and expressionism – something that has never been accomplished before.

In order to achieve this, both: Miller and Kazan had to find the way for Willy’s flashbacks and daydreams to be integrated in the onstage performance in such a manner, so that the viewing audiences would not be prompted to regard the play’s plot implausible. This proved rather challenging. After all, the realist tradition in dramaturgy is mainly concerned with the director’s strive to help viewers to ‘submerge’ themselves into the theatrical action – something that naturally presupposes the importance of the stage-settings. In its turn, this makes it inconsistent with the expressionist approach towards conceptualizing a theatrical production, which has traditionally been associated with the assumption that the settings play only a minor role, within the context of how actors interact with the viewing audiences.

The mentioned inconsistency posed the playwright with the task of guaranteeing the realist sounding of the play’s clearly expressionist scenes, such as the ones where Willy cuts short his conversations with Linda, Biff and Happy, in order to reflect upon the remarks of his long-deceased brother Ben, who appears out of nowhere. Initially, Miller proposed to go about designing the onstage-shifts from the actual reality of Willy’s world to the ‘reality’ of his daydreaming, by the mean of taking advantage of the ‘curtain drop’ technique. Nevertheless, even though the play’s original script did contain certain provisions for the utilization of the expressionist settings, after the production-plan entered its organizational phase, Miller figured that it would make so much more sense having the settings designed in accordance with the principle of realism. As Murphy noted, “As the play took shape… he (Miller) dropped this notion in favor of a minimal set, which he has variously described as ‘without any setting at all’” (1995, p. 10).

After having deliberated the issue for some time, Miller decided to choose in favor of a traditional set – the first production of Death of a salesman featured the setting of a regular middle-class house. The switches from the actual reality to the reality of Willy’s past were made possible by the deployment of the previously unheard-of theatrical technique: “Whenever the action is in the present the actors observe the imaginary wall lines, entering the house only through its door at the left. But in the scenes of the past these boundaries are broken, and characters enter or leave a room by stepping ‘through’ a wall onto the forestage’’ (Miller, 1998, p. 12).

To foster the realness of the abrupt transitional shifts from one reality to another, the director supplemented the play’s settings with the contextually appropriate illumination, while assigning just about every twist of the plot with its own musical accompaniment. Thus, even though the play’s action took place within the framework of two alternative realities, viewers did not experience any ‘spatial’ discomfort, while exposed to the actors’ performance. Therefore, it will only be logical to conclude this part of the paper by reinstating once again that the overwhelming success of the first production of Death of a salesman was predetermined objectively. It is not only that this production helped the audience members to come to terms with their own anxieties, in regards to the notion of the ‘American dream’, but it also provided other playwrights and production directors with the insight into what accounts for the whole realm of the previously unexplored theatrical opportunities.

Conclusion

I believe that the earlier provided line of argumentation, in regards to the discussed subject matter, is fully consistent with the paper’s initial thesis. Apparently, the play Death of a salesman did succeed in both: exposing the sheer wickedness of one’s preoccupation with trying to become rich, and establishing a number of new principles for designing a theatrical production. This is the reason why this particular play continues to be referred to, as one of the finest products of American dramaturgy.

References

Gibson, J. (2008). Intolerance and political repression in the United States: A half century after McCarthyism. American Journal of Political Science, 52(1), 96-108. Web.

Miller, A. (1998). Death of a salesman. New York: Penguin. Web.

Most, A. (2007). Opening the windshield: “Death of a salesman” and theatrical Liberalism. Modern Drama, 50(4), 545-564. Web.

Murphy, B. (1995). Miller, Death of a salesman. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Web.

Otten, T. (2002). Temptation of innocence in the dramas of Arthur Miller. Columbia and London: University of Missouri Press. Web.

Weales, G. (1962). Arthur Miller: Man and his image. Tulane Drama Review, 7(1), 165-180. Web.

Published for the first time in 1949, “Death of a Salesman” is a play by Arthur Miller. The play is a tragedy involving the life of a middle-income American family composed of Willy Loman, his wife, Linda Loman, and their 2 grown-up sons, Biff and Happy Loman. The play depicts the largely unfulfilled dreams of the lead character, Willy Loman, who as a traveling salesperson at sixty-four years feels that the “pursuit of happiness” he desired and hoped to fulfill in America might have eluded him. As aforementioned, Willy has two grown-up sons whom he feels have not lived up to their – or his – potential and expectations, and he reaches a state where he exaggerates the social worth of his job and his sons to appease himself.

Willy Loman’s dishonesty and his lack of morality have contributed to his state of dissatisfaction with life, and his eventual suicide is a result of disappointments in his actions: the affair with the Boston woman, an unsatisfying job, and his regret on his poor upbringing of his two sons. This essay will discuss how the element of dishonesty throughout Willy’s life and work functions has created his current state of disillusionment and dissatisfaction with life. The essay will also examine how his affair with the Boston woman exemplifies his dishonesty, and finally how his failed parenting, insofar as his two sons are concerned, leads him to his eventual suicide.

Willy Loman’s dishonesty and lies permeate the entire play. Willy gets to such a level that he lies even to himself by exaggerating his self-worth and the worth of his job. When his wife, Linda, suggests to him that he should ask his employer to station him in New York so that he would not have to travel so much, he answers: “They do not need me in New York, I’m the New England man, I am vital in New England” (Miller, Act 1, Part 1). Willy retorts that he is vital for the company in New England yet he is soon fired for insubordination. Willy thus keeps putting upfronts to impress other people – his wife, his sons, and Uncle Ben, yet they would have been content with simple honesty. He again states how he is well-liked in Hartford (Act 1, Part 3), yet this is not necessarily the case. Willy is unnecessarily concerned with making false impressions on people.

Willy’s affair with the woman in a Boston hotel, while on a sales trip with his son Biff, exemplifies his dishonesty and lack of appreciation of the impact of his actions on his sons and family. After he finds out that his father was having extra-marital relations, Biff loses interest in making something out of his life. Biff describes his father as “A fine troubled Prince… An unappreciated hardworking prince… always for his boys” (Act 2, Part 5), indicating that at one point in his life, he feels that his father’s defense of their unbecoming behavior as kids was good. By stating that his father was always there for his boys, he confesses an earlier misplaced appreciation for his father’s actions, which he now totally regrets.

The act of engaging in extra-marital affairs also proves Willy’s lack of respect and appreciation for Linda, who is a devoted and committed homemaker and mother. He states that “I’ve always made a point of not wasting my life, and every time I come back here I know all I have done is wasted my life” (Act 1, Part 2). Willy’s dissatisfaction with life stems only from the choices he makes; he has the temerity to make this statement yet he has a dedicated wife in Linda, and all the failures in his sons are attributable to him. He chooses to have an extra-marital affair, and he chooses to condone the ill behaviors of his sons, therefore he cannot blame others for his sense of dissatisfaction with life.

In the latter parts of the play, as Willy prepares for his suicide, Biff confronts him and states that “We have never spoken the truth for 10 minutes in this house” (Act 2, Part 7). The statement by the son testifies to the continuous and unending lies that the family has had to live with, all because Willy, as the father and leader of the house, could not teach his kids better. For instance, when Willy first arrives home from his supposed business sales trip, he tells his wife Linda that he had accomplished his sales mission and that is why he is back early, yet the truth of the matter is that he has almost knocked down a kid with his car and decides to go back home.

Biff laments that he has never amounted to anything because his father has puffed up his sense of worth to an extent that makes him refuse to take orders from another person, further showing the damage that Willy’s continuous lying and dishonesty has on his kids. In various flashback scenes, whenever young Biff and Happy are accused of stealing something, their father would deflect the blame from them. When Biff is accused of stealing a football in school, Willy praises him and states that the coach would have been proud of him because he allegedly stole the ball for extra practice. Later, also in a flashback, when the two boys come home accompanied by Charley and he reports them for stealing something from a construction site, Willy praises their fearlessness.

Willy’s realization that he has failed to raise his sons to their highest capabilities leads him to his resolution to commit suicide. Willy states that “Ben, that funeral will be massive! They will come from Maine, Massachusetts, Vermont, and New Hampshire! All the old-timers with the strange license plates — that boy will be thunderstruck, Ben, because he never realized — I am known!” (Act two, Part 7), indicating his ill-conceived idea to cement his fame in the eyes of his sons via his own funeral’s attendance numbers.

Willy feels dissatisfied with his life, his failed career as a salesperson, and his parenting. He, therefore, feels that his death, and particularly the number of people who will probably come to his funeral, will bring about his ultimate redemption. Unfortunately, his prediction does not materialize because only his family and one guest attend his funeral. This encapsulates the wholesome nature of the failed dreams and desires of Willy, which follow him even unto death.

In conclusion, as discussed in the paper, Willy Loman’s dishonesty and immorality are the root cause of his disappointments and eventual dissatisfaction with life. He commits suicide due to the haunting regrets about his failed career, inadequate parenting, and his involvement in extramarital affairs. To him, death is the ultimate solution to his earthly problems’ his sole redemption.

Works Cited

Miller, Arthur. Death of a Salesman. New York: Viking Press, 1949. Print.

Introduction

Marxist criticism helps to get insight into the relationships between individuals and social groups and to understand the historical, social, economic, and political context of the environment of the story and its influence on a character within a literary text. Marxist criticism leaves a place for the application of other literary theories, therefore, it enriches the comprehension of a piece of literature.

Marxism Literary Criticism

The method originates from the Marxist theory developed by Karl Marx. The author explores the interactions among various social groups, identified by Marx as the classes, and the way they are connected to the political and economic agenda.

The Connection Between Literary Work and Reality

Since literature is a product of human activities, it reflects reality. Created in a particular historical context, a literary text deals with society and its transformation. Moreover, the notion of ideology is principal for the Marxist critical theory because a text is influenced by and transmits the specific ideology. The approach of Marxist literary criticism is holistic and evaluates a literary work from different perspectives united by the ideological and economic agenda.

Therefore, we can read the text and interpret the characters’ actions and the motives behind their deeds from the socio-economic and historical points of view, which contribute to the profound understanding of the literary work. As an illustration, Arthur Miller’s play “Death of a Salesman” describes the craving for the American Dream through the character of Willy Loman, a salesman, and his family. The promises of the big dream seen by Willy as the material commodities and amenity of the American life are available to a businessman who is attractive and good-looking. At the same time, this thirst for the wealthy lifestyle alienates Willy from his family, reality, and even from himself. During the play, Willy has not acquired self-awareness and a deep understanding of his real needs.

Deluded by the promises of the American Dream he cannot truly enjoy his life. He ignores human relationships based on warmth and love. He wants to be well-liked and percept things as the symbols of hard work, which leads to prosperity, but not as misery and financial struggles. Talking about sales as the best career for a man, Willy emphasizes the satisfaction of been remembered and loved that he can get from the profession describing his meeting with Dave Singleman by the following words, “Cause what could be more satisfying than to be able to go, at the age of eighty-four, into twenty or thirty different cities” (Miller 66).

Instead of facing the backstage of the American Dream, which is embodied in the description of Singleman, a salesman who has been working all his life and is not financially secure in his eighties.

Political Dimension of the Text

Marxist criticism adds the political dimension to the literary analysis through understanding the ideology behind a piece of text. Evaluating the notion of the American Dream through the lens of the Marxist theory leads to the assumption that the financial and political elites impose a particular view of reality, which exhausts people in their longing for the quixotic dreams. Ben’s line about a fair fight as a losing game expresses the deceptive mechanism of gaining advantage and striking truth that the rules of the game are not equal for everyone (Gailan 20).

Conclusion

Marxist criticism unites various dimensions of reality into the context of the piece of literature. The characters’ motives, actions, and relationships viewed through the underlying economic and political relations, along with the ideology imposed on society and individuals provide a deeper understanding of the literary work.

Works Cited

Gailan, Mohammad. Financial Success and the American Dream: A Marxist Reading of Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman. Web.

Miller, Arthur. Death of a Salesman. London: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2015. Print.