"DEATH OF A SALESMAN"   Term Paper ID:18394 Click to get this paper

Essay Subject: (Arthur Miller). Theme, structure, technique of time sequence, characterizations & tragic elements in the play.... More...

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Paper Abstract: (Arthur Miller). Theme, structure, technique of time sequence, characterizations & tragic elements in the play. Paper Introduction: The purpose of this paper is to discuss Death of a Salesman, with particular emphasis on Arthur Miller's technical and scenic craftsmanship, his concept of social realism, and tragic elements of the play. Many American critics with a political bias saw Death of a Salesman and, later, The Crucible (1953) as political statements antithetical to the establishment. During the McCarthy era, Miller was refused a passport to attend the opening of The Crucible in Brussels. In 1956, he was called before the House UnAmerican Activities Committee, where he refused to name suspected communists and was consequently convicted of contempt of Congress. Although the conviction was unanimously reversed by the Supreme Court in 1958, it brought him a good deal of adverse publicity (Weales 184). Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. The purpose of this paper is to discuss Death of a Salesman, withparticular emphasis on Arthur Miller's technical and scenic craftsmanship,his concept of social realism, and tragic elements of the play. Hisprinciples may be unconscious and built on fallacies, but he believes inthem, practices them, and, finally, dies for them. 1987: 7 ."Playwrights at the Cliff Edge." The Economist 9 Jul. Willy, onthe other hand, is not worse than most men nor is he noticeably better, andhis fall is not from such a height that it shatters our complacency;rather, it is a fate neither remarkable nor remarked. Although the conviction was unanimously reversed by the SupremeCourt in 1958, it brought him a good deal of adverse publicity (Weales184). He has an intuitive sense ofthe dramatic moment, and his grasp of its power has been equaled by few.Utilizing the techniques and technology of the modern stage, he buildsstory, character, and tone simultaneously through scenes of memorablevitality and intense impact ("Playwrights" 85). Death of a Salesman's dialogue isseldom applicable beyond the immediate situation, does not echo with greattruths, and is in fact, frequently banal. Integrity is a noblequality, but it is not enough to put him on equal footing with the heroesof the past, and Miller has claimed a need for a redefinition of the term"hero" ("Playwrights" 85), A change of definition of the "hero" risks a certain loss of meaningand suggests that the very concept of hero has changed. outrageous enough in the beginning, it has expanded through thecenturies to include more than just the royal descendants of gods or themovers and shakers of early societies. Separate from this, but usuallyconsidered with it, is the question of the tragic hero--in Aristotelianterms, a great man of flawed goodness. In such terms, "the common man is as apt a subject fortragedy as kings were," said Miller, for "if the exaltation of tragicaction were truly a property of the high-bred character alone, it isinconceivable that the mass of mankind should cherish tragedy above allother forms, let alone be capable of understanding it" (Shattuck 1). The most striking departure from classic tragedy is in the characterof the protagonist. Miller is writing for thestage where the dialogue counts less than the context within which it isspoken and the situation shown by the visual picture. It was indeed shattering, and New York audiences were deeply moved bythe fate of Willy Loman. 1988: 85.Shattuck, Roger. Even the manner of hisdeath follows the classic pattern of keeping violence offstage, while the"Requiem" section functions in the manner of a Greek chorus. Even in today's judgement they represent thebest of our species, imperfect but with immense possibilities. 1987: 184-186.----------------------- 1 Willy Loman is light years away from Oedipus inconcept and in presentation: he is not of noble birth, he is not a leaderof men, he has little self-knowledge, he achieves no insight, and his moralvalues are deplorable. "On the Shuttle of Memory." The New York Times Book Review 8 Nov. The most frequent debate has centered on the question of tragedy.Most critics have agreed the play does not fall under the classicdefinition of tragedy as a serious action, complete in itself, evoking pityand terror in order to produce catharsis. Works CitedAllen, Paul. Certainly, in subject matter, characters, language, andsetting it matches this tradition more closely than it does the classic.Yet here, too, a substantial departure prevents a simple classification,for domestic tragedy is separated from the classical tradition by more thanthe reduced social status of its characters. In 1956, he was calledbefore the House UnAmerican Activities Committee, where he refused to namesuspected communists and was consequently convicted of contempt ofCongress. If this can be assumed, Death of a Salesman takes on the highseriousness of Greek tragedy. Structurally, it is as taut as Oedipus Rex.;there are no digressions, and Willy Loman marches inexorably from hisentering, "It's all right. others saw it as one ofthe most concentrated expressions of aggression and pity ever to be put onthe stage, or as a great American tragedy, shattering to the audience,overwhelming in its implications, cutting to the root of the problems ofthe success rule of life. During the McCarthy era, Miller was refused a passport toattend the opening of The Crucible in Brussels. More than any other single factor, perhaps,his eclecticism marks him as a writer of the twentieth century, for he hastaken certain elements of the past and refashioned them into a single,unified and original creation. Millerdeveloped the choral aspect more completely in A View from the Bridge, andin both plays, it serves the same purpose as in classic drama--precludingsentimentality by bringing in an outside, objective view of the action(Allen 33). Miller's skillful use of tradition and originality gives Death of aSalesman a respectable place in American drama, but if this were all therewere to the play, it would merely be an example of excellent craftsmanship. In the twentieth century, itincludes every member of the human race and presupposes that each person,whether standing on the bridge directing the course of the ship or stokingcoal in the darkness below the waterline, is indispensable to the community--and that each community is a microcosm of the universe. Many American critics with a political bias saw Death of a Salesmanand, later, The Crucible (1953) as political statements antithetical to theestablishment. What gives the work its importance is what Miller has to say. According to Aristotelian standards, the subject matter ishardly of the proper magnitude; one might feel pity for Willy Loman but notthe awesome terror that produces catharsis. As a child of the Depression whomatured during the traumatic years of the Second World War, he takes aserious view of the world. Death of a Salesman departs from classic tradition in at least threeareas too important to dismiss from consideration: subject, language, andcharacter. Hehas not always been a popular success, but he has become recognized as oneof the most thoughtful and perceptive commentators of our time. Yet audiencesstill respond to Oedipus, Hamlet, Lear, and Othello--not because of theirbloodlines or their social preeminence, not even because of theirachievements, but because there is a recognized kinship with theiracceptance of responsibility, their personal insight and their morality--inshort, with their humanity. Miller's work combines a deep concern for ordinary persons and theirvalues with a strong sense of theater. The question is subsumedby an assumption of such temerity that the heavens must ring with laughterat its arrogance--the assumption that humanity is necessary to theuniverse. It was called one of the finest dramas in the whole rangeof the American theater, and not only by all odds the best play to havebeen written by an American that season, but a play which provides one ofthe modern theater's most overpowering evenings. The proposition that every life is importantand that it is symbolic of the larger society may be valid, but it is atwentieth-century concept, not part of the classic view that the subjectmust have cosmic consequences (Weales 185). Miller has not written poetry inthe traditional literary sense; what he has done, instead, is to uselanguage in combination with all the theatrical resources at his command,to provide a poetic experience in the playhouse. "Death of a Salesman." New Statesman 8 Apr. In the normal course of events, they might go unnoticed; yeteach is confronted with the kind of situation that forces his or her bestand worst qualities to the surface. 1987: 1."The True Legislators." The Nation 1 May 1988: 577.Weales, Gerald. While all of Miller's work consistently demonstrates his concern forhumanistic questions and his mastery of theatrical technique, Death of aSalesman is an especially noteworthy example. It was, however, more thana topical success: Death of a Salesman speaks as clearly severalgenerations after its inception as it did in 1949, and it has become astandard work in anthologies of twentieth-century drama (Gerard 7 ). I came back " to his doom. Critics have sometimes disagreed with the substance of Miller'splays, particularly in the late forties and early fifties when politicsoften colored reviewers' opinions, and Miller was considered a dangerousradical by those who saw his work as propaganda for left wing ideology.But however much they may have disliked the content or ideas, none of thecritics charged him with ineffective theater. Miller's dialogue, too, suffers when placed beside the classic model. Over the years, as the national atmosphere changed and it becameevident that Miller was more interested in the human condition than inpolitical doctrine, his work has been received far more objectively. Some writers have resolved the question by classifying the play as adomestic tragedy. Its pattern leads towardmelodrama, relying on emotion rather than solemn grandeur for its impact.In domestic tragedies, the actions of the ordinary person do not have.thefar-reaching consequences that make those of the great leader intrinsicallyinteresting, but an emotional identification with the character makes it--at least during the performance time--equally impressive. Indeed, the fact that Death of a Salesmanfits into several traditional categories (although into none absolutely)has caused much discussion among critics who have tried to measure itagainst a single yardstick (Allen 32). More importantly, they are drawn withunderstanding, compassion, and a respect for human dignity that lifts themfrom the mundane and relates them to the profound questions of thecontemporary world (Allen 31). Prior to the nineteenth century,"greatness," in the shorthand of the stage, was shown as social orpolitical standing, but in the last 2 years, the emphasis has shifted tomoral and humane qualities without much regard for position. Miller defended his usage on theground that Willy himself is inarticulate, and it is true that this veryquality established the main point of the play. Death of a Salesman was also a new kind of play, but it is not todeny Miller credit for originality to add that he has worked withintradition--several, in fact. He does not present issues as abstract philosophicalconcepts, but in terms of individuals facing crises in what appearexternally to be quite ordinary circumstances. Certain elements of classical tragedy are clearly present, ifseriousness of theme, structure and inevitability are translated intomodern idiom. Neither the life nor the deathof an unknown and misguided salesman has an effect on the larger worldwhich will continue on its way without interruption or change, without, infact, even pausing to notice. "A Pair of Survivors; Miller's 'Danger: Memory!" Commonwealth 27 Mar. Elements such as therelationships of characters or the very tone of the actor's voice areneeded to produce the total experience. While the poetic form is no longer regarded as essential to tragedy, theambiguity of its language usually incorporates a range of meaningsapplicable to many ages and cultures. Given thecircumstances, he cannot behave other than he does. Speaking with thevoice of his own time, Arthur Miller insists that every human being isworthy of consideration and respect. The power of thework does not derive from admiration of what a person might be but from theawareness of what a person is, a concept that bears so little resemblanceto that of the past that it might be preferable to give it another nameentirely than to try and reconcile the differences under a single term("The True Legislators" 577). To some, he represented the failure of theAmerican dream; to others he was the common man destroyed by progress; afew saw the play as a capitalistic/communist statement, but whether theterms were personal, philosophical, or political, it was generally agreedthat the play reflected the mood of the times. When it opened on February1 , 1949, it was hailed as an original and compelling insight into theAmerican scene. 1988: 31-33.Gerard, Jeremy. He is concerned with large issues, with values,morality and justice. His sole "heroic" quality is his integrity. His protagonists aredistinctly nonheroic; unexceptional in quality of character, socialposition or power, they are not outstandingly good or evil, their lives donot affect a wide circle, and, if they fall, they do not take nations downwith them. "Timebends." The New York Times Book Review 8 Nov. In clear,concise, twentieth-century terms, he asks the question that has plagued ourspecies since we were first able to formulate it: what is man all about?What is this biped, who reaches for immortality? If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again: Search for: or Click here to request an essay written just for you.