"DEATH OF A SALESMAN"   Term Paper ID:18677 Click to get this paper

Essay Subject: (Arthur Miller). Critique of play with regard to construction, plot, tone, secondary conflict, empathy & style.... More...

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Paper Abstract: (Arthur Miller). Critique of play with regard to construction, plot, tone, secondary conflict, empathy & style. Paper Introduction: This paper will provide a critique of the drama Death of a Salesman, by Arthur Miller. It is generally agreed that Death of a Salesman is a "tragedy of the common man caught up in the false values imposed by middle-class American society" (Murray 386). The chief character of the play, Willy Loman, is an average man who has become deluded with the American dream. As such, he is an individual who is having difficulty merging his personal beliefs and ideals with the realities of modern life. However, it can be seen that Willy Loman's tragedy is not one that is unique to him alone. In fact, during the late 1940s and early 1950s, when Death of a Salesman first became popular, many people in America were sensitive to the deterioration of values being caused by the conflicts of modern times. In this way, Miller related the theme of this play to a universal human experience-- 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. Death of a Salesman. This use of colloquial language serves notonly to point to Willy's averageness, but also to contrast that averagenesswith the futility of Willy's ambitious dreams. Many of the scenes in the play follow the chronology of WillyLoman's breakdown in his relationship with his family and career. The Crown Guide to the World's Greatest Plays: From Ancient Greece to Modern Times. In this regard, it is important to note that Willy'sfailure in grasping the American dream is not due so much to the dreamitself, but rather to his unreasonableness in seeking ways for obtainingit. For example, Parker has noted that trees are usedin the play "to symbolize the rural way of life which modern commercialismis choking" (43). Magill. Thus,Willy remembers the time when Biff caught him alone in a hotel room with astrange woman. By using this technique, Miller sought to reflectthe way things really are, for both Willy and for the world in general.Thus, by using a distorted, nonchronological style, Miller "hasexemplified, rather than caught into conscious art, the muddled strivings,the distorted rather than false ideals, and the consequently confused senseof guilt, of our time" (Shipley 422). In addition, there aresecondary conflicts in the play which lead up to this primary revelation.For example, Willy experiences conflicts in his career because of hisunreasonable definition of what it means to be successful. Rather, "the story is presentedthrough a succession of scenes that flow freely through time" (Shipley421). "Death of a Salesman." Twentieth Century Interpretations of Death of a Salesman. This obsessioncauses him to begin living in an imaginary world of his own making, and "asa result, scenes from Willy's past and present follow--and indeed pursue--one another successively in a fuguelike fashion that shows his awareness ofhis failure to progress" (Rollyson 1341). On the whole, Death of a Salesman works in expressing its themesbecause Miller succeeds in making the audience identify with Willy Loman,as well as with the other characters in the play. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, 1983: 7 - 78.Parker, Brian. Kennedy. 1956. Howard Fuller,president of the Fuller Brush Company, in an article written by the salesexpert for a 1949 issue of Fortune magazine. Englewood Cliffs: Salem, 1985: 1335-1351.Shipley, Joseph T. Vol. This is obviously the critical break-down inWilly's personal tragedy. An example of how thisunveiling technique contributes to the overall construction of Death of aSalesman can be seen in the fact that Miller saves the crucial scene ofBiff and the woman in the hotel room until near the very end of the play.In addition to creating a dramatic climax, it may be noted that thisparticular memory "is deferred to the end by Willy's unconscious, for it isthe one piece of the past that he least wishes to recall, the one that hehas most successfully repressed" (Welland 26). In fact, during the late 194 s and early 195 s, when Death of aSalesman first became popular, many people in America were sensitive to thedeterioration of values being caused by the conflicts of modern times. 2nd ed. However,the play differs from other tragedies of the past in that its point of viewreflects not only the personal tragedy of the title character but also theuniversal tragedy of a modern life with all its hollow values. As noted, however, these are not accurate memories of the past, butare rather Willy's own subjective interpretations of those memories. 3. The play'sconstruction, plot, tone, conflicts, and style all connect with thisoverall theme. When both these efforts failsimultaneously, Willy's fragile hold on reality begins to deteriorate morequickly than ever before. Carl E. Ed. The plot of Miller's drama follows the last days of Willy Loman, aBrooklyn salesman who has become old and worried about his lack of successin his profession. As notedearlier in this paper, a key stylistic element in the construction of Deathof a Salesman is that "past and present are mingled in expressionisticscenes" (Murray 387). Inthis way, Miller related the theme of this play to a universal humanexperience--that of "individuals in conflict with their society, a gradualrealization of conflicts within the individuals that both mirror the largerconflicts in society and define a core of singularity in the charactersthemselves" (Rollyson 1337). Ed. In Fuller's words, "nearlyeveryone who sees [Death of a Salesman] can discover some quality displayedby Willy and his sons that exists in himself and his friends and relatives. Bystructuring the drama in this fashion, Miller cleverly unveils Willy'sunconscious thoughts over the course of time, in much the same way that aFreudian psychoanalyst would unveil the unconscious thoughts of a patient.Thus, Miller's use of expressionist technique in Death of a Salesman isintended "solely as a means of revealing the character of Willy Loman, thevalues Willy holds and, particularly, the way his mind works" (Parker 45-46). A critical point in the play occurs when Biff decides to try toget his father a business loan and Willy tries to get his boss to give hima nontravelling job (Murray 387). It is an important aspect of the overall theme that thisrevelation occurs to Willy himself, not to any other character in the play. Such secondary conflicts in the play leadinevitably to the chief conflict which takes place inside Willy's ownunconscious mind. Ed. Following this memory, and one last attempt atreconciliation with Biff, Willy makes the ironic decision to kill himselfso that his family will receive the insurance money and thus regain some oftheir respect for him. X.J. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, 1983: 15-32.----------------------- 9 Ed. Furthermore, empathy enables the viewer toexperience Willy's tragic downfall as being symbolic of the downfall ofmodern humanity as a whole. Ed. It is generally agreed that Death of a Salesman is a"tragedy of the common man caught up in the false values imposed by middle-class American society" (Murray 386). Helene Wickham Koon. Thissubjectivity is emphasized by Willy's frequent conversations with his long-dead Uncle Ben, a figure who symbolizes for Willy the excitement ofsuccess. 3rd ed. The construction of Miller's play contributes to this general theme.As such, Death of a Salesman does not follow a strict chronology; nor doesit utilize a strictly realistic technique. In the face of his feelings of failure, Willyfinds himself living in his own world which is based on hallucinations fromthe past, and in which he believes he is reliving "happier days" (Shipley42 ). Thus, in critiquing Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman, it can besaid that the work is an excellent play because it is well-constructed andbecause virtually every aspect contained within it points to the centraltheme of the work as a whole. Works CitedMiller, Arthur. Helene Wickham Koon. This paper will provide a critique of the drama Death of a Salesman,by Arthur Miller. In this regard, it may be noted that Willy's memories of his own pastare not true flashbacks, but are rather subjective interpretations of thatpast as created within his own mind. In addition,because of his superficial values, Willy experiences conflicts with hisfamily--particularly when he makes the unreasonable expectation that hissons will succeed in his place. The entire structure ofDeath of a Salesman centers around the gradual revelation of Willy'shaunted past. Frank N. This clearly reflects the technique of modernpsychoanalysis, in which the patient is healed through the process ofremembering repressed thoughts and feelings. Thus, as concluded by Brian Parker of the University of Toronto, "the formof the play, then, depends on the gradual admission by Willy to himself ofhis own guilt" (46). However,many other scenes present distorted images from Willy's own past. Thus, Miller "uses astylistically cliched language, based on the inflection of a New YorkJewish speech and rising to a peculiarly American idiom, to reveal thedisparities between Willy's pipe dreams and what has occurred, alternatingrhythms of elation and despair dramatically and artistically realize whatlife less coherently and concentratedly presents" (Oberg 78). Through this power ofempathy, the viewer of the play is able to experience the failure of hollowvalues just as Willy does. He is obsessed with the idea that things might have turnedout better if only things had been different in the past. At this point, Willy becomes drunk and has thekey memory which shows both Willy's secret feelings of failure with hisfamily and Biff's secret feelings of resentment for his father. In particular, it canbe seen that Death of a Salesman makes clever use of cliches and otherelements of dialogue which emphasize the averageness of Willy Loman and theother characters in the play. "Arthur Miller." McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of World Drama. The play is also an important work becauseit relates not only to the personal break-down of Willy Loman in hisrelations with his career and his family, but also to the general feelingsof the audience regarding a similar breakdown which has occurred in theworld as a whole because of the complexities of modern life. Ed. The chief character of the play,Willy Loman, is an average man who has become deluded with the Americandream. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1984: 385-392.Oberg, Arthur K. Vol. Even thestyle of the play itself is designed with this objective in mind. Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. Shipley, "Willy does not fail because hisstandards are false; he just fails to meet his own standards" (421).Willy's failure is not with the inherent failures of the American dream,but rather with the fact that he is unable to break free from the spell ofhis own past. Stanley Hochman. 4. However, itcan be seen that Willy Loman's tragedy is not one that is unique to himalone. In another example, Welland has pointed out that therecording machine in Howard's office that Willy is unable to turn offserves as a symbol for "the central theme of the play in Willy's horror athis inability to switch it off--to switch off the recorded past" (2 ). "Arthur Miller." Critical Survey of Drama: English Language Series, Authors. As noted by Dennis Welland, professorof American literature at the University of Manchester in England, "thepast, as in hallucination, comes back to him; not chronologically as in'flash-back,' but dynamically with the inner logic of his erupting volcanicunconscious" (27). The guilt of that incident is complicated by Biff'sconfession that he has failed math and will therefore be kicked off thefootball team (Miller 1317). This factor was expressed by W. Rollyson haspointed out that "when the play is read aloud, there is an uncanny power insome of its simplest and seemingly pedestrian lines, lines that capture thenuances and innuendos of colloquial language" (341). Furthermore, by enabling the audience to empathize withWilly and with the other characters in the play, Miller has created a workwith increased meaning in terms of expressing its basic theme. In addition to feeling that he is a failure at his job,Willy feels that he is a failure with his family--especially with his sons,whom he had hoped would become more successful than himself.Unfortunately, by basing his entire life on superficial values, Willy hasbecome completely incapable of communicating meaningfully with his sons.Both of his sons, Happy and Biff, are failures in their own lives.Furthermore, it is revealed early in the play that Biff has some secretresentment against his father which further complicates any efforts atcommunication between them. In thisregard, it can be seen that the primary conflict of Death of a Salesman isone which is concerned with Willy's gradual revelation about his ownfailure at attaining an impossible American dream. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, 1983: 41-55.Rollyson, Carl E., Jr. Boston: Little, Brown, 1983: 1262-1328.Murray, Edward. The general tone of Death of a Salesman is that of tragedy. It may benoted that Miller's style in writing Death of a Salesman also utilizesimportant symbols which reflect both Willy's break-down and the dissolutionof the American dream. This shows that Death of a Salesmanuses style to make a message about modern life. Analysis of Miller's play shows that virtually every elementcontained in it is designed to reflect its basic overall themes. "Death of a Salesman and Arthur Miller's Search for Style." Twentieth Century Interpretations of Death of a Salesman. New York: Crown, 1984.Welland, Dennis. It is this close identity between the audience and the characters thatlends such poignancy to the tragedy" (Shipley 421). Helene Wickham Koon. 1949. "Point of View in Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman." Twentieth Century Interpretations of Death of a Salesman. As such, he is an individual who is having difficulty merging hispersonal beliefs and ideals with the realities of modern life. As stated by Joseph T. 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