To an unusual degree, The Death of a Salesman interweaves past and present action. Willy Loman, the play’s protagonist, repeatedly revisits old memories, sometimes even conflating them with the present moment. But these memories are not the sentimental, slightly Death of a Salesman In all of twentieth-century American drama, it is Arthur Miller's masterwork Death of a Salesman that has been lauded as the best American play. The play deals with important aspects of American life, discovering and exploring the idea of the American dream Death of a Salesman Arthur Miller's American masterpiece Death of a Salesman, first presented on the stage in New York City in , represents a successful literary attempt at blending the themes of social and personal tragedy within the same dramatic blogger.comted Reading Time: 5 mins
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Paper Types. You are free to use it as an inspiration or a source for your own work. Its realistic examination of how an average man pursues simple ambitions, and how these pursuits go to defining all the relationships in his family, is both stark and full of dimension, for Miller understands the primal connection between the working-class man and his job.
The play is very much about success, or the lack thereof, but the core of the work lies in the ways multiple and frustrated dreams reverberate within all the members of the family. As will be discussed, there is no single answer.
Ultimately, as will be noted, the twin viewpoints of Death of a Salesman go beyond the importance of achieving commercial success and a contrasting disregard of it, because both are integral to living. Willy, although never successful in his long career as a salesman, represents a potently working-class ethic of achievement as being paramount.
In this view, power comes to the man who works hard for it, and who consequently earns the right to wield it. He is uninterested in the kind of achievement his father values, death of a salesman essay it is meaningless to him. If a viewpoint may be defined as belonging to Biff, it is that happiness and fulfillment must be found outside of traditional, American work ethic pursuits.
Materialism is suspect and pointless, in his eyes. This translates, then, to a viewpoint that dismisses the processes of power that Willy so esteems, such as being well-liked and commanding death of a salesman essay respect of peers. Miller questions what the world would be like, then, if either viewpoint were adopted as the prevailing one.
He refers to this debate as spiritual and psychological, as well as political, and he is certainly entitled to make the inquiry. Nonetheless, as will be explored, it seems that Miller is too concerned with surface manifestations of struggles with far deeper meaning. Power, as he indicates, is an elusive and variable thing, and one often defined only by the circumstances in which it is created. To that end, it is necessary to look more closely at what generates these symbols of power within the two men, and why each clings to his own.
In examining the twin viewpoints of the play, one factor immediately demands attention: they are completely dependent upon one another, in order to exist at all. Conversely, the more Biff resists his views, the more Willy feels the need to reassert them. It is bad enough that Willy can barely hold onto his ideology in the face of the failures his own life has created, in terms of business; the dismissal of it by his own son, then, demands an aggressive response.
Beyond this, there is also a more simple agenda fueling his viewpoint. As he believes happiness can only be had through it, he wants badly for his son to have this, despite his own inability to achieve it.
This factor of the viewpoints as actually generating one another is, ironically, reflective of the element Miller sees as central to both: power. The bulk of Death of a Salesman is, in fact, a power struggle, and it is one fought over life philosophies. Here, then, it is further seen that power is created by the people and circumstances requiring it. Were there no dispute over viewpoints in the Loman household, there would be no need to challenge, death of a salesman essay, and consequently assert individual power to make a claim.
Thus, the power conflict between the two men can only serve to reflect the contrasting point of view, no matter who most dominates the battle.
It is important to examine this, particularly as Miller questions which viewpoint may be best for the world at large. The reality is that he tapped into a conflict so basic to humanity, and so based upon senior and junior views of what matters in life, that the question he asks is submerged. In other words, it is not about which point of view would be better for the world, but about whether or not these combative differences are not inherent in the nature of man, death of a salesman essay.
It may be that the question Miller poses is pointless, because the tides of humanity rely on these alternating, and largely masculine, clashes of will, death of a salesman essay. He has experience of the world, and this experience has forged in him a conviction that nothing is as valued in that world as popularity and success.
Unsuccessful, he stands outside, as it were, and bitterly sees more clearly the immense need to do well and be liked by all. The first is that, however it happens, he is incapable of imagining success other than in terms of social and commercial gain. Simply, when it is crucial to provide in a material way for the family, there is little to no concern over emotional or spiritual needs, or achievements.
Life levels, in a sense, and Willy, for decades a pawn in the machinery of the business world, can only see through that lens. Then, there is the potent matter of his being a father. It is ordinary for fathers to want for their sons what they themselves have pursued, and what they have come to see as being the most valuable attainments in life.
Willy wants happiness for his son in the only way he can conceive of happiness, which is through conquest. Not necessarily incidentally, there is probably a motive in Willy going to a masculine imperative. Real men go after success and are liked by everyone, and it is important that his son be a real man, for both their sakes.
More precisely, death of a salesman essay, Biff is not of the world, so he is not driven to meet its standards, death of a salesman essay. He has had some unfortunate dealings in business already, but these have been both new and likely entered into with no enthusiasm by him.
Here, again, the viewpoints of the men are strengthened by their own efforts to support them. As Willy unceasingly throws himself into the world, he validates his view of it in the action.
Biff, unimpressed with commercial achievement, cannot effectively give himself to this arena, which then enhances his own views of its unimportance. It is not a case of one viewpoint as being more beneficial for the world because, first of all, no single viewpoint may be. A single-minded drive to be liked and successful is empty without a core of emotional well-being and a commitment to the deeper issues of living. Similarly, a complete disregard for success and popularity is not a practical way to live in a structured society, and is by no means a guarantee of personal fulfillment, the necessities of securing survival aside.
Then, these are viewpoints that are validated only by working in concert, and in that process the real meaning of power becomes more clear. There is the power of success and the power of an independent spirit, but neither has meaning if the other, concerned party does not recognize it. This recognition, and subsequent appreciation, can only come when the power is based upon a full understanding of the potential value death of a salesman essay both points of view.
Ironically, then, it is no longer power in an authoritative sense, but power as a representation of death of a salesman essay greater death of a salesman essay. In discussing his Death of a SalesmanArthur Miller ponders which of the two, principle ideologies is most beneficial to the world. What Miller ignores in his question is the primal foundation he himself presents, which is that of the eternal and hyper-masculine conflict in place between a father and son. He also disregards the inescapable reality that no, single viewpoint serves the world well.
The two viewpoints in Death of a Salesman transcend simple evaluations of the importance of achieving commercial success, and a contrasting dismissal of it, because they are only valid when exercised as one. Cloud Computing and Sustainability, Essay Example. Egyptian Mathematics, Research Paper Example.
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Get a Free E-Book! Pages: 1 Words: Essay. This Essay was written by one of our professional writers. Need a custom Essay written for you? HIRE A WRITER! Discussion In examining the twin viewpoints of the play, one factor immediately demands attention: they are completely dependent upon one another, in order to exist at all. Conclusion In discussing his Death of a SalesmanArthur Miller ponders which of the two, principle ideologies is most beneficial to the world.
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To an unusual degree, The Death of a Salesman interweaves past and present action. Willy Loman, the play’s protagonist, repeatedly revisits old memories, sometimes even conflating them with the present moment. But these memories are not the sentimental, slightly 5/5/ · In a sense, Death of a Salesman ends on an optimistic note, in that Biff discovers a new sense of himself, stripped of illusion, as he finally becomes a man with self-respect—one Death of a Salesman Arthur Miller's American masterpiece Death of a Salesman, first presented on the stage in New York City in , represents a successful literary attempt at blending the themes of social and personal tragedy within the same dramatic blogger.comted Reading Time: 5 mins
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