Essay on Death Of A Salesman Death of a Salesman Death of a Salesman Essay Essay on Death of a Salesman Death of a Salesman Death of a Salesman Essay

1. Essay on Death Of A Salesman
Death Of A Salesman
In Arthur Miller's 'Death Of A Salesman', Miller uses several techniques to show attitudes to success
held by the characters. There are many indicators of success in this play which are, the ideas of
being wealthy, the performance on their job, to have power and status.
Some of the techniques he uses to show this are the use of motifs, the
American Dream, language, stage directions and also through sequence in the past.
One of the motifs Miller uses to show the attitude of success is the idea of being 'well–liked'. This is
mainly shown through the character of Will Loman. Willy seems to think that if a person is
'well–liked', it will excuse anything and everyone opens up for him. Willy got this...show more
content...
Willy cannot see who he and his sons are because he believes they are great men who have what it
takes to be successful in the business world. Unfortunately, he is mistaken as Willy and his sons
are not, and cannot, be successful. As a result, Biff, a star football player in high school, feels like
he can get by in life on his looks and personality. He finds out, however, that these qualities do not
bring success to him as he flunks math and cannot go to college, and amounts to nothing in life.
Happy is also mislead – he encourages Biff in his illusions, telling him he should be able to borrow
any amount of money from Bill Oliver because
Biff is so 'well liked.' Additionally, Happy tries to make himself well liked, especially by
surrounding himself with women, but he finds himself to be very empty and lonely. Later on in the
play, as Willy completes his plans for his suicide he hopes that the insurance money payable on his
death will give Biff the start he needs, and also proving to his sons how 'well–liked' he was by
picturing customers and salesmen all over New England coming to his funeral. This pleases
Willy seeing that it will result in his sons respecting him. We soon, however, find out that no–one
attended the funeral. "Why didn't anyone come?" Linda's cry has a deep effect on the audience.
Miller shows us that Willy had lived by his dreams – but the wrong dreams.
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2. Death of a Salesman
Define "The American Dream". In what way does Death of a Salesman point out the
hopelessness of chasing this dream? Are there any rewards? The idea of the American Dream is
truly subjective. To some, it is living in the lap of luxury in all aspects. To others, it is a chance at
a better brighter opportunity for themselves or their families. Arthur Miller's "Death of a Salesman"
portrays the promise of the American Dream in the form of opportunity, freedom, success and
wealth; the ability to acquire all material comforts in American Life, and sacrifices one must make
in order to achieve it. For Willy Loman, hard work could not earn him everything that he wanted or
thought he deserved. Willy judged life in terms of material wealth....show more content...
Once again, Willy chooses his fixation on the American Dream, over his marriage and children.
Willie lived to pursue the American dream rather than just live it simplistically, and organically.
"Death of A Salesman" puts an immense amount of pressure on its main character. This dream,
this idea of true happiness and success is similar to dangling a carrot in the face or a horse. The
horse may give chase, running far and fast, but never reaches its intended goal. Willy Loman held
onto a dream, and did everything and anything to reach it; even at the expense of his marriage and
family. His demise was Rivera 4tragic and unfortunate, and a result of a consumer oriented
society in which he was never able to fit in. He has lost sight of achieving the true goal of the
American Dream; happiness and freedom. Willy has made quite an effort in attempt to achieve
this goal, such as having an affair, a life away from his family, all of which sent him on a crash
course headed for disaster. All of this is proof that living out this "American Dream", will never be a
reality, unless we live in reality. To chase a dream is hopeless; you must work hard and earn your
keep to achieve it, like everybody else. Upon doing so, it is possible to reap the benefits, and collect
your reward no matter how tangible or intangeable they may be.
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3. Death of a Salesman Essay
Death of a Salesman In the play Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller, Willy is both sympathized
with and looked down upon throughout the story. Willy is a very complex character with problems
and faults that gain both sympathy and also turn the reader off to him. Willy Loman is both the
protagonist and the antagonist, gaining sympathy from the reader only to lose it moments later.
The play begins with Willy as the antagonist, fighting with his wife Linda and a generally mean
person. He insults his sons and scolds Linda for buying the wrong cheese. Willy shows his biggest
personality flaws early on in the story; contradicting his own thoughts, being verbally abusive, and
showing his over developed sense of pride. Willy loses...show more content...
Later in a flashback, Willy and Biff are on their way to Ebbets Field for a football game when
Charley appears and beings a conversation with Willy. Merely joking around, Charley makes a few
comments which Willy takes great offense too and beings insulting Charley and telling him to
put his hands up as if to fight. Willy's arrogance shows it's face once again when Willy is talking
to Biff about his meeting with Oliver. Completly ignoring what Biff is saying, Willy goes on
about how good of a kid Biff is and how impressive he is. Though not directly insulting, Willy
ignores what his son has to say and goes off on his own tangents, losing the respect of the reader.
Willy then ends up in another flashback in the bathroom of the restauraunt where he met Happy
and Biff for dinner. The most disgusting part of Willy is revealed here. Biff walks in on Willy
and his woman friend whom hes had a secret relationship with. Willy attempts to cover it up and
when that doesnt work he orders Biff around and shows how bad of a person he can be.
Willy wasnt all bad, he was just a confused man with alot of problems. His problems begin with
not being able to make it to Yonkers on his trip around New England. Willys has been on the road
most of the time for thirty four years. Hes physically and mentally drained. The reader cant help but
sympathize with Willy as no one wants to end up in the position hes in. Willy has to borrow money
from his next door neighbor to
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4. Essay on Death of a Salesman
"Death of a Salesman" written by Arthur Miller in 1948 attempts to give the audience an unusual
glimpse into the mind of a Willy Loman, a mercurial 60–year–old salesman, who through his
endeavor to be "worth something", finds himself struggling to endure the competitive capitalist
world in which he is engulfed. Arthur Miller uses various theatrical techniques to gradually strip the
protagonist down one layer at a time, each layer revealing another truth about his distorted past. By
doing this, Miller succeeds in finally exposing a reasonable justification for Willy's current state of
mind. These techniques are essential to the play, as it is only through this development that Willy
can realistically be driven to motives of suicide.
The...show more content...
Already here, the audience is aware of Willy's strange ways, as well as the method with which Linda
deals with it. This hints towards Linda's truth–evasive nature at an early stage, and is emphasized by
her tendency to deny Willy's apparent problems: "Maybe it was the steering", "Maybe it's your
glasses." (Miller, 9).
Language plays an imperative role in the formation as well as the development of the characters.
Unlike the majority of plays in the past, Death of a Salesman rarely uses "memorable speech" which
was the most common form of dramatic language. Instead, for the most part, the characters speak in
colloquial English. This automatically labels the family as a typical, middle–class family, therefore
easily identifiable with for the audience. By doing so, Miller also discards of any artificial
idealistic language, thereby adding to the crucial theme of realism in the play. The language
presented by the characters however, is by no means invariant. Different characters use different
language to expose their personalities, as well as varying it themselves depending on their current
inner state of mind. The two most blatant examples of the way characters vary their language are
Willy and Linda.
Willy throughout the play, uses a very simplistic colloquial English. This causes the audience to see
him as the "every man" allowing them to further associate with him. One feature of his language that
often draws attention to itself is
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5. Death of a Salesman
Willy Loman: Victim of the American Dream Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman tells the tale of
Willy Loman, a man who falls from the top of the capitalism system in a resonant crash. Being
controlled by his fears of the future, and stuck in his memories of the past, Willy fully contributes to
his self–victimization by putting little blame on his own mistakes. Although Willy is perceived as
selfish, it is important to see that he is misguided. His character is one of a common man, he has
never been anything special, but he chose to follow the American Dream and continue the
"destiny" it gave him. However, in my reading of the play, I feel it was not an unlucky destiny that
pushed Willy to damage his own life and the lives of his family,...show more content...
Willy believes that wealth is the key to your happiness, and the extent of your wealth is exposed by
the amount of materialistic items one has. Miller explains Willy's thoughts in Timebends, "The
publicity apparatus tells Willy that if he works hard like Edison, that if he perseveres like Goodrich,
that, if he is "well–liked" like Dave Singleman, then he will rise like Charley and become rich and
powerful." Willy's thought process is foolish, and his belief that failure cannot be tolerated in his
family causes him to lie about his success. This is evident when Biff says "We never told the truth
for ten minutes in this house! [130]" The American Dream is to blame for imprinting wealth is all
you need to be happy, into Willy'smind. Willy's obsession with success leads to the start of him
living in his own fantasy world. He lives in the past, for there was hope for him then, but now he is
completely subject to failure. Willy's demise could have been avoided had he changed his dream,
and had he not conformed to society. In the end his dream did not pay off, and he ultimately fell
victim to the American Dream, and the deceitful ideals of freedom that factored into the
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6. Death of a Salesman Essay
By: Raleigh Mullin
In the play, Death of a Salesman, the main character, Willy Loman's tragedy is due to both his own
flawed character and society's flaws. Advancements in science throughout this century have led to
tremendous advancements in industry. In this case however, advancements in industry have not
always led to advancements in living conditions. For some, society has created mass wealth. For
Willy Loman, however, mass society has created only tremendous grief and hardship, based on
endless promise. For these reasons, his tragedy is due both to societies flaws and to the flaws in his
own character. It was society who stripped him of his dignity, piece by piece. It was society who
stripped him of his lifestyle, and his own sons...show more content...
It would identify people who are a danger to themselves or to others and treat them. If such a net
had existed, Willy Loman might now have met his premature end. Instead, he could have received
psychiatric help and recovered from his condition. It was the direct result of the flaws on society,
which led to Will Loman's death. It was the greed that was so predominant around him that led to his
unhappiness. It was the lack of compassion from society, which allowed his unhappiness to flourish,
and which eventually consumed him. In the end, it was the lack of a social safety net, which failed to
save him from himself. Everyone has conflicts that they must face sooner or later. The way in
which people deal with these personal conflicts can differ as much as problem to get it out of the
way. Willy Lowman's technique in Arthur Miller's playDeath of a Salesman, leads to very severe
consequences. Willy never really does anything to help the situation, he just escapes into the past,
whether intentionally or not, to happier times were problems were scarce. The use of this escape
throughout the play can be compared to the use of a drug, because he uses his escapes as if they
were narcotics. As the play progressed, the reader learns that it can be a dangerous drug, because it
is addictive and deadly. The first time that Willy is seen lapsing off into the past is when he
encounters Biff after arriving home. The conversation between Willy and Linda reflects Willy's
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