An American Myth Exploded in Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman
Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman is a demonstration of the affliction with which America has been stricken. It is an affliction of false idealism, but also a birthing of the consumer. It is this consumer society which is the affliction, and the characters of this drama are unable to cure themselves of it. Willy Loman is the manifestation of the consumerism which is destroying society. He is the corporeal manifestation of this myth, and the American dream is the myth itself. This myth can be broken down into several parts itself. First is the belief that situations, commodities, etc. improve with time, which is a technological misconception. Second is the understanding that hard work is necessary to bring about this sort of improvement. And third, the coming together of these amounts to the belief that commodities brought about by hard work will help in the betterment of our lives, and that this never ending accumulation of wealth will generate a truly happy life.
From the beginning it is made clear that Willy lives in anything but the present. He is either flashing back to the past and how good things once were, or he is looking towards the future and deluding himself in how good things will someday be. This is an example of how Willy embodies the first part of the American myth, being the belief that things will always continue to get better. Linda says repeatedly of Willy “how sweet he was as soon as you talked hopefully,” to Biff (48). Her noticing of how hope is a recurring theme, like a narcotic for Willy, which always raises his spirits, is demonstrative of how Willy fits into the American myth. When Biff and Happy proclaim that they wil...
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...the increasing improvement of technologies and our continuing efforts to work towards accumulating those commodities will be rewarded in a completely affluent, and therefore happy, state of being. The misunderstanding of our situation as being always increasingly good on account of making our material lives bigger, better, and in greater availability is the very undoing of the fabric of our lives. Arthur Miller is effectively able to illustrate how this American myth is a depraving force in the lives of Americans in his drama Death of a Salesman. His illustration of these destructive beliefs is made real in the actions and thoughts of Willy Loman and his family, and it is a message which should make us question our own existence in that it is not so far removed from this portrayal.
Works Cited
Miller, Arthur. Death of a Salesman. New York: Penguin, 1998.
Over my time spent learning about Lohan, I have learned quite a bit about her actions and her behaviors that lead her to her choices. According to TMZ’s (2011) biography on Lindsay, she started acting when she was ten years of age. This throws her into a very stressful and fast paced lifestyle at a very young age, which leaves her extremely susceptible to find ways to help control her stress. The massive amounts of attention from her fans, puts a tremendous burden on her.
His feelings of animosity and venomous hatred for his ex-wife are in direct conflict with his original self- evaluation of both being capable of understanding, and engaging in that enigma known as true love. Mel is, in many cases, the Ed to his ex-wife. Whereas Ed engaged in the violent act of dragging Terri throughout the apartment by her ankles, Mel describes, with almost childlike delight, how he has fantasized about playing the starring role in her murder. Mel does not seem like the type of man who would commit such a deed. He does, however, consider how good it would feel to seek revenge against Marjorie in retaliation for her “crimes” against his heart. Therefore, rather than fondly reminiscing, or even grieving at the lost love between him and his ex-wife, he instead resorts to anger and resentment, neither of which is characteristic of the type of “love” he so dogmatically professes to
Since the beginning of the Industrial Age, Americans have idealized the journey towards economic success. One thing people do not realize, however, is that journey is not the same for every individual. Media often leads its viewers toward a “one size fits all” version of success that may help themselves, but will rarely help the viewers. This is seen in Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman. Miller includes multiple instances of symbolism and personification to reveal to the reader the situational irony in Willy’s life, underlining the theme of self-deception in regard to the American Dream. This American Dream, fueled by money, is the main source of anxiety in Willy’s life. The anxiety of income is reflected today in the issue of minimum wage. James Sherk, a writer of the Tribune News Service, plots thoughtful points against raising the minimum wage. However, his use of over-exaggeration and odd comparisons leave his argument less than convincing.
Let’s turn to Mel’s story. He gives a story of what happened in the hospital to show what true love is. A couple months ago, an old couple who had been in a car accident came into the hospital, Of course, they survived, but the man was badly injured. He is unable to turn his head after car accident, he feels so unhappy, because he will never look at his wife again, who is just beside him....
Over the years, the name Lindsay Lohan has become synonymous with the description “troubled young starlet.” She was first recognized as a budding young actress with promising potential, after the release of her first feature film The Parent Trap. She was only eleven years old in the Disney remake but she turned a lot of people’s heads. From 2002 to 2006, Lindsay stared in a number of films like Freaky Friday, Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen, Mean Girls, Herbie: Fully Loaded, and Just my Luck.
In the beginning of the play, Lady Macbeth is overly whelmed by the letter she receives about Macbeth. This pushes her to the extreme and causes her to react outrageously. " Come, you spirits that tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here…make thick my blood…take my milk for gall, you murdering ministers…come thick night." (I;v;40-50) All these images of darkness and horror reveal the true character of Lady Macbeth; she feels the need to become wicked. Her attitude is even more horrific when she calls on evil spirits to come and possess her, taking control of her actions. This sort of behavior causes the audience and reader to assume Lady Macbeth is a psychopath, and therefore would have reason to hold her responsible for having a major impact on her husband and driving him off, enlightening a twisted sinister and threatening dark side of him.
Growing up, Lindsay Lohan lived a typical childhood with the exceptions of constantly being in the
As Shakespeare’s tragic tale of ambition unfolds, the two central characters, Lady Macbeth and the title character Macbeth, undergo a dramatic shift of dominance in their relationship. In the beginning of the play the couple act as a team, plotting the death of Duncan to further their mutual bloodthirsty ambition. Lady Macbeth soon shows her power over Macbeth when she questions her husband’s manhood and devotion to her when he gets cold feet. As Macbeth’s confidence slowly grows and the witches proclaim positive futures for him he begins to separate himself from his wife, planning Banquo’s assassination without telling her, and no longer being susceptible to her insults. By the end of the play the roles have completely switched and Lady Macbeth spirals into guilt-fueled insanity as Macbeth prepares to battle to keep his throne. This essay will explore the relationship between Macbeth and his wife, paying particular attention to the scenes previously mentioned.
If there is one individual in the celebrity world that is known for his or her troubled thoughts or misbehavior, there isn’t anyone better to recognize other than Lindsay Lohan. An American star, model, and singer, Lohan was recognized in all different aspects of Hollywood because of her talents as a young actress. However, as her stardom continued to progress, so did the instability in her mental health. The mass media and people alike had an influence on Lohan’s behavior by distorting how she was portrayed on and off the screen. Lohan’s family life also had a huge impact on her turnout because she was constantly around the instability of her family members, thus affecting her mental
Have you ever felt compelled to reconcile your past uncertainties because of the desire of attaining acceptance? In Arthur Miller’s “Death of a Salesman”, Willy Loman, the protagonist, is a salesman blinded by his own delusion. This self delusion affects him and the people around him. The delusion also affects the standards of success that he created throughout his life to make sure his ambiguity is not transferred to individuals around him. These standards guide him towards his emphasised view of who he is and what he wants to achieve, causing pressure to both himself and Biff Loman, another main character. In this modern play, the differences between Biff and Willy and their dissimilar sense
In Shakespeare’s Macbeth, Lady Macbeth’s desire and ambition leads to her eventual downfall. When Lady Macbeth hears of Macbeth’s prophecy she dreams of the glory and high-standing that awaits being queen. She cannot withhold her ambitions and she is willing to manipulate fate to bring about Macbeth’s prophecy. She invokes evil spirits to be filled from head to toe with cruelty to do the evil actions necessary to make Macbeth king and to remove all remorse and pity for her action from her heart. She is initially able to be involved in the treacherous deeds that are needed to bring about the prophecy quickly, but as the play progresses the weight of the merciless deeds fill her with remorse. The remorse and pain she feels for her wicked ways cause Lady Macbeth to lose control of her life and wither away until the weight of her deeds causes her to die. Lady Macbeth’s wish is partially granted, her mind becomes evil and enables her to do horrific things, but her soul remains pure and unsure of her actions and her remorse for her wicked ways leads to her destruction.
The story of Lady Macbeth throughout Macbeth is one unlike those of its time in its unusually forward-thinking portrayal of a woman with thoughts and actions which would have been considered indecent. This is seen through the representation of her relationship with Macbeth and how they interact. It is also illustrated through Lady Macbeth’s morals and their effect on how she acts and reacts in situations which would weigh heavily on most peoples’ conscious. Her power-hungry attitude is one often reserved for men, especially in this era of literature. All of these factors create a character in Lady Macbeth which is dissimilar to the classic portrayal of women in the seventeenth century.
The main theme of Macbeth-the destruction wrought when ambition goes unchecked by moral constraints-finds its most powerful expression in the play's two main characters. Macbeth is a courageous Scottish general who is not naturally inclined to commit evil deeds, yet he deeply desires power and advancement. He kills Duncan against his better judgment and afterward stews in guilt and paranoia. Toward the end of the play he descends into a kind of frantic, boastful madness. Lady Macbeth, on the other hand, pursues her goals with greater determination, yet she is less capable of withstanding the repercussions of her immoral acts. One of Shakespeare's most forcefully drawn female characters, she spurs her husband mercilessly to kill Duncan and urges him to be strong in the murder's aftermath, but she is eventually driven to distraction by the effect of Macbeth's repeated bloodshed on her conscience. In each case, ambition helped, of course, by the malign prophecies of the witches is what drives the couple to ever more terrible atrocities. The problem, the play suggests, is that once one decides to use violence to further one?s quest for power, it is difficult to stop. There are always potential threats to the throne?Banquo, Fleance, Macduff?and it is always tempting to use violent means to dispose of them.
This scene clearly shows us that she wants to be evil, but also, that she isn’t fully there yet. However, it mainly proves to us that underneath her confidence and assurance is a person, craving to become cruel. Scared of what she is going to do, about the guilt she doesn’t want to feel and mostly, about not being able to deal with it. She asks the devil to not let “heaven peep through the blanket of the dark”. This indicates us that she knows ...
...th much like Hume stood by skepticism. He relies blindly on faith to explain a large part of what he is trying to discredit Hume for. It is almost as if he is not making a definitive statement on the existence of metaphysics. Rather, he is caught in the middle, claiming that it may be true in one instance, but not in another.