StudentShare
Contact Us
Sign In / Sign Up for FREE
Search
Go to advanced search...
Free

Death of a Salesman - Essay Example

Cite this document
Summary
Review on “Death of a Salesman” by Arthur Miller. INTRODUCTION: The ever popular DEATH OF A SALESMAN lives in the hearts of every reader. We can ascribe the never failing success of this art piece to its structure. The current day screenplay in theatrical cinemas and dramas could well be felt even today in DEATH OF A SALESMAN…
Download full paper File format: .doc, available for editing
GRAB THE BEST PAPER96.5% of users find it useful
Death of a Salesman
Read Text Preview

Extract of sample "Death of a Salesman"

Review on “Death of a Salesman” by Arthur Miller. INTRODUCTION: The ever popular DEATH OF A SALESMAN lives in the hearts of every reader. We can ascribe the never failing success of this art piece to its structure. The current day screenplay in theatrical cinemas and dramas could well be felt even today in DEATH OF A SALESMAN. Depictions of flashbacks in today’s cinemas are backed by technological developments. But in 1949 when no such hi-tech nuances were available, flashback scenes were deployed in the same spirit as of today.

That is, the soul of flashback cast was well realized and made use of by Miller. To put it in short, DEATH OF A SALESMAN was the Great Grand Father of all cinematic technologies. This structural strength of the theatrical art in DEATH OF A SALESMAN stands behind as the everlasting appeal of the play. And above all, it is Miller’s affluence in portraying the culture and society of the day. Any art that reflects the society of the day has the capability to rise to the status of an epic. As such DEATH OF A SALESMAN enters into that domain, gluing theatrical drama and cinema with efficacious contents.

This sort of strength transcending ages can be accounted for the perennial appeal for DEATH OF A SALESMAN. PORTRAYAL OF AMERICA: Miller has elegantly portrayed the patriarchal construct of American society. The never dying confusion of what it meant to be an American is the undertone of the play. The play is highly virulent in roping writers, critics and social thinkers of future generations to expose the hidden lies and underlying illusions fostered in a society built upon public myths and nationalistic pride.

(Centola, 2007: p.37) CHARACHTERISATION: Characterization of the protagonist in the play has well been substantiated with the creation of his son Biff’s character. Parental imposition of unattained goals into kids’ psyche is well knit throughout the play. Biff’s failure in his life as presented in the play in contrast to the failure of his father is the tool used by Miller to establish that infusing dreams would in fact create vacuum alone. Willy Loman’s inability to find the “right dream” (Hadomi, 2007: p. 14) had been well realized by the character Biff.

Thus Miller brings out the seed bed of Willy’s failure through the ‘failure with awareness’ of Biff. AMERICAN DREAM: American Dream is known to have been infused with equality in prosperity and success. The American society’s pursuit of American Dream is criticized in the play by way of the tragedy fell on Willy Loman. Today’s America which has almost nationalized every family of the country is seen to have stumbled in facing several national and international issues. The stupendous growth and development attained in economics itself is found to have blocked individual’s contentment.

Miller has just foretold this in the tragedy of Lomans. The failure behind this enormous success could well be ascribed to the society’s unpreparedness to bestow its share of respect and weight age to womanhood. Stanton (2008: p.156) has carefully analyzed the male-oriented American Dream as depicted in DEATH OF A SALESMAN which required unacknowledged dependence upon women as well as women’s subjugation and exploitation. CONCLUSION: Arthur Miller’s DEATH OF A SALESMAN is undoubtedly a classical art piece that opens floodgate for critics and social thinkers to incite more and more towards the exploration of a society’s core construct.

A nation’s development could be gauged via the GDP. But the cultural and individual contentment level of each citizen could not be assessed fully through these economic tools. Failures are the best medicine for the treatment of success syndrome. DEATH OF A SALESMAN tactfully emulates the economic fall of a man in his family with his realization of cultural non-development. The crown of this great play lies in the protagonist’s conscience stricken awareness of his infidelity to his wife. His decision to resort to suicide hints that any nation would be on its suicidal path if it does not bestow its due share of respect to its womanhood.

=end= Reference list – Key Stanton, 2008, pp.156, “Women and the American Dream of DEATH OF A SALESMAN”, in “DEATH OF A SALESMAN” Longman Study edition with Introduction and Annotated Essays, Dorling Kindersley (India) Pvt. Ltd, Pearson Education, India. Leah Hadomi, 2007, pp.14, “Rhythm Between Fathers and Sons: DEATH OF A SALESMAN” in eds. Harold Bloom, 2007, “Bloom’s Modern Critical Interpretations: Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman” Updated edition, Infobase Publishing, New York.

Steven Centola, 2007, pp.37, “Arthur Miller: Guardian of the Dream of America” in eds. Eric. J. Sterling, 2007, “Arthur Miller’s DEATH OF A SALESMAN”, Rodopi, New York.

Read More
Cite this document
  • APA
  • MLA
  • CHICAGO
(“Death of a Salesman Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words”, n.d.)
Retrieved from https://studentshare.org/other/1420653-death-of-a-salesman
(Death of a Salesman Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 Words)
https://studentshare.org/other/1420653-death-of-a-salesman.
“Death of a Salesman Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 Words”, n.d. https://studentshare.org/other/1420653-death-of-a-salesman.
  • Cited: 0 times

CHECK THESE SAMPLES OF Death of a Salesman

Death of a Salesman and Fences

Death of a Salesman and Fences – Comparison of Characters Introduction This essay would come out with a comparison of the central characters of the two plays: “Death of a Salesman” by Arthur Miller and “Fences”, which was penned down by August Wilson.... In both the plays, these characters, Willy in “Death of a Salesman” and Troy of “Fences” have negative shades, for they not just are obsessed with the past at the cost of neglecting the present, but they (father characters) also share a highly hostile relationship with their respective sons....
3 Pages (750 words) Essay

Love Issues in Millers Death of a Salesman

Love Issues in Miller's Death of a Salesman By Course Institution Date Love Issues in Miller's Death of a Salesman Introduction Uranga (2008) describes Death of a Salesman as a “love story” which involves capitalism (p.... Essentially Death of a Salesman delves into the 20th century capitalism and how it impacts morality, love and relationships generally (Abbotson,2007).... This paper examines the themes and issues relative to love in Death of a Salesman by reference to the pursuit of the American dream and parental love in capitalist 20th century America....
6 Pages (1500 words) Essay

Comment Paper on Death of a Salesman

Name Date Course Section/# Arthur Miller's Play “Death of a Salesman” as an Autobiographical Analysis Although there exists an unbelievably high number of individual themes with which to examine in Arthur Miller's play “Death of a Salesman”, one would be remiss if they did not consider the strong autobiographical overtones that pervade the work.... Although it is easy to say that such an experience doubtless had an effect on how Arthur Miller viewed the plight of the average man, this author would go a step further and claim that the hard times and difficult experiences that young Arthur Miller endured during the great depression and his family's subsequent fall from wealth are autobiographically sketched in his play “Death of a Salesman”....
3 Pages (750 words) Essay

The Play Death of a Salesman

An author of the essay "The Play Death of a Salesman" outlines that it is also a guiding pathway for all those young writers who seek to incorporate the essence of America in their writing.... nbsp;… The play 'Death of a Salesman' is written by Arthur Miller who is one of the most influential playwrights in the history of America.... Bigsby acknowledges it in the following words "In an era when many scholars question precisely what constitutes American essentialism; most theatergoers still regard Death of a Salesman as the quintessential American play....
4 Pages (1000 words) Essay

Millers Death of a Salesman

hellip; On its most fundamental level, Death of a Salesman depicts the disintegration of Willy's personality as he desperately searches for the moment in his memory when his world began to unravel.... What appears to be true to the characters in Death of a Salesman is often a far cry from reality, and this is communicated numerous times throughout the play.... Death of a Salesman, Certain Private Conversations in Two Acts and a Requiem) but he yearns towards them more than he lives by them....
7 Pages (1750 words) Book Report/Review

Death of a Salesman as a tragedy

… Can the problem of a common man be regarded as the tragedy in its classical form The author of Death of a Salesman, Arthur Miller, believes that it is possible, and he is sure that a common man may be represented as a tragic hero, and he succeeds to prove his belief with the help of his play.... 59)Some critics suppose that Death of a Salesman doesn't meet any of these requirements, or at least, hesitate that all these demands can be applied to the play; the others insist that the play corresponds to these key elements....
8 Pages (2000 words) Book Report/Review

Comparison Between Death of a Salesman & Fences

This paper "Comparison Between Death of a Salesman & Fences" discusses similarities and differences between two marvelous plays: Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller and Fences by August Wilson.... The difference is that to Willy Loman in the Death of a Salesman, the American dream means becoming a rich businessman and being well-liked.... nbsp; The difference here is that the Fences represents an African-American family while the Death of a Salesman is a story of the middle-class American Caucasian of the 1940s....
9 Pages (2250 words) Case Study

The death of a salesman

After seeing the play, “The Death of a Salesman” by Arthur Miller at Elcamino College's "Campus Theatre" on November 13, 2011, I learnt more about life occurrences.... "The Death of a Salesman" After seeing the play, “The Death of a Salesman” by Arthur Miller at Elcamino College's "Campus Theatre" on November 13, 2011, I learnt more about life occurrences.... Death of a Salesman.... The Norman Snow is a sixty three year old once a famous salesman who has lost his approval and sales....
2 Pages (500 words) Movie Review
sponsored ads
We use cookies to create the best experience for you. Keep on browsing if you are OK with that, or find out how to manage cookies.
Contact Us