Language, style, sign and symbols Flashcards
Much of Willy’s appeal derives from his concise expression of the inconveniences of modern life. What quote is an example?
“The street is lined with cars. There’s not a breath of fresh air in the neighbourhood.”
Arthur Miller stated that his play “stood squarely in conventional realism” but added to it, and one aspect of realism is elements of the play become symbolic. In this play for example stockings acquire a double meaning of?
self indulgence and and household drudgery
What are such symbols as the Stockings so significant?
as they express the extreme ways of illustrating the state of Willy’s mind in keeping with the Expressionism which influenced him
The flute is reminiciet of Willys father and his relatively carefree existence, and the distant sound at one point, for example, prompts Willy to begin to reminisce about Biff’s childhood and the ?
red Chevy car which he used to have.
What does Biff call his father?
a “prince”
Biff calls his father a “prince” which evokes a possible comparison to which tragic figure?
Hamlet, prince of Denmark
Who was Aristotle?
he is an ancient phosphor who wrote the first and in many ways the most significant, treatise on tragedy in his Poetics.
What did Aristotle claim was the purpose of a tragedy?
to create pity and fear in the audience
Why can it be argued that DOS conforms to the pattern of Aristotelian tragedy?
as in Act 1 Miller inspires horror as Willys sad state is made clear, and Act II engenders pity as he suffers even more for it
Who did Aristotle believe could only be tragic figures?
only those of high birth
To be a tragic hero in the Aristotelian sense, Willy would have to be a man of obvious virtue who has a tragic flaw that led to his terrible fate. Where would this place blame?
firmly on Willy’s shoulders
What has Miller said about the Aristotelian need for a figure of nobility in a tragedy?
that “I believe that the common man is as apt a subject for tragedy as kings are”
How did the New York Herald Tribune describe DOS upon release?
as a “soaring tragedy”
DOS was undoubtedly appealing in its elevation of an ordinary American to a heroic stats. It thus enabled many of the New York audience to feel that their own lives had to some extent and in some way become dignified through Willy’s recognisable tragic fall. How does this suggest a tragedy?
as we do pity Willy as we align ourselves with him as a “common man”
What is the argument that Willy is not a tragic hero?
Willy is a man who is in control of his own fate, though he may be punished by forces beyond his control, his error was committed by his own character. To make the construct distinguished the error must spring from a noble intention which is somehow thwarted; his intention of material success is not a noble cause.
In Aristotlean tragedy, the drama ends with catharsis, the purging of our emotions, such as when the villain we come to hate is finally punished (such as when Iago’s villainous construct is revealed). However what does Linda say which suggests that Willy is enduring misfortune rather than ruining his own life?
“a terrible thing is happening to him”
Arguably Willy does not die because he realises he cannot succeed in a great and worthwhile plan, but because death is ithe way he will succeed on his terms. He acts freely and chooses wrong. What did he have according to Biff in the requiem?
“the wrong dreams”
When Linda declares in a strangely rhythmic sentence ‘Attention, attention must finally be paid to such a person” what is she making a plea for?
for his tragic quality in the play
The tragedy of Willy Loman is that he gave his life, or sold it, in order to justify the waste of it. Who said this?
Arthur Miller
The true tragedy is that Willy’s life lacked meaning despite a frantic desire to find it. What does Charley say in the requiem about Willy?
“Nobody dast blame this man”
Willy, we must remember, is not intended to be a great man, and Arthur Miller denies that he set out to write a conventional tragedy. If we look for the usual characteristics of the genre of tragedy, we will not find them in this play. Miller has argued that there should not be a an all-embacing _______.
paradigm (a typical pattern)
It could be argued that what makes Willy seem great at times is his refusal to rest content with what he is. Miller writes about ‘the intensity of the ______ _______ to surpass his given bounds’
human passion
Willy does have a fanatical desire to transcend his ordinariness. This may be an emotion with which audiences can sympathise. What does it take to persist in such an ambition?
courage
