Themes Flashcards
Death of a Salesman is the story of a man who comes to the conclusion that he can only save his life by losing it; in this sense the okay is concerned with what Aristotle called a ‘serious’ action.What does ‘serious’ action involve?
this involves life and death
The early responses of the play tried to assimilate it into the tradition of tragedy. The play suggests that tragedy may befall the most ordinary life in contemporary society, and for this reason it raises issues about the way we all live and work and dream of happiness. As Arthur Miller has written, the play represents the need to “______________________________________________________”
face the fact of death in order to strengthen ourselves for life
Why have early responses to the play tried to assimilate it to into the tradition of tragedy?
as the play suggests that tragedy may befall the most ordinary life in contemporary society, and for this reason it raises issues about the way we all live and work and dream of happiness
Despite the setting in 1949, many of the features of American society which it depicts are still with us. Arthur Miller’s attack on the consumer society’s constant attempts to sell us goods which do not serve our needs is still as meaningful now as it was in 1949, if not more so. What are we encouraged to do in an economic system of capitalism which is familiar to today’s audience?
we are encouraged to accumulate capital as a symbol of success and a protection against disaster for our families
From Europe to China, theatregoers have seen aspects of their own life enacted and voiced by who?
Willy Loman
(univseriality of the ordinary man’s problems, “always in a race with the junk yard”
Willy finds out that in purely financial terms he is worth more dead than alive. This, of course, is not an uncommon situation for some of us today. On the face of it, to come to such a conclusion is a terrible _________ of the world in which we live/
Indictment
Arthur Miller writes in the introductioon to his Collected Plays that Willy has broken the “law of success” by which a man who has failed in business……?
has no right to live.
How does Willy Loman present the ultimate challenge to an ‘unreal society’ which is based on capitalism?
since he concludes that 20,000 dollars is worth more than his life. Can a man really be valued at the amount of money which he is worth? If so, then capitalist societies such as America have reduced human beings to commodities and dehumanisation is inevitable
Willy Loman present the ultimate challenge to an ‘unreal society’ which is based on capitalism since he concludes that 20,000 dollars is worth more than his life. Can a man really be valued at the amount of money which he is worth? If so, then capitalist societies such as America have reduced human beings to commodities and what is inevitable?
dehumanisation
To accept Willys logic that sacrifice is the price of his self respect would be to accept a terrible truth and so audiences and readers feel the need to identify where Willy goes wrong in his tragic fall and decide how this defeatist logic can be refuted in our own lives. However, if the play is an indictment of our own way of life, then it has profound implications for all societies which now embrace the ethos of capitalism, and suggests an inevitable perpetuation of the tragedy of Arthur Miller’s “common man,” within us all.
.
Arthur Millers early flirtation with Marxism is often suspected to be an influence in his play; but has since explicitly rejected the idea that the play is overtly political. Instead the play is the sum of an inevitable tragedy of a fallen, “common man,” whom Miller allows the stature of a tragic hero in order to authenticate the psychological, and physical (through death) fall of those at the mercy of _______.
capitalism
What has Arthur Miller said about those who choose not to identity with Willy Loman?
that “they themselves are living in obedience to the same law that killed him”
If Willy was merely a foolish character, he would be unlikely to have earned the respect that has been paid to him. On the other hand, he is not clear-sighted and does labour under delusions. What might he be said to represent?
humanity with all its virtues and vices
Where does the plays appeal lie?
in its ability to characterise the ordinary man (the ‘low’ man’) and to ennoble him and authenticate his tragic fall.
How doe WIlly Loman become dignified?
because he is an ordinary man and recognisably subject to the same temptations as the audience