The Theme of Dishonestly in Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman
'Death of a Salesman' was written by Arthur Miller in 1949. It is set
in the American states of Boston and New York during the 1930's great
depression. The American great depression was the greatest economic
collapse in the modern world. Businesses and banks closed their doors,
people lost their jobs, homes, and savings, and many depended on
charity to survive. Through this the 'American Dream' was created -
the idea of a 'perfect' life, where every man owns a business and has
the prefect family with the perfect house.
'Death of a Salesman', tells the story of a travelling salesman, Willy
Loman, who experiences frustration and failure as he reflects upon his
life. In the play Arthur Miller tries to present the theme of
dishonesty by the means of the characters, language and the stage
directions.
The characters in the play are important in creating the theme of
dishonesty. I am firstly going to be looking at them and how
dishonesty is represented through them. The main characters in the
play present the theme of self-deception in where the fail to
recognise the truth, usually because it would be painful and difficult
for them to handle. They also lie to each other. The main characters
in the play are Willy Loman, his wife, Linda, and his two sons Biff
and Happy.
Firstly, I will be focusing on the most central character in the play,
Willy Loman. Miller presents the theme of dishonesty through Willy
very early in the play. Willy lies about his job to most people
including his family. He lies about his earnings to Linda "I did five
hundred gross in Providence an...
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...es back to when Biff and Happy are a
lot younger. Willy gives the boys a new punching bag.
Overall, the play provides a moral. This moral is that although white
lies can sometimes be good, people should make sure that they don't go
too far. We can see this throughout the book through the language,
stage directions, character and through the techniques of flashbacks
and motifs.
Lies play a central part in the play as the story is based around lies
and deception and without them there would not be a story. The lies
are eventually given away and truth is revealed when the characters go
too far with the lies. Also, the play focuses heavily on the idea of
the American dream isn't always possible and at times reality is
better, although that isn't what the characters in the play want to
hear and refuse to believe it.
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
girl he's hitting on so that he can get her attention. He is a natural
Americans take less vacation time. Americans work longer hours. Americans retire later. Americans revolve their lives around work. Americans overwork themselves. They dedicate their entire lives to their careers, to being promoted to a higher position, to attaining that higher payroll, to only get farther in the workplace. Americans are so caught up in their jobs and careers that they end up neglecting other things like their personal lives . Unlike people from other countries, Americans do not take enough lesiure time for themselves.
would give hope for a moral future. In the play there was little hope for
This play shows that lying is wrong and will get you nowhere. At the end, lying will come back and haunt you. Also, lying will get you known as a liar. A liar who no one will believe at the end of the day. A liar that will be hard to be trusted by others. All of this is something that you want to avoid. Never lie and always tell the truth and you will end up feeling better about yourself. That is what I ended up getting from this ten minute play. Never lie because all those lies will be stored somewhere, maybe not recorded on tape like they were for the Person but stored somewhere like ones conscious. Lies will come back soon or later to come and bite you when you least expect it.
...ne else in the play the power of language to alter reality, and the issues of conscious or unconscious deceit.
Discuss the idea(s) developed by Arthur Miller, in the text Death of a Salesman about the role that self-preservation plays when individuals respond to competing demands.
This quote was used as foreshadowing for the end. In the end, the wife just about repeats this statement at his funeral. This is used as a way to say that you may have the house, but your humanity is all but gone once you get the house. Willy had to sacrifice his pride and give in to the fact that his pursuit for the American Dream was useless in order for him to get the house. He needed money from the neighbors to pay off the house and still wanted to believe that his job was sufficient enough to achieve his dream of the American
story and lasting throughout the play with the constant themes of deception and doing evil in the
Throughout the play Death of a Salesman the main character, Willy Loman, struggles to find a medium between his family and career life. Such an occurrence is common throughout history, and one only needs to look at celebrities to see that such a statement is accurate as more often than naught, the pursuit of wealth and a tight family unit don’t often correlate well together. Perhaps this is a matter of balancing one’s personal life, and one’s career. Yet few have managed to succeed in maintaining both on equal level, as one is valued above the other. This may not be seen as a drastic problem, for most people, as they are happy with their income rates and family relationships, and thus doesn’t see a need to change to improve either one. Some might even argue that it’s the normal thing, and that the other side is not affected by the amount of time that they prioritize with either their family or work. In fact, most might say, that in focusing more on one aspect, be it their job or their family, the other simply balances out. However, this tends to be more noticeable in families that prioritize their relationships above their career, as they see their wealth as something that
A logical fallacy can be defined as a “flawed argument” (Kirszner and Mandell 84). It can be considered, “ a writer who inadvertently uses logical fallacies is not thinking clearly or logically…” (Kirszner and Mandell 84). In the play, Death of a Salesman, there is an assortment of situations exemplifying different kinds of logical fallacies. Cognitive distortions are also present in this play. Some of the characters in Death of a Salesman have thoughts that seem to be slightly unclear. These distortions sometimes result when people “…think in extremes…” (“Cognitive Distortions”).
The play Death of a Salesman, written by Arthur Miller, is about an average salesman living in Brooklyn, New York in the 1940’s named Willy Loman. Willy firmly believes in the American dream and is living his life aspiring to gain the wealth and materials associated with those of higher status in society. This American dream tears apart his family and the end result is his own demise. Glengarry Glen Ross, by David Mamet, has a plot similar to Death of a Salesman in that it is about salesmen and it shows the effects of capitalism on people and society. A difference between the two, however, is that Glengarry Glen Ross includes a group of salesmen working a firm who are trying to win a sales contest in which the first prize is a Cadillac, the second price is a set of steak knives, and the remaining salesmen will be fired. The main difference in the plays is that Death of a Salesman is decidedly a modern play and Glengarry Glen Ross is a postmodern response to Death of a Salesman.
Symbolism in Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman. Arthur Miller’s play, Death of a Salesman, is wrought with symbolism from the opening scene. Many symbols illustrate the themes of success and failure. They include the apartment buildings, the rubber hose, Willy’s brother Ben, the tape recorder, and the seeds for the garden. These symbols represent Willy’s attempts to be successful and his impending failure.
Lying is a string that ties together a great part of the plot in Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman. The Lomans are all greatly self-deceptive, and in their particular fancies and delusions to reality, they fuel and nourish off of each other. Willy convinces himself that he is effective, overall loved, and that his children are bound for significance. Unable to adapt to reality, he totally forsakes it through his vivid dreams and eventually through suicide. Linda and Happy also accept that the Lomans are going to become showbiz royalty. Not at all like alternate parts of his family, has Biff developed to distinguish that he and his relatives reliably bamboozle themselves, and he battles to escape the cycle of lying.
Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman criticizes the American Dream and the means some (i.e. Willy Loman) use to achieve the Dream through many different symbol and motifs; however, the title Miller selected for his play is an overlooked aspect of his criticism towards the Dream. He uses the title to build layers of understanding for his denunciation of the American Dream.