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1、Analysis of A Tragic Character of Death of a SalesmanINRODUCTIONAs is known to all, ones personal experience of life and social environment undoubtedly will affect his views towards life and his notions of art. As Arthur Millers explained, “The writer who wants to describe life must describe his own
2、 experience(5).” In addition, “the best work that anybody ever writes is the work that is on the verge of embarrassing him-where he puts himself on the line(6).” According to Walden, Arthur Millers social conscience stemmed from the economic effects of the Depression which he experienced when he was
3、 a young man(189). Therefore, it is basic and necessary to know about his growing background and his works before introduction and analysis of Death of a Salesman.Arthur Miller was a prolific American playwright, essayist, and prominent figure in twentieth-century American theater, born in New York
4、City on October 17, 1915. He was the son of Isidore Miller who was a Jewish businessman migrated from Austria, and spent his first fourteen years of life in Harlem, a middle-class neighborhood of mixed ethic people. Millers childhood was comfortable, but the Great Depression of 1929 inevitably had g
5、reat impact on his views about life. His career as a playwright began while he was a student at the University of Michigan. His successful plays include All My Sons, Death of Salesman, The Crucible, A View from the Bridge, After the Fall, Broken Glass and so on, among which Death of Salesman is the
6、most successful one. Since its premiere in 1949, it has been widely acclaimed and won the Pulitzer Prize. Many critics described Death of Salesman as the first great American tragedy, and Miller gained eminence as a man who understood the deep essence of the United States.The story of shows Death of
7、 Salesman the last twenty-four hour about the life of Willy Loman, an diligent traveling salesman, whose values, ideas and vanity is smashed into pieces by the fact that he is a total failure both in his family and the society. The postwar economic boom has shaken up his life, which causes that he i
8、s eventually fired and begins to hallucinate about significant events from his past. Linda, Willys loyal, loving wife, suffers through Willys grandiose dreams and self-delusions. She has nurtured the family through all of Willys misguided attempts at success, and her emotional strength and persevera
9、nce support Willy until his collapse. Biff Loman, Willys thirty-four-year-old elder son, represents Willys vulnerable, poetic and tragic side. He cannot ignore his instincts, which tell him to abandon Willys paralyzing dreams and move out West to work with his hands. However, he ultimately fails to
10、reconcile his life with Willys expectations of him. Happy Loman, Willys thirty-two-year- old younger son, represents Willys sense of self-importance, ambition and blind servitude to societal expectations. Happy has lived in Biffs shadow all of his life, but he compensates by nurturing his relentless
11、 sex drive and professional ambition.Themes are the fundamental and often universal ideas explored in a literary work. In the book Death of Salesman, there exists three themes. First, there is no doubt that one of themes is the American Dream. Willy believes absorbedly in what the promise of the Ame
12、rican Dream that aspiration, hard work and individual enterprise will be rewarded with prosperity, regardless of family background. Unfortunately, Willy clings to the superficial qualities of attractiveness and popularity, which is at odds with a more gritty, more rewarding understanding of the Amer
13、ican Dream that identifies hard work without complaints as the key to success. Willys blind faith in his distorted version of the American Dream leads to his rapid psychological decline when he is unable to accept the disparity between the Dream and his own life. Second, it refers to abandonment. Wi
14、llys life charts a course from one abandonment to the next, leaving him in greater despair each time. When Willy is very young, his father leaves him neither a tangible money nor an intangible legacy. Then his brother departs for Alaska, leaving his to lose himself in a stunted version of American D
15、ream. Through these experience, Willy develops a fear of abandonment. However, when his son Biff fins out about his adultery, Biff also drops Willy. Third, its about betrayal. Willys primary obsession throughout the play is what he considers to be Biffs betrayal of his ambitions for him. However, Bi
16、ffs betrayal stems from Biffs discovery of Willys affairs with The Woman-a betrayal of Lindas love. Besides, there is another betrayal that Willy has betrayed him with his unending stream of ego-stroking lies.In Death of Salesman, Miller creates a colorful and vivid world and depict a society full of problems, which are all the reflection of life and the playwrights questioning of the present social value.Analysis of A Tragic CharacterThe
