Most popular essay topics on Death of a salesman prepared by our experts:
The 30th president of the United States, on January 17, 1925, remarked, “The chief business of the American people is business!” While the quote has been paraphrased throughout the decades, Calvin Coolidge’s initial meaning has stayed largely static. Indeed, business was, and still is, the beating heart of America: the buying, the selling, and the […]
The American dream is a gift and a curse. Many Americans want to obtain the American dream, but for most the price to pay for this dream will turn it into a nightmare. The American dream has different meanings for many people. For some people it may mean becoming wealthy, and for other it may […]
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Death of a Salesman in Relation to Freud’s Analysis of Id, Ego, and Superego The complexities of human nature and familial relationships drive Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman. Though perhaps not deliberately meant as a psychological drama in the Freudian sense, Miller nonetheless has provided decades of analysis of human relationships via this play. […]
Death of a Salesman Literary Analysis What would someone expect to be the outcome of a man who has given his passionate worship to the goddess of success sold out in the American promise of equality of opportunity for anyone to achieve the highest possible financial and material comfort? Such is the man, an aging […]
A stage play ought to be the point of intersection between the visible and the invisible world In Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman, and Tennessee Williams The Glass Menagerie both show us a world that is as tragic as it is beautiful. These two works seem to have abounding similarity within each other’s. They […]
In Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman we see the negative effect of having an absent parent. The main character Willy Loman is a salesman who constantly struggles with trying to be what he considers “successful,” and “well liked.” He has two sons Biff and Happy and is married to Linda. Willy also struggles between […]
To the Fathers of the Year: Death of a Salesman and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn The way a child turns out in life is shaped by the behaviors, decisions, and actions of the adults that raised them; poor parental guidance like Biff and Huckleberry Finn set the pattern of a socially, and emotionally alienated […]
Gilgamesh aspired to escape death and searched to the ends of the Earth for immortality. Icarus had a much more mundane goal, he merely wished to see the lands below him in a more glorious fashion during his flight towards his homeland. By ignoring the lesson the story is meant to convey, the protagonists of […]
Everyone you have met in your life has lied to someone in their lifetime, whether it be a small white lie or a lie that could change your life or someone else’s life or feelings drastically. In “The Ways We Lie” by Stephanie Ericsson and “Death of a Salesman” by Arthur Miller, there are many […]
Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman is a play starts with flute playing in the background following the main character and his journey into the unknown. It that takes place in two settings, New York, and Boston, the play is centered around an elderly man Willy Loman and his somewhat distant family his wife Linda […]
Death of a Salesman written by Arthur Miller, was a play written in the early 1900’s. The play focuses on Willy Loman, a loving husband and father who cannot seem to catch his big break and is frustrated with the way his life ended up. He wants to pursue the American Dream but is having […]
Most morality plays focus on subjects such as politics and social issues or the more dominant category of good and evil, in this case, the battle for the human soul. This play is devoted to a day that every human has to confront, judgment day. Each character, both inside and out of the protagonist help […]
In the play by Arthur Miller, Death of a Salesman, the character Willy Loman is in my view the tragic character. His problems come from the delusions in his mind, his lack of understanding towards his family and the American Dream turning into a nightmare because of his personal flaws. His way of thinking is […]
Capitalism is an economic and political system in which a country’s trade and industry are controlled by private owners for profit, rather than by the state. Arthur Miller alludes to the American Dream in Death of a Salesmen, which has the effect of capitalism and consumerism, through the depiction of two protagonists: Willy and Biff […]
Stories can be told in many ways while still saying the same thing. Some are plays, some are novels, some are poems. Two such examples of stories which make similar statements in opposite modes of telling are those of a salesman’s death and a man named Gatsby. Death of a Salesman is more confined to […]
The purpose of this essay is to analyze the reasons of stealing things by Biff Loman. Biff is one of the main characters in the play Death of a Salesman, written by Arthur Miller, an American playwright and essayist. One of the most urgent themes in the play is the generation gap between the father […]
A misinterpretation of the American Dream and the warped idea of success can damage the human spirit. Mental instability may transform a person with optimistic views of the future, into one whose life is filled with unhappiness and despair. In Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller, the main character, Willy Loman, considered himself to […]
Loman was an assertive salesman and no matter how hard he worked he could never catch a break. He lived in the same house for years with his two sons Biff Loman, Happy Loman, and his wife Linda Loman. Willy’s life was marked by failure and a never-ending attachment to the idea of living the […]
Arthur Miller was born in New York City on October 17, 1915. His career as a playwright began while he was a student at the University of Michigan. Several of his early works won prizes, and during his senior year, the Federal Theatre Project in Detroit performed one of his works. He produced his first […]
For over forty years audiences and readers have been drawn into the lives of the Loman family and have often found in that family their own parents and themselves. Arthur Miller’s classic American play, Death of a Salesman, exposes the relationship between gender relationships and dysfunctional family behaviors. The play was well written with plenty […]
Death of a Salesman: Play Report Death of a Salesman is a popular play that grapples with the idea of the American Dream by the famous author, Arthur Miller. The play is about Willy Loman and the events that lead to him killing himself. It has received many awards and is still very popular to […]
Despite how hard someone tries, they will be acquainted with the end sooner or later. Some fear death as they tremble at the thought of being trapped in their sleep forever. There are others though, who view death differently. They believe in the afterlife — that death is merely just a door for another existence. […]
Drama can be said to contain something of the ritual—something to be repeated in front of an audience for a significant occasion, event, or purpose, or simply everyday routines and patterns of behavior. In what ways have at least two plays you have studied made use of the notion of ritual in this way and […]
Frank Kafka was the oldest of six siblings. He grew up in Germany as a son of a conformed Jew. He had two of his younger brothers and all three of his sisters die in concentration camps, unfortunately. He went to the University of Prague to study law and received his doctorate in 1906. He […]
Death of a Salesman is a story that follows and mainly the main protagonist, a husband, father of two boys, and salesman, Willy Loman. The play’s name has a double meaning, the death being physically real as well as metaphorical. The play is split into two acts and is followed by a requiem. The play […]
One of the most tragic things to occur and for people to experience in life is the death of a family member. Everyone in the family suffers, as well as extended family and friends, suffer a great deal of grief. It is completely normal to grieve in different ways, nobody is the same therefore everybody […]
The Great Depression was a time of intense economic struggle and strife. Companies went out of business, people suffered from poverty, families had to make many sacrifices and unemployment rose at alarming rates. Families struggled to pay bills and to provide for their children. Businesses attempted but later failed to provide the resources employees needed […]
The most remarkable association between the Death of a Salesman and Street Car Named Desire is hallucination. In the Death of a Salesman, Willy, the hero, is lost in the figment that the American dream is just feasible through shallow characteristics of affability and engaging quality. He mistakes the fantasy for philistinism and he winds […]
This summer, I would like you to play the two roles of Willy Loman in an all black production Death of a Salesman, and the role of Troy Maxson in our production of Fences. Even though the Death of a Salesman is an all black cast, Willy and the story will not be any different […]
During a 1999 interview with Charlie Rose, Arthur Miller stated that his play, Death of a Salesman, is a love story, basically, between a father and son it’s about the loss of love and finding of love again. Miller’s play, written in 1946, focuses on Willy Loman, a salesman who has spent his life trying […]
Essay on Death of a Salesman
Death of a salesman is a 20th-century movie surrounding the idea of the American dream. The movie does this by putting its audience in the shoes of sixty-three-year-old Willy Loman, Willy is a salesman that has worked for the same company for over thirty years and has struggled to make ends meet. Willy has been growing tired of life over the course of six months and the movie Death of a Salesman documents Willy’s last day of life before inevitably killing himself. Over the course of the movie, Willy brings his memories into the present where the audience can get insight into what truly happened over the course of Willy’s life. Given Willy’s current life situation in conjunction with his memories, the audience is left wondering whether Willy really accomplished what he was after. Given the evidence provided in this essay, Willy did not accomplish the American dream.
The first reason why Willy Loman didn’t achieve the American dream was because he didn’t expect more from himself. Willy’s mediocrity is seen in the beginning of the movie when he works for the same company for 34 years and in that time has barely moved up the latter at his job. Willy’s exhaustion from working the same job and his shortcoming can be observed in the Death of a salesman movie by Arthur Miller when Willy tells Linda “I’m tired to death….I couldn’t make it. I just couldn’t make it Linda.” (Death of a salesman movie). Another example of Willy not pushing himself hard enough to pursue his goals would be him escaping into the past. This can be observed in the Death of a Salesman movie when Willy is having a difficult time preserving his relationship with his son Biff all the while dealing with the trauma of just losing his job. Willy runs away by flashing back to Biffs football game in this memory Biff says “That’s right pap…. And when I take off my helmet that touch down is for you.” (Death of a salesman movie). The reason Willy flashes back is because he simply isn’t strong enough to face the fact that he just lost his job and his relationship with Biff isn’t on good terms and instead of facing reality Willy runs away into the past where life is easier.
Another one of Willy’s fatal flaws is that he was a compulsive liar. This can be observed many times throughout the movie Death of a salesman. The first example of Willy’s compulsive lying takes place in the middle of the play when Willy returns home from a sales trip to give his boys a punching bag and to find out Biff stole a football from his locker room which Willy doesn’t seem to be that upset about. Willy then takes this time to establish a false persona in front of his boys by saying “I have friends. I can park my car in any street in New England, and the cops protect it like their own.”(Death of a Salesman packet written by Arthur Miller pg. 198). It is evident Willy is lying because later in the story when Willy is forced to tell Linda the truth about him exaggerating his number of sales because the bills are coming in faster than Willy can pay them off he says to Linda “People don’t seem to take to me…I know it when I walk in. They seem to laugh at me.”(Death of a Salesman packet written by Arthur Miller pg. 198) From this it can be observed that Willy’s arrogance and false sense of pride aided him in his downfall as the desire to live an unrealistic life style overcame Willy’s ability to gain insight into himself. Willy’s pathological lying can be witnessed again later in the Death of a Salesman story when his elder son Biff, walks in on Willy with his mistress. When confronted Willy tells the mistress “to go back to her room now they are probably done painting” as if that were the reason the mistress was there in the first place. When Biff continues to press Willy just by simply being there Willy continues on with his lies saying that “She was a buyer…she lives down the hall and she buys for JH Simons…and they’re the painting..”( Death of a salesman movie). Willy’s lies have had a negative impact on his families well-being and ultimately ended up coasting Biff his football playing career as he ended up resenting the sport after confronting his Dad with the mistress as seen in the Death of a salesman movie 1:45:00.
Willy’s third main flaw is that he is constantly trying to be someone else and has a false idea of what it takes to be successful. Willy’s desire to be someone else can be observed in the middle of the movie when arguing with Howard for a sales position in New York. Willy’s desire to be a sales person is revealed in the Death of a salesman movie when he tells Howard “I was thinking about going to Alaska when I was 18 or 19 but then I met a businessman named Dave Singleman, he could sell from a hotel room at 84 years old over the phone to just about anyone and I wanted to be like him.” (Death of a salesman movie) This is important because what Willy said is a true reflection as to why he never really got ahead in his job of 30 plus years, because Willy was to busy trying to be Dave Singleman and not Willy Loman. Another example of Willy trying to be someone else is witnessed many times throughout the story as Willy is caught trying to live Ben’s idea of the American dream. This can be observed when Willy calls upon Ben in the beginning of the story and asks “Ben how did you do it?” at that point the scene changes to a much happier setting, then Ben replies “I have a faulty view of geography, I went to Alaska, then I headed due South and ended up in Africa. I walked into the Jungle at 17 and came out at 21 and by god I was rich.” (Death of a salesman movie) this shows how distorted Willy’s perception of Bens success really is. Mid way through the movie Willy tells Ben “ It’s not what you do Ben, its who you know” (Death of a salesman movie). Given that Willy looks up to and tries to parrot a very skilled salesman all the while believing that the American dream was becoming rich and the only way one could become rich is by knowing people and being well liked, its evident that hard work wasn’t a priority for Willy, which is why he lost his job.
In the end, its fairly obvious that sixty three year old Willy didn’t come close to accomplishing the American dream. One word to describe Willy’s strategy of going about the American dream would be lazy, if Willy weren’t lazy he would’ve gone about getting a promotion to help with his financial struggles, he wouldn’t have tried killing himself multiple times, and he would’ve learned to respect and be himself. The irony of Willy’s decisions can be observed at the end of the movie when Willy’s son named Happy decides that he wants to follow in his “unhappy” father’s footsteps. If Willy really did have the American dream, then why did he have to run from his loving family and his caring friends?
