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"DEATH OF A SALESMAN."   Term Paper ID:28929 Click to get this paper

Essay Subject: Examines Arthur Miller's play as a tragedy as defined by Aristotle in the "Poetics." Contends play is not a true tragedy but a social comment.... More...

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Paper Abstract: Examines Arthur Miller's play as a tragedy as defined by Aristotle in the "Poetics." Contends play is not a true tragedy but a social comment. Paper Introduction: This research examines Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman as a tragedy as defined by Aristotle in the Poetics. The research will set forth the context in which Death of a Salesman has been labeled a tragedy and against which it can be measured based on Aristotle's theory, and then argue that, although Miller's play is undoubtedly a serious drama and undoubtedly shares certain attributes with the classical definition, to consider it a tragedy in the Aristotelian sense would be to misconstrue Aristotle's definition and to grant too much interpretive power to Miller's own view of what he calls tragedy and the common man. In order to show the relationship between Death of a Salesman and Aristotelian theory of tragedy, it is useful to examine Aristotle's definition of tragedy, which he says is Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. the more the center of tragic conflict is drawn inward; it becomes internalized, more exclusively a conflict in the spirit (Lukacs 429).The internal nature of conflict means that man becomes "the intersectionpoint of great forces, and his deeds not even his own" (Lukacs 43 ). 425-54.Miller, Arthur. Works CitedAristotle. Much of it is fine drama, and ti is serious. But it is hard to see how a man of such superficial insight couldundertake self-realization, let alone transcendence. The bourgeois drama, on the other hand, thinks of him as a part and function of his environment and depicts him as a being who, instead of controlling concrete reality, as in classical tragedy, is himself controlled and absorbed by it. Antigone. Barrett H. The Annotated Shakespeare. But the competingideologies, relativistic value judgments, and recognition of classdifferences that inform modern social experience ineluctably inform moderndrama as well, so that man's destiny is very much determined from without.That makes individual culpability difficult to identify. Form and Meaning in Drama. Three Theban Plays. Leaving tragedy per se aside, the difference may owe somethingto a distinction between classical and modern, or "bourgeois," drama madeby Hauser: Classical tragedy sees man isolated and describes him as an independent, autonomous intellectual entity, in merely external contact with the material world and never influenced by it in his innermost self. The play's seriousnessderives from Willy's situation, which is analogous to . Miller is so much in control of the pattern of events and character inthe play that one may credibly infer an intentional contrast betweenAristotle's portrait of a noble but flawed tragic hero and the common-manfigure of tragedy who is flawed in all kinds of ways and has a disastrousend. Ed. New York: Viking, 1971. But however problematic this situation may be, it does not describeAristotelian tragedy, which insists on the fact that the tragic hero ownshis actions completely and is culpable in his catastrophe. New York: Clarkson N. Tragedy, by whichMiller seems to mean catastrophe or disaster, arises because of the tragicfigure's "compulsion to evaluate himself justly" (538). Or again, Macbeth (hardly anadmirable protagonist), who gives himself over to vaulting ambition, firstin the service of murder and at last as an instrument of heedless physicalcourage as he prepares to be slaughtered in battle. Trans. Instead, the catastrophe comes at Willy fullyformed, and Willy is an innocent, specifically not to be blamed. Harold Clurman. A.L. Evert Sprinchorn. Eric Bentley. "The Sociology of Modern Drama." Trans. Clark. But I do not think it is of the highest seriousness; I do not think it is tragedy (Olson 25 ).Willy is absorbed by, then complains about, and then acquiesces in hiseconomic trap, without really interrogating the integrity of the socialvalues. Vol. The Theory of the Modern Stage: An Introduction to Modern Theatre and Drama. . A.L. Olson acknowledges the "very great value of exhibiting theseriousness even of humble life, and the far greater value of extending therange of our sympathy . That dynamic reinforces aview of the play as social commentary, with Willy an artifact or victim ofthe culture. Tragedy and the Theory of Drama. He has conflicting views about everything, which is to say no view atall. . . . Potter, Inc., 1978.---. The difference of emphasis is decisive and helps explain why Willy ismuch more tragic victim than tragic hero and why Death of a Salesman isless a tragedy in the classical sense than a drama of modern socialcommentary. But Olson's view is that showing an ordinary man's suffering is closerto sentimentality than to tragedy: "There is no special merit in displayingor observing suffering" (249), and the whole point about tragedy is that itidentifies special merit. 537-9.Olson, Elder. The research will set forththe context in which Death of a Salesman has been labeled a tragedy andagainst which it can be measured based on Aristotle's theory, and thenargue that, although Miller's play is undoubtedly a serious drama andundoubtedly shares certain attributes with the classical definition, toconsider it a tragedy in the Aristotelian sense would be to misconstrueAristotle's definition and to grant too much interpretive power to Miller'sown view of what he calls tragedy and the common man. But let us by no means have an ordinary view of the ordinary man; and even then, let us not suppose that there can be nothing else. The milieu . Thus at some critical point (soonerfor Antigone, much later for Lear), that figure has insight into the moralconsequences and human costs to self and others of behaving in one way oranother because of dilemma, and acts irrevocably, pretty much in fullknowledge of coming catastrophe and of his or her culpability in it. This argues that the tragic hero stands in dialecticalopposition to freedom's enemy, the dramatic antagonist. . Ed. . Put it this way: by all means let us have the ordinary man. "Chevrolet, Linda, is the greatest car ever built. . Thus the fact that he sees no way out of hissituation except death is simply sad. The tragic figure is not tragic onaccount of noticing that society is unjust, even though that insight may beaccurate. In that regard, Kitto cites tragedy'sfoundation in "reason and moral law; one which speaks not to the individualsoul but to social and political man; one in which suffering is the resultof error, and is not followed by triumph" (Kitto 9; emphasis added). Death_of_a_Salesman. Rowse. On the Art of Poetry. The question is less whether the value system contains any moralgood than whether the dominant value system is more powerful than theindividual. The Theory of the Modern Stage: An Introduction to Modern Theatre and Drama. for someone with whom we might not otherwisehave sympathized" (Olson, 248). Four Plays, Complete. New York: Oxford U P, 1956. Trans. The action of Deathof a Salesman--which contains plenty of catastrophe and consequence, a gooddeal of pity, perhaps even terror--might seem perfectly consistent withthis description, were it not that Willy never attains substantive moralinsight into his condition. King Lear. The Annotated Shakespeare. Vol. The play argues that Willy's enemy is the money-centered system bywhich he defines his self-worth, but it makes a project of notinterrogating a personal value system that is "way out there in the blue,riding on a smile and a shoeshine" (133), as if moral structures need nothave invaded internal consciousness since the morality of bourgeois cultureis so corrupt. And of course there is Linda's lament that"attention must be paid." Thus blame reposes with society, the culture,Willy's enemy, not with Willy. The main thrust of action is whether or not the characteracts according to a reliable moral and social code. And because he has never really gotten evensuperficial satisfaction from bourgeois culture, "free and clear," he canscarcely articulate what he wants beyond the reliability of materialartifacts of the culture. The immediateemotional or sensory impact of tragedy speaks to its theatricality,although Aristotle points out that tragic power "is independent both ofperformance and of actors, and besides, the production of spectaculareffects is more the province of the property-man than of the playwright(Aristotle 41). The tragic figure encounters (Antigone) or perhaps constructs(Lear) a high-stakes moral dilemma. But he also sees Death of a Salesman andplays like it as distinct from classical tragedy. But Charley's rejoinder, that"nobody dast blame this man (132), speaks forcefully to the fact that Willywas trapped by economic failure. It is the play as a whole, not its protagonist, that questions thecondition of the environment and finds it wanting. New York: Penguin/Pelican, 197 . This research examines Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman as atragedy as defined by Aristotle in the Poetics. . the situationof so many people" (Olson, 249). Miller makes just such a casein his much-cited essay on the play, stating that tragedy "enlightens--andit must, in that it points the heroic finger at the enemy of man's freedom"(Miller 538). But Miller's view of tragedy's socialdimension is not really the same as Kitto's. 29-75.Hauser, Arnold. In order to show the relationship between Death of a Salesman andAristotelian theory of tragedy, it is useful to examine Aristotle'sdefinition of tragedy, which he says is the representation of an action that is worth serious attention, complete in itself, and of some amplitude; in language enriched by a variety of artistic devices appropriate to the several parts of the play; presented in the form of action, not narration; by means of pity and fear bringing about the purgation of such emotions (Aristotle 38- 9).Uncertainty or contingency of action is balanced by the fact that actionsdefinitely have consequences, usually disastrous, but always resolved in away that demonstrates the completeness of the action. Indeed, the playcannot seem to do enough to absolve Willy from culpability in his fate.Biff, who has caught Willy in marital infidelity on the road and whoseexperience of Willy is that he failed as a husband and father, comes closeto making a case for Willy's culpability in his fate, saying he had all thewrong dreams and never knew who he was (132). New York: Penguin/Pelican, 197 . Miller's view seems to be that it is more powerful and that thedamage it does constitutes tragedy. To the degree the struggle continues after the curtain falls,Death of a Salesman can be considered a significant artifact of socialcomment, complete with resonant moral voice. New York: Crown, 1969. That being so, it remains for observers of the action to takeon the heroic struggle to transform or anyway interrogate the unforgivingculture. Willy Loman's decision to crash his car can be interpreted as theoutgrowth of a flood of new and disagreeable information he receives--Biff's revelations about being in jail instead of gainfully employed, thepersistent problem of never getting "free and clear," and the constantsense of envy of Charley's high-achieving son Ben. Potter, Inc., 1978.Sophocles. Understanding that heis worth more dead than alive does not capture the moral-ethical insight oftragic sensibility because he does not so much challenge the antagonist asacquiesce in its power. . Unlike Kitto, who implicates[individual] error in social consequences that include but may not belimited to individual disaster, Miller implicates society in the failure ofthe tragic figure to triumph. If it is thecase that no one "dast blame this man," ipso facto it is the case that helacks the moral weight to assume the tragic mantle. New York: Clarkson N. Obviously Willy's lack of moral insight can be interpreted as a tragicflaw. A broken refrigerator is a master conspiracy, forexample. But the weight of critical opinion isagainst that view. . He explains that the aristocratic protagonists and antagonistsof classical tragedy, whether Greek or Elizabethan, make class irrelevantto tragic rhythm (comic-relief episodes peopled with rude mechanicals arealso irrelevant). takes an active part in the shaping of human destiny (Hauser 4 9) The literary critic-historian Lukacs (428f) makes a similardistinction. London: Penguin Classics, 1965. Macbeth. 3-133.---. Aristotle, Horace, Longinus, Classical Literary Criticism. New York: Barnes & Noble, 1967.Lukacs, George. "Tragedy and the Common Man." European Theories of the Drama. Dorsch. [T]he more the vital motivating center is displaced outward . 3, The Tragedies and Romances. Rowse. . This is not to say that the social and economic structures thatdominate Willy's life and the extremity of compulsion to respond to them donot lend the play tragic dimension. As Olson says (247-8), when Aristotledescribes tragic figures as "better than we are," the reference is not tosocial station but to moral judgment. Death of a Salesman does not fail as tragedy because Willy Loman is asalesman and not a Danish prince but because he never sights the limits ofhis complicity in shaping his fate. Ed. 4 3-24.Kitto, H.D.F. Thusfar Lukacs could be describing Death of a Salesman, for Willy embodies theconsequence of great-force intersection. 3, The Tragedies and Romances. The whole matter is further complicated by Miller's suggestion thatWilly makes a "total examination of the 'unchangeable' environment" (537).Once the environment (capitalist socioeconomic inequality) is seen as theculprit, the play seems to function more as a battle between evil societyand good Willy, who wants to be free. Lee Baxandall. Lukacs continues: The heroes of the new drama--in comparison with the old--are more passive than active; they are acted upon more than they act for themselves; they defend rather than attack;t heir heroism is mostly a heroism of anguish, of despair, not one of bold aggressiveness. Compare the situation of Creon inAntigone, whose misery (loss of his son Haemon, guilt and remorse oversealing Antigone in the cave) comes from his too-late but fully self-awarerecognition of his arrogance of power. Elsewhere, he voices completely opposite opinions of theChevrolet. Ed. Ed. Willy has not insightfulcapacity, and unfortunately for the project of reaching tragic grandeur, itis insight that would capture tragic heroism. "The Origins of Domestic Drama." Trans. . But that still does not makeWilly Loman a tragic hero or Death of a Salesman a tragedy. . T.S. Death of a Salesman would appear to be consistent with Aristotle'sdefinition, inasmuch as it is a serious play. Miller's view that tragedy is positionedagainst the enemy of human freedom is more problematic vis-à-vis theAristotelian definition of the term because it implies that tragedy comesknocking from the outside rather than from within a generally decentindividual whose misery can be traced to an some "error" (Aristotle 48).Now Willy is far from perfect--a father by turns cloying and bullying, afar from faithful husband, and a man who has so internalized the values ofAmerican hustle culture that he has few firm opinions, and none that reachhigher moral sensibility. Eric Bentley. In other words, it is the thought or pattern of ideas thatinform plot and action that distinguishes tragedy. Thequality of the figure's response to or transcendence of the catastrophe isan index of his or her tragic stature and of the degree of pity and terrorthe figure's action evokes in observers of the action. Detroit: Wayne State UP, 1961.Shakespeare, William. His self-evaluationleads him to conclude that he is worth more dead than alive to a familythat can file an insurance claim. . Theodore Howard Banks. Thatgoddam Chevrolet, they ought to prohibit the manufacture of that car!" (27;28). Instead,Linda explains, attention must be paid. That dynamic has puzzled critics suchas Olson, who considers Death of a Salesman to be a domestic--but not high--tragedy. Ed. ButMiller's statement that the hero's "destruction in the attempt posits awrong or an evil in his environment" (538) only partly captures what thetragic stature is all about. If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again: Search for: or Click here to request an essay written just for you.