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Research Paper on Drama In Arthur Millers play, The Death of a Salesman, Willy Loman's twisted view of The American Dream ruins life for both himself and the rest of his family. The American dream consists of hard work and dedication, which eventually will lead to success, wealth, and happiness. Willy however took the part with the wealth and money and ran with it; not realizing it will send him straight to failure. Add to this his superficiality and irresponsibility and the outcome is Willy Loman's idea of the American Dream.
Eventually he began to ruin the lives of his sons, and through years of emotional abuse, the life of his wife. As he repeatedly failed and failed, he began to throw his own life away, throwing himself and his family down an abyss that led to nothing but doom. The distorted view of American Dream that Willy had is evident in his relations with Biff. In this play, Willy becomes delusional and begins to have rapid flashbacks from the past.
Through the flashbacks Willy searches for the moment everything went wrong. First, Happy, Willys younger son, ironically enough was anything but happy throughout his life. He loved his family, but the love was never returned. He spent his whole childhood in Biffs pathetic shadow. He was always ignored and since all attention was constantly on Biff, he was never properly disciplined. Though it let to his being a womanizer like his father, the lack of discipline actually helped him.
Happy unlike Biff had a job in an executive office, made his own living, and did not turn to a life of crime. He was the most successful in the family, successful as far as money goes however. He lacked the success that leads to happiness. He was a failure mentally and emotionally. (Martin, p. 134) Willy constantly abused his poor, loving wife emotionally. Linda was the ideal wife, she cooked, cleaned, took care of the kids, was supportive, and most importantly loved Willy unconditionally. (Miller, p. 64) One characteristic of Linda was her tendency to mend things. She did so literally, and figuratively.
She would literally always be mending the too expensive stockings Willy bought her. This drove Willy mad however because of the guilt he felt. Willy had a girlfriend he bought a box of stockings for, while his devoted wife wore old ones she constantly had to mend. She would also mend Willy.
Whenever Willy would crack, she would always make excuses for him. For example, when Willy crashed up the car, all Linda would do was blaming the car. Whenever Willy would say something, she was quick to agree, or reinforce his words. She treated him like a king, while he used her. He would yell at her, put her down, cheat, etc. His very existence was painful for Linda because he had tried to commit suicide many times.
His fragility scared Linda, but it only made her love him more and want to take more care of him. She would play along as Willy made lies about his sales, job, and image. Linda knew he was fired, had no income, made no sales, and borrowed money from Charlie the neighbor every month, but she never brought it up or lost respect for him. She was a mother not only to her two sons but also Willy while being the type of wife she was. She was truly a woman who deserved more than to have a man like that ruin her life.
After a lifetime of misery with Willy, he killed himself leaving her completely betrayed. Perhaps in a way that was the greatest thing to happen to her. She lost the source of her misery, but without him she had no one, no one to love and care for. She blamed her sons for Willys insanity, once again crating a scapegoat for Willy. Willy superficially encourages his son Biff to become an athlete, a class clown, and popular among his peers. He put no value into honesty and education, instead into popularity. (Griffin, p. 77) As Biff became more and more popular, Willys love and encouragement for him grew.
Meanwhile Biffs grades and integrity was plummeting. He was failing classes, stealing equipment, and hopping from one job to the next. He was never able to succeed at anything but football, which he was beginning to lose because of his grades. The only thing he had left was the scholarship to college, and his love and respect for his father. The closer and closer he came to failing the more it began to hit home to Willy.
Bernard, the neighbor Charlies son and a friend of Biffs, constantly warned both Willy and Biff of this. He offered to tutor but was constantly rejected by Willy since he was not well-liked. (Miller, p. 114) When graduation time came around, Biff was unable to join Bernard; he had failed math class and would lose his scholarship unless he attended summer school and passed. He had lost everything but his love and respect for Willy, which he would also soon lose. Feeling a bit down, he went to visit his father, the only thing he had left after losing everything else. He traveled to Boston to fill his father in on the news, that was when his whole world came crumbling down. He caught Willy cheating on his devoted mother, and lost the very last bit of hope left in his life.
Biffs life after that consisted of repeated failures to hold any type of job and make the slights bit of worth for himself. He lost his confidence and enhanced on theft. He spent a good while in jail and would return home only to fight with Willy and cause trouble. Willys idiocy ruined Biffs life forever; he would never again succeed at anything. Willy Loan was the anti-hero of this play. His intentions were good, but he was unable to succeed.
His whole life was a mess; he did not even get to die the way he wanted to. Willy is heard describing what he thought to be the death of a salesman. (Miller, p. 179) It is a death of someone with pride, wealth, love and respect. He wanted to die wearing green slippers and a bath robe, a superficial rich death. (Miller, p. 182) His whole wish was to have a huge crowd at his funeral; instead, he had his sons, wife, and neighbor. None of his customers, or ex-employers showed up. His lack of support took away from his family right to have a decent life. The emphasis on the material possessions that Willy had was initially wrong, he simply did not realize that money and fancy clothing is not everything that makes a person happy.
He could not pursue his dream with all the zeal needed for it, he was not willing to work hard enough, and that is why his life ended so miserably. (Weales, p. 172) Willy was a failure from the very beginning, and his life was aimed at creating an illusion of success a face achievement of his dream. In reality, his American Dream was never fulfilled, which is evident when one looks at his relations with Biff and other family members. It was Willys twisted view of The American Dream that ruined life for both himself and the rest of his family. He ruined life for Happy, Linda, and Biff, and since they were all he had, he ultimately killed himself.
The only thing he had left was to gain back the love of Biff, and once he did, he felt no need to live any longer. Life was an accumulation of anguish for the Loan Family and they had Willy to thank for the annihilation of their lives. Oedipus, the main character in Sophocles play Oedipus Rex, could not see the truth, but the blind man, Teiresias, saw it plainly by the means of visions. Sophocles uses blindness as a main theme in the play Oedipus Rex, and the vision motif is helpful in developing that theme. (Dawson, p. 89) Oedipus, known for his intelligence, is ignorant and therefore blind, to the truth about himself and his past.
Yet, when Teiresias exposes the truth he is shunned. It is left to Oedipus to overcome his blindness, realize the truth, and accept fate. Oedipus fled his home of Corinth in fear of fulfilling the prophecy that he would kill his father and marry his mother. During his flight, Oedipus kills a caravan of presumed low-class travelers. Oedipus comes into Thebes a stranger and hero who solved the riddle of the sphinx. Believing that he is blessed with great luck, Oedipus marries the recently widowed Iokaste and becomes King of Thebes.
After many years, a plague vexes the city and Kreon, brother of Iokaste, comes to Oedipus with news from the oracle. He states that the plague will be lifted when the murder of Los is avenged. Oedipus claims that he sees and understands the terrible fate of Thebes and vows to find the murderer. Since the criminal is said to still be in Thebes, Oedipus believes that a man of his intelligence should have no difficulty in finding the perpetrator. When Oedipus is confronted by Teiresias with truth, perhaps it is Oedipus own hubris, which blinds him to the unthinkable truth. The truth being that Oedipus is the murderer and the oracles prophecy has been fulfilled.
The audience questions if Oedipus has already realized at some level that there is a great deal of coincidence upon his arrival to Thebes and discovering the significantly older, widowed queen, whose husbands death could in fact be the result of Oedipus own hand. Yet, the audience is baffled because Oedipus can not see the evil, and obvious truth. And instead Oedipus believes that his brother-in-law and at the same time his uncle is plotting to overthrow Oedipus and become king. Unwillingly, Teiresias the blind seer provides Oedipus with the hurtful truth. Before the truth is announced, Oedipus describes Teiresias as a seer: student of mysteries. (Merton, p. 56) Oedipus looks to Teiresias for help in finding the murderer of the former king. He is trusted and respected by everyone in the city as evidenced by his introduction as the holy prophet in whom, alone of all men, truth was born. (Creel, p. 17) Yet, when Teiresias speaks, reluctantly but honestly to Oedipus, he is shunned and his credibility and motives are attacked.
Oedipus accuses Teiresias of plotting against him and helping Kreon become king. He claims that Kreon has brought this decrepit fortune-teller, this collector of dirty pennies, this prophet fraud to him. (Merton, p. 59) Sadly, the citizens represented by the chorus, who once trusted Teiresias, will not side with him because there is no proof that his prophecy is true. Within one conversation, the lavish praise of Teiresias crumbles into Oedipus hatred of him. Responding to Oedipus attacks, Teiresias tells him you with both your eyes you are blind: You can not see the wretchedness of your life, Nor in whose house you live, no, nor with whom.
Who are your father and mother? Can you tell me? You dont even know the blind wrongs That you have done them, on earth and in the...
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Research essay sample on Play Oedipus Rex Love And Respect
