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Motifs In Arthur Miller's Death Of A Salesman

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The devices of literature often remain constant throughout the various mediums of writing, be it a novel or a scholarly essay. They are used by the author as a means for conveying pivotal messages or for supporting an argument. In the dramatic performance of “Death of a Salesman,” Arthur Miller utilizes the literary device of motifs to introduce the audience to several ideals the play tackles. Motifs are recurrent elements that serve to establish a tone, and enable readers to see the main themes that the author is trying to express. One of the most common and reoccurring motifs is people’s clothing. Miller uses the comparison of women’s stockings, Biff’s elements of clothes, and Dave Singleman’s slippers to scrutinize the meaning of success. …show more content…

He mentions them to justify his ambitions to be a salesman, when he talks with Howard, his boss. For Willy, those “green velvet slippers” is the core to what he has based his life on. He met Dave Singleman when he was a young man and it dramatically changed his life. He saw a man who was “eighty-four years old, and he’d drummed merchandise in thirty-one states” (Miller 1517-18). Willy recalls that Dave was so skillfull and respected that could sell goods without even leaving his room by just calling the buyers, he would “go up to his room, put his green velvet slippers – I’ll never forget – and … made his living” (Miller 1518). Dave was “remembered and loved and helped by so many people” (Miller 1518), which is what Willy wanted so desperately his whole entire life. When Dave died, “he died the death of a salesman, in his green velvet slippers in the smoker” (Miller 1518). Hundreds of people were attending Singleman’s funeral. Therefore, Willy imagines a similar funeral after his death and is convinced that it would prove to his sons that he has not wasted his life. Those “green velvet slippers” embodies Willy’s belief that being a successful salesman is being popular, loved by everyone, and able to earn good money even at an old

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Throughout the centuries, a commonality of time enduring plays is that they often include themes that are consistently relevant to audiences as time goes on. Henrik Ibsen 's A Doll 's House and Susan Glaspell 's Trifle are two plays that were written in 1879 and 1916, and both are still well read and enjoyed plays because of this reason. One relevant theme for contemporary viewers that can be found throughout both of these works is the character 's conflict against conformity to social norms. This struggle is relevant to present-day readers because of the increased value of the individualistic mentality that has been prevalent in our culture. By analyzing these characters during their struggle against conformity to social norms, we can discover how this theme makes these two works relevant to present-day readers.

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“The man who makes an appearance in the business world, the man who creates personal interest, is the man who gets ahead” (33). In Death of a Salesman, Arthur Miller uses foil characters to elucidate Willy’s flaws that ultimately prevent him and his family from succeeding. The contrast between Charley and Willy and Bernard and Biff serves to highlight how Willy’s obsession with achieving his version of the American Dream impacts both his life and his children’s. His poor values are passed on to his children producing even more failures. ¬¬¬¬Both Charley and Willy work as salesmen, however Charley represents what Willy desired to become – successful.

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He wanted to be successful so badly, that when he doesn’t get it, he doesn’t know what to do with himself. When Willy was younger, he had great connections in the areas he would sell. The people respected him and he took great pride in the fact that his name held value with those people. However, as he aged, so did the people he used to sell to. When he isn’t able to make the amount of sales he used to, he doesn’t know

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Death of a Salesman Analysis In the play by Arthur Miller, the main character Willy Loman is a man in his 60’s. He is dressed in a drab coloured, ill-fitting suit. Willy shows early signs of dementia, as he spends much of the play having flashbacks or incorporating the past into present day situations. Through this the viewer learns much about Willy and his past.

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Willy tries to make himself feel better by lying to himself. Although Willy’s death is unfortunate, if one closely examines his pride, bad temper, and his lies, one can see that these flaws will eventually bring him to his demise. Throughout the play, Willy demonstrates his sense of pride while talking to his family and friends. In this quote one can

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In “Death of a Salesman” & “The Tragedy of Macbeth” by Arthur Miller, the character Willy Loman on the modern america, in the 1940’s as cars and appliances ar be made willy is constantly to maintain the best in family as he slowly starts to lose his mind in the world it’s clear that willy only cares about one thing is that it’s keeping up with the people around him. In the book Death of a Salesman Willy hallucinates about his brother and about his family in the past when they were doing so good with money. Willy Loman has a hard time between reality and illusion, so does lady macbeth’s husband.

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In act one, Willy becomes angered when he sees that his wife is mending her stockings, rather than throwing them away and getting new ones. The stockings are symbolic in two ways. They represent the true financial situation of Willy and his family, and how despite what Willy wants to believe about his said success as a salesman, they are tight on money. Linda is mending stockings, which is completely useless considering that stockings are cheap and therefore do not cost much and can easily get damaged. However, when Willy questions why she is mending the stockings, she replies by saying that they're expensive, commenting on their financial situation.

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The public demonstrates to us that perfection is simply unattainable, regardless of one’s bank account balance, appearance, social status. For even the most famous actors or popular athletes or renowned musicians are imperfect as the media so often presents to us. As author Jeff Jarvis states, “Perfection is a delusion at best, a lie at worst.”. Moreover, Jarvis asserts that perfection in the public setting is “discouraging”, insinuating that an individual striving to be the best will likely fail and beat himself down. Arthur Miller illustrates this human trait in his play,

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However, pursuing this goal came with a price. Since he was highly motivated to becoming a successful salesman, he rarely stayed at home. Instead, he spent most of his time travelling around the country to conduct sales. He became a workaholic, forcing himself to make sacrifices in his family life in order to seek his own ambitions. Therefore, Willy’s perfectionistic ideals led to his demise.

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In Death of a Salesman, Arthur Miller utilizes the theme of betrayal as a way to draw a parallel to the downfall of how the Loman family perceives “The American Dream". Arthur Miller provides us with a clear analysis of how Betrayal has a domino effect throughout "Death of a Salesman". We are shown this theme by Willy Loman's betrayal to his wife. Just as Willy has betrayed his wife the American dream has betrayed Willy. With Biff learning of his father's betrayal, this leads him to think of his father differently.

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A tragic hero is a literary character that makes a judgment error that leads to his or her downfall. Traditionally, a tragic hero is reserved only for the elite, or noble members of society. However, Miller believes that the common man is equally subject to tragedy as the highest kings are. In The Death of a Salesman, Arthur Miller portrays the protagonist, Willy Loman as a tragic hero. Willy Loman is a financially struggling man in his sixties looking for success for him and his family.

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About the cause of Willy 's death, critic like Bert Cardullo, in his article subtitled The Swollen Legacy of Arthur Miller, argues that: … The salesman figure that comes through is not of a typical grunt brought down by financial failure but of an exceptional invalid, in whom the stress of business only increased existing psychological imbalances ( ' 'Death of a Salesman

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He has a Job, two kids, and a wife. Willy is a salesman who dreams to be like his role model, Dave Singleman. Singleman - in Willy perspective- had the ultimate successful life, as expressed in this quote: "Cause what could be more satisfying than to be able to go, at the age of eighty-four, into twenty or thirty different cities, and pick up a phone, and be remembered and loved and helped by so many different people?" [Act 2] Willy believed that success, was equivalent to how well liked he was. Willy's 'flaw' was his foolish pride, his persistence of achieving "his rightful status".

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