An Analysis of Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman

An Analysis of Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman and The Price When people accept an ideal to live by it can be a glorious and noble thing unless they become so obsessed wi the the ideal that it becomes a yolk and they are unable to realize their dream.. This is especially true for two characters in Arthur Miller's plays Death of a Salesman and The Price. In these two plays Miller portays two lower-middle class men , Willie Loman and Victor Franz, respectivelly, who each live by an ideal that ultimately is self-defeating. Willie lived to pursue the American dream rather than living the American dream and Victor lived to serve and be decent rather than living a noble and decent life. They pursed their ideal rather than living it and thus they are unable to succeed. Willie Loman, in Death of a Salesman,, has lived his life in pursuit of the American dream. Traditionally the American dream meant oppurtunity and freedom for all, and Willie believed that. However, hard work could!

not earn him everything that he wanted or thoght he deserved. Willy judged himsel and those arround him by theit material accumulation, as is demanded by capitalism and the protestant work ethic. The ethic demands accumulation and work as signs of favor i

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Furetheremore he punished those who did not work towards that ideal or accomplish it ,such as Biff, his son, and mo!

st importantly himself. There is also a manner in which he pusues the Dream. Both men have d!

ecent and noble intentions however, they both live to fulfill those intentions rather than living and fulfilling the intentions. Just as Willy does, Victor too, adopts a quest for himself however, he pursues that quest to the point that he loses sight of his original goal - to please others, and ends up hurting them. During the time period portrayed by the play Victor is still selfless as he constantly calls tries to make arrangements to include his brother in the business dea!

l to sell off their families estate. His desire fior goods makes him want objects that he neither needed nor could afford. His quest was cursed from the start and the fact that he lived the quest and not the dream made it worse. He could not pusue a noble dream by doing something that is based !

in deceit. Willy created a reality for himself where he "knocked 'em cold in Providence," and "slaughtered 'em in Boston. The problem with Willy's ideals which ultimately kills him is that he has lost sight of achieving the true goal of the American Dream, happiness and freedom, and the dream took control of him. Those that he was sacrificing most are hurt most in the end. Willy thinks that he needs to buy his wife a new refrigerator and new stockings even though she is content with what they have. By not achieving for himself he hurts those he is trying to help, his family.

Approximate Word count = 983
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)

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