deathofasalesman推銷員之死》英語詳細(xì)分析

1、Key FactsFULL TITLE ? Death of a Salesman:AUTHOR ? Arthur MillerTYPE OF WORK ? PlayGENRE ? Tragedy, social commentary, family dramaCLIMAX ? The scene in Franks Chop House and Biffs final confrontation withat homePROTAGONISTS ? Willy Loman, Biff LomanANTAGONISTS ? Biff Loman, Willy Loman, the America

2、n DreamSETTING (TIME) ? “ Today, ”that is, the present; either the late 1940s or the timeperiod in which the play is being produced, with“ daydreams ” into Willyaction takes place during a twenty-four-hour period between Monday night and Tuesday night, except the “ Requiem, ”which takes place, presu

3、mably, a few days after Willy s funeralSETTING (PLACE) ? According to the stagedirections, “ Willy Loman shouse and yard in Brooklyn and . . . various places he visits in . . . New York and BostonFALLING ACTION ? The “ Requiem ”section, although the play is not really structured as a classical drama

4、TENSE ? PresentFORESHADOWING ? Willy s flute theme foreshadows the revelation of his father occupation and abandonment; Willy s preoccupation with Linda s stockinghis affair with The Woman; Willy asutomobile accident before the start of Act I foreshadows his suicide at the end of Act IITONE ? The to

5、ne of Miller stsage directions and dialogue ranges from sincere to parodying, but, in general, the treatment is tender, though at times brutally honest, toward Willy s plightTHEMES ? The American Dream; abandonment; betrayalMOTIFS ? Mythic figures; the American West; Alaska; the African jungleSYMBOL

6、S ? Seeds; diamonds; Linda s and the womon s stockings; the rubber hoAnalysis of Major CharactersWilly LomanDespite his desperate searching through his past, Willy does not achieve the self-realization or self-knowledge typical of the tragic hero. The quasi-resolution that his suicide offers him rep

7、resents only a partial discovery of the truth. While he achieves a professional understanding of himself and the fundamental nature of the sales profession, Willy fails torealize his personal failure and betrayal of his soul and family through the meticulously constructed artifice of his life. He ca

8、nnot grasp the true personal, emotional, spiritual understanding of himself as a literal“ loman ” oyris to“o dlorwivemnabny. his” Willown “ willy -”ness or perverse “ willfulness to ”recognize the slanted reality that his desperate mind has forged. Still, many critics, focusing on Willy esntrenchmen

9、t in a quagmire of lies, delusions, and self-deceptions, ignore the significant accomplishment of his partial self-realization. Willys failure to recognize the anguished love offered to him by hisfamily is crucial to the climax of his torturous day, and the play presents this incapacity as the real

10、tragedy. Despite this failure, Willy makes the most extreme sacrifice in his attempt to leave an inheritance that will allow Biff to fulfill the American Dream. Ben sfinal mantra“ The jungle is dark, but full of diamonds ” turnWs illy suicide into a metaphorical moral struggle, a final skewed ambiti

11、on to realize his full commercial and material capacity. His final act, according to Ben, is“not like an appointmlike a “ diamond . . . rough and hard to the touch.” In the absence of any real dself-knowledge or truth, Willy is able to achieve a tangible result. In some respect, Willy does experienc

12、e a sort of revelation, as he finally comes to understand that the product he sells is himself. Through the imaginary advice of Ben, Willy ends up fully believing his earlier assertion to Charley that“ after all the highways, and the trains, and the appointments, athe years, you end up worth more de

13、ad than alive.”Biff LomanUnlike Willy and Happy, Biff feels compelled to seek the truth about himself. While his father and brother are unable to accept the miserable reality of their respective lives, Biffacknowledges his failure and eventually manages to confront it. Even the difference between hi

14、s name and theirs reflects this polarity: whereas Willy and Happy willfully and happily delude themselves,Biff bristles stiffly at self-deception. Biff dsiscovery that Willy has a mistress strips him of his faith in Willy and Willy s ambitions for him. Consees Biff as an underachiever, while Biff se

15、es himself as trapped in Willy gsrandiose fantasies. After his epiphany in Bill Oliver s office, Biff determines to break through thelies surrounding the Loman family in order to come to realistic terms with his own life.Intent on revealing the simple and humble truth behind Willy s fantasy, Biff lo

16、ngs for theterritory (the symbolically free West) obscured by his father blsind faith in a skewed, materialist version of the American Dream. Biff s identity crisis is a function offather s disillusmioennt, which, in order to reclaim his identity, he must expose.Happy LomanHappy shares none of the p

17、oetry that erupts from Biff and that is buried in Willy he is the stunted incarnation of Willy wsorst traits and the embodiment of the lie of the happyAmerican Dream. As such, Happy is a difficult character with whom to empathize. He isone-dimensional and static throughout the play. His empty vow to

18、 avenge Willyfinally “ beating this racket” provides evidence of his critical cpopnyd, iwtiohno: for Hahas lived in the shadow of the inflated expectations of his brother, there is no escape from the Dream s indoctrinated lies. Happy s diseased conditiohneislaicrkrespeavreanblethe tiniest spark of s

19、elf-knowledge or capacity for self-analysis.He does share Willy scapacity for self-delusion, trumpeting himself as the assistantbuyer at his store, when, in reality, he is only an assistant to the assistant buyer. He does not possess a hint of the latent thirst for knowledge that proves Bifflvation.

20、 Happy is saadoomed, utterly duped figure,destined to be swallowed up by the force of blind ambition that fuels his insatiable sex drive.Linda Loman and CharleyLinda and Charley serve as forces of reason throughout the play. Linda is probably the most enigmatic and complex character in Death of a Sa

21、lesman, or even in all of Miller Linda views freedom as an escape from debt, the reward of total ownership of the material goods that symbolize success and stability. Willywiths pthreoloAnmgerdicoabnsessionDream seems, overthe long years of his marriage, to have left Linda internally conflicted. Nev

22、ertheless, Linda, by far the toughest, most realistic, and most levelheaded character in the play, appears to have kept her emotional life intact. As such, she represents the emotional core of the drama.If Linda is a sort of emotional prophet, overcome by the inevitable end that she foresees with st

23、artling clarity, then Charley functions as a sort of poetic prophet or sage.Miller portrays Charley as ambiguously gendered or effeminate, much like Tiresias, the mythological seer in Sophocles Oedipus plays. Whereas Linda s lucid diagnosis of Willy made possible by her emotional sanity, Charley psr

24、ognosis of the situation is logical, grounded firmly in practical reasoned analysis. He recognizes Willy the job offer that he extends to Willy constitutes a commonsense solution. Though he is not terribly fond of Willy, Charley understands his plight and shields him from blame.Themes, Motifs & Symb

25、olsThemesThemes are the fundamental and often universal ideas explored in a literary work.The American DreamWilly believes wholeheartedly in what he considers the promise of the AmericanDream that a “ well liked ” and “ personally attractive ” man in business w and deservedlyacquire the material com

26、forts offered by modern American life. Oddly, his fixation with the superficial qualities of attractiveness and likeability is at odds with a more gritty, more rewarding understanding of the American Dream that identifies hard work without complaint as the key to success. Willy sinterpretation of li

27、keability is superficial he childishly dislikes Bernard becausehe considers Bernard a nerd. Willy s blind faith in his stunted version of the American Dream leads to his rapid psychological decline when he is unable to accept the disparity between the Dream and his own life.AbandonmentWilly lisfe ch

28、arts a course from one abandonment to the next, leaving him in greater despair each time. Willy fsather leaves him and Ben when Willy is very young, leaving Willy neither a tangible (money) nor an intangible (history) legacy. Ben eventually departs for Alaska, leaving Willy to lose himself in a warp

29、ed vision of the American Dream. Likely a result of these early experiences, Willy develops a fear of abandonment, which makes himwant his family to conform to the American Dream. His efforts to raise perfect sons, however, reflect his inability to understand reality. The young Biff, whom Willy cons

30、iders the embodiment of promise, drops Willy and Willys zealous ambitions for him when hout about Willy asdultery. Biff osngoing inability to succeedin businessfurthers his estrangement from Willy. When, at Frankhop House, WsilCly finally believes that Biff ison the cusp of greatness, Biff shatters

31、Willys illusions and, along with Happy,the deluded, babbling Willy in the washroom.BetrayalWilly s primary obsession throughout the play is what he considers to be Biffof his ambitions for him. Willy believes that he has every right to expect Biff to fulfill the promise inherent in him. When Biff wa

32、lks out on Willys ambitions for him, Wthis rejection as a personal affront (he associates it with “ insult a”nd “ spite ”W).illy, after all, is a salesman, and Biff-crushing rebusffeugltoimately reflects Willyto sell him on the American Dreamthe product in which Willy himself believes most faithfull

33、y. Willy assumes that Biffs betrayal stems from Biffs discowith The Woman a betrayal of Lindas love. Whereas Willy feels that Biff has betrayedhim, Biff feels that Willy, a“ phony little fake,” has betrayed him with hisof ego-stroking lies.MotifsMotifs are recurring structures, contrasts, or literar

34、y devices that can help to develop andinform the texts major themes.Mythic FiguresWilly tesndency to mythologize people contributes to his deluded understanding of the world. He speaks of Dave Singleman as a legend and imagines that his death must have been beautifully noble. Willy compares Biff and

35、 Happy to the mythic Greek figures Adonis and Hercules because he believes that his sons are pinnacles of“ personal atpower through “ well liked -ness”; to him, they seem the very incarnation of the American Dream.Willy ms ythologizing proves quite nearsighted, however. Willy fails to realize thehop

36、elessness of Singleman s-tlhoen-ejolyb, on-the-road death. Trying to achieve whathe considers to be Singlemans heroic status, Willy commits himself to a pathetic death ameaninglesslegacy (even if Willylisfe insurance policy ends up paying off, Biff wantsnothing to do with Willy sfoarmhbiimtio).nSimi

37、larly, neither Biff nor Happy ends upleading an ideal, godlike life; while Happy does believe in the American Dream, it seems likely that he will end up no better off than the decidedly ungodlike Willy.The American West, Alaska, and the African JungleThese regions represent the potential of instinct

38、 to Biff and Willy. Willy fsather found success in Alaska and his brother, Ben, became rich in Africa; these exotic locales, especially when compared to Willy bsanal Brooklyn neighborhood, crystallize how Willy s obsessionwith the commercial world of the city has trapped him in an unpleasantreality.

39、s failure, the American West, onWhereas Alaskaand the African jungle symbolize Willy the other hand, symbolizes Biff psotential. Biff realizesthat he has been content only when working on farms, out in the open. His westward escape from both Willy and the commercial world of the eastern United State

40、s suggests a nineteenth-century pioneer mentality Biff, unlike Willy, recognizes the importance of the individual.SymbolsSymbols are objects, characters, figures, or colors used to represent abstract ideas or concepts.SeedsSeeds represent for Willy the opportunity to prove the worth of his labor, bo

41、th as a salesman and a father. His desperate, nocturnal attempt to grow vegetables signifies his shame about barely being able to put food on the table and having nothing to leave his children when he passes.Willy feels that he has worked hard but fears that he will not be able to help his offspring

42、 any more than his own abandoning father helped him. The seeds also symbolize Willy ssenseof failure with Biff. Despite the American Dream sformula for success, which Willy considers infallible, Willy esfforts to cultivate and nurture Biff went awry. Realizing that his all-American football star has

43、 turned into a lazy bum, Willy takes Biff failure and lack of ambition as a reflection of his abilities as a father.DiamondsTo Willy, diamonds represent tangible wealth and, hence, both validation of one slabors offspring, two things th(and life) and the ability to pass material goods on to onedespe

44、ratelycraves. Correlatively, diamonds, the discovery of which made Ben a fortune,symbolize Willys failure as a salesman. Despite Willys belief in the Amebelief unwavering to the extent that he passed up the opportunity to go with Ben to Alaska, the Dream spromise of financial security has eluded Wil

45、ly. At the end of the play, Benencourages Willy to enter thejungle ” finally and retrievedthisthealut sisiv, etodiamonkill himself for insurance money in order to make his life meaningful.Linda s and The Woman s StockingsWilly s strange obsession with the conditioonf Linda s stockings foreshadows hi

46、s later flashback to Biff dsiscovery of him and The Woman in their Boston hotel room. The teenageBiff accusesWilly of giving away Linda stockings to The Woman. Stockings assume a metaphorical weight as the symbol of betrayal and sexual infidelity. New stockings are important for both Willy s pfirnia

47、dencinialblyeisnugccessful and thus able to providefor his family and for Willy s ability to ease his guilt about, and suppress the memorybetrayal of Linda and Biff.The Rubber HoseThe rubber hose is a stage prop that reminds the audience of Willy desperate attempts at s suicide. He has apparently at

48、tempted to kill himself by inhaling gas, which is, ironically, the very substanceessentialto one of the most basic elements with which he must equip hishome for his family s health and cohmeafot.rLt iteral death by inhaling gas parallels themetaphorical death that Willy feels in his struggle to affo

49、rd such a basic necessity.Act 2SummaryWhen Willy awakesthe next morning, Biff and Happy have already left, Biff to see BillOliver and Happy to mull over the“ Florida idea” and go to work. Willy, in high spiritswith the prospect of the“ Florida idea, ” mentions that he would like to get someplant a s

50、mall garden in the yard. Linda, pleased with her husband s hoout that there is not enough sun. Willy replies that they will have to get a house in the country. Linda reminds Willy to ask his boss, Howard, for a non-traveling job as well as an advance to pay the insurance premium. They have one last

51、payment on both the refrigerator and the house, and they have just finished paying for the car. Linda informs Willy that Biff and Happy want to take him to dinner at Frank s Chop House at six o departs, moved and excited by his sons dinner invitation,khinegntohtaict eLsinadastocis mending and, guilt

52、-ridden with the latent memory of his adultery with The Woman, admonishes her to throw the stocking away.Willy timidly enters HowardHs owffiacred. is playing with a wire recorder he has justpurchased for dictation. He plays the recorded voices of his family: his cloyingly enthusiastic children (a wh

53、istling daughter and a son who recites the state capitals in alphabetical order) and his shy wife. As Willy tries to express admiration, Howard repeatedly shushes him. Willyasks for a non-traveling job at $65 a week. Howard replies that there is no opening available. He looks for his lighter. Willy

54、finds it and hands it to him, unconsciouslyignoring, in his nervous and pathetically humble distraction, his own advice never to handle or tend to objects in a superior s office, since that is the responsibility of“l(fā)owering his salary request, explaining his financial situation in unusually candid d

55、etail, but Howard remains resistant. Howard keeps calilng him“ kid ” and assumes a condescendingtone despite his younger age and Willy s reminders that he helped Howardhim.I realized that selling was the greatest career a man could want.(See Important Quotations Explained)Desperate, Willy tries to r

56、elate an anecdote about Dave Singleman, aneighty-four-year-old salesmanwho phoned his buyers and made his saleswithout ever leaving his hotel room.After he died the noble “ death of a salesman ” that eludes Willy, hundreds of sa buyers attended his funeral. Willy reveals that his acquaintance with t

57、his venerable paragon of salesmanship convinced him to become a salesman himself rather than join his brother, Ben, on his newly purchased plot of timberland in Alaska. Singleman digsnified successand graceful, respected position as an older man deluded Willy into believing that the greatest career

58、a man could want ” because of its limitless potential and its honorable nature. Willy laments the loss of friendship and personality in the business, and he complains that no one knows him anymore. An uninterested Howard leaves the office to attend to other people, and he returns when Willy begins shouting frantically after accidentallyswitching on the wire recorder. Eventually, Willy becomes so distraught that Howard informs him that he does not want Willy to represent