Sabtu, 14 Mei 2011

The Analysis of Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller

NAME : Fibrian Anindyawati
NIM : A320080241
Class : F


The Analysis of Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller


1. The Character
a. Willy Loman : A 63 year old once popular salesman. He is Linda’s husband. He has a simple dream, working with his hand in wide-open spaces, and doing the thing that fulfill him.

b. Linda Loman : Willy’s wife. She try tries to protect Willy’s feelings and can’t make herself confront him if it means hurting his feelings.

c. Happy Loman : Willy and Linda’s younger son. He is the assistant to an assistant manager at a department store. He tries anything to continue his father’s dream after he dies.

d. Biff Loman : Willy and Linda’s elder son. He has been searching for himself while working on farms in the west to the dismay of his father.

e. Ben Loman : Willy’s adventurous brother. He died in Africa. Then he appears in Willy’s “daydreams.” Willy regards Ben as a symbol of the success that he so desperately craves for himself and his sons.

f. Charley : Bernard’s father who is fairly successful and offers Willy a job which Willy refuses on the basis of pride.

g. Bernard : Bernard is Charley’s son, successful lawyer. Bernard’s success is difficult to accept by Willy because his own sons’ lives do not measure up.

h. The woman : Willy’s mistress when Happy and Biff were in high school. She is a secretary to one of the buyers, and choose Willy as a lover and she exploit him to get a gifts.

i. Howard Wagner : Willy’s boss. A cold, selfish man, he is success without building anything himself.

j. Stanley : A waiter at Frank’s Chop House. Stanley and Happy seem to be friends.

k. Miss Forsythe: A call girl Biff and Happy met at Frank’s Chop house.

l. Letta : A call girl friend of Miss Forsythe.

m. Jenny : Charley’s secretary.


2. Plot Summary
Death of a Salesman is a tragedy about the differences between a New York family's dreams and the reality of their lives. The main character is Willy Loman, an average guy who attempts to hide his averageness and failures behind delusions of grandeur as he strives to be a success.


3. Setting
Willy’s house : Small house in New York surrounded by apartments.
Restaurant : Restaurant where Stanley works where the Lomans were supposed to have dinner at the end of the play.
The Hotel : The hotel where Willy stays while in New England for his business trips. This is where Biff catches his father in the affair.


4. The Theme and The Issue
The theme and the issue of this drama is about the American dream, working with his hand in wide-open spaces. The second is about conflict between father and son. The third is about betrayal.


5. The style
Death of A Salesman use some symbols such as:
a. The rubber hose.
The rubber hose is a symbol of Willy’s impending suicide. Linda finds it hidden behind the fuse box in the cellar. The rubber hose points how the conveniences such as the car and water heater that Willy works so hard to buy to afford might, under their surface, be killing him.

b. Stockings
Stockings assume a metaphorical weight as the symbol of betrayal and sexual infidelity. New stockings are important for both Willy’s pride in being financially successful and thus able to provide for his family and for Willy’s ability to ease his guilt about, and suppress the memory of, his betrayal of Linda and Biff.

c. Seeds
Seeds represent for Willy the opportunity to prove the worth of his labor, both as a salesman and a father.

d. Diamond
To Willy, diamonds represent tangible wealth and, hence, both validation of one’s labor (and life) and the ability to pass material goods on to one’s offspring, two things that Willy desperately craves. Correlatively, diamonds, the discovery of which made Ben a fortune, symbolize Willy’s failure as a salesman.

e. Flute
The flute music that drifts through the play represents the single faint link Willy has with his father and with the natural world. The elder Loman made flutes, and was apparently able to make a good living by simply traveling around the country and selling them.


6. The Conclusion
The result of the drama is Man vs. Society. It is caused because there are many conflict in this drama. There is an abandonment and betrayal in this drama.

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