deathofasalesman推销员之死》英语详细分析.docx

1、deathofasalesman推销员之死英语详细分析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 Biff s final confrontation with Willy at homePROTAGONISTS ? Willy L oman, Biff LomanANTAGONISTS ?

2、Biff Loman, Willy Loman, the American DreamSETTING(TIME) ? “Today, ” that is, the present; either the late 1940s or the time period in which the play is being produced, with “daydreams” into Willy s past; all of the action takes place during a twenty-four-hour period between Monday night and Tuesday

3、 night, except the “Requiem,” which takes place, presumably, a few days after Willy s funeralSETTING (PLACE) ? According to the stage directions, “Willy Loman shouse and yard in Brooklyn and . . . various places he visits in . . .New York and Boston ”FALLING ACTION ? The “Requiem” section, although

4、the play is notreally structured as a classical dramaTENSE ? PresentFORESHADOWING W?illy s flute theme foreshadows the re velation of his father s occupation and abandonment; Willy s preoccupation with Linda s stockings foreshadows his affair with The Woman; Willy s automobile accident before the st

5、art of Act I foreshadows his suicide at the end of Act IITONE ? The tone of Miller s stage directions and dialogue ranges fromsincere to parodying, but, in general, the treatment is tender, though at times brutally honest, toward Willy s plightTHEMES ? The American Dream; abandonment; betrayalMOTIFS

6、 ? Mythic figures; the American West; Alaska; the African jungleSYMBOLS ? Seeds; diamonds; Linda s and the womon s stockings; the rubber hoseAnalysis of Major CharactersWilly LomanDespite his desperate searching through his past, Willy does not achieve the self-realization or self-knowledge typical

7、of the tragic hero. The quasi-resolution that his suicide offers him represents 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 to realize his personal failure and betrayal of his soul an

8、d family through the meticulously constructed artifice of his life. He cannot grasp the true personal, emotional, spiritual understanding of himselfas a literal “loman” or “low man.” Willy is too driven by his own“willy ” - ness or perverse “willfulness ” to recognize the slanted reality that his de

9、sperate mind has forged. Still, many critics, focusingon Willy s entrenchment in a quagmire of lies, delusions, and self-deceptions, ignore the significant accomplishment of his partial self- realization. Willy s failure to recognize the anguished love offered to him by his family is crucial to the

10、climax of his torturous day, and the play presents this incapacity as the real tragedy. Despite this failure, Willy makes the most extreme sacrifice in his attempt to leave an inheritance that will allow Biff to fulfillBens final mantra“The jungle is dark, but fullthe American Dream.of diamonds” tur

11、nsWilly s suicide into a metaphorical moral struggle, ambition to realize his full commercial and materialact, according to Ben, isnot like an appointment at all” but likeWilly is able to achieve adoes experience a sort ofa “diamond . . . rough and hard to the touch.real degree of self-knowledge or

12、truth, tangible result. In some respect, Willy 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 hi s earlier assertion to Charley that “after all the highways, and the trains, and the appointments,

13、and the years, you end up worth more dead 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, Biff acknowledges his failure and eventually manages to conf

14、ront it. Even the difference between his name and theirs reflects this polarity: whereas Willy and Happy willfully andhappily delude themselves, Biff bristles stiffly at self-deception. Biff s discovery that Willy has a mistress strips him of his faith in Willy and Willy s ambitions for him. Consequ

15、ently, Willy sees Biff as an underachiever, while Biff sees himself as trapped in Willy s grandiose fantasies. After his epiphany in Bill Oliver s office, Biffdetermines to break through the lies surrounding the Lomanfamily in order to come to realistic terms with his own life. Intent on revealing t

16、he simple and humbl e truth behind Willy s fantasy, Biff longs for theterritory (the symbolically free West) obscured by his father s blindfaith in a skewed, materialist version of the American Dream. Biff sidentity crisis is a function of his and his father s disillusionm ent,which, in order to rec

17、laim his identity, he must expose.Happy LomanHappy shares none of the poetry that erupts from Biff and that is buried in Willy he is the stunted incarnation of Willy s worst traits and the embodiment of the lie of the happy American Dream. As such, Happy is adifficult character with whom to empathiz

18、e. He is one-dimensional and static throughout the play. His empty vow to avenge Willy s death byfinally “beating this racket ” provides evidence of his criticalcondition: for Happy, who has lived in the shadow of the inflated expectations of his brother, there is no escape from the Dreams indoctrin

19、ated lies. Happys diseased condition is irreparable he lacks even the tiniest spark of self-knowledge or capacity for self-analysis.He does share Willy s capacity for self -delusion, trumpeting himselfas the assistant buyer at his store, when, in reality, he is only an assistant to the assistant buy

20、er. He does not possess a hint of the latent thirst for knowledge that proves Biff s sal vation. Happy is a doomed,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 t

21、hroughout the play. Linda is probably the most enigmatic and complex character in Death of a Salesman, or even in all of Miller s work. Linda views freedom as anescape from debt, the reward of total ownership of the material goods that symbolize success and stability. Willy s prolonged obsession wit

22、h the American Dream seems, over the long years of his marriage, to have left Linda internally conflicted. Nevertheless, 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

23、of the drama.If Linda is a sort of emotional prophet, overcome by the inevitable end that she foresees with startling 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 Sopho

24、cles Oedipus plays. Whereas Linda s lucid diagnosis of Willy s rapid decline is made possible by her emotional sanity, Charley s prognosis of the situation is logical, grounded firmly in practical reasoned analysis. Herecognizes Willy s financial failure, and the job offer that he extends to Willy c

25、onstitutes a commonsensesolution. Though he is not terribly fond of Willy, Charley understands his plight and shields him from blame.Themes, Motifs & SymbolsThemesThemes are the fundamental and often universal ideas explored in a literary work.The American DreamWilly believes wholeheartedly in what

26、he considers the promise of theAmerican Dreamthat a “well liked ” and “personally attractive ” man in business will indubitably and deservedly acquire the material comforts offered by modern American life. Oddly, his fixation with the superficialqualities of attractiveness and likeability is at odds

27、 with a more gritty, more rewarding understanding of the American Dream that identifies hard work without complaint as the key to success. Willy s interpretationof likeability is superficial he childishly dislikes Bernard becausehe considers Bernard a nerd. Willy s blind faith in his stunted version

28、 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 s life charts a course from one abandonment to the next, leaving him in greater despair each time. Willy s father leaves him and Ben when Wil

29、ly 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 warped vision of the American Dream. Likely a result of these early experiences, Willy develops a fear of abandonment, which makes him

30、want his family to conform to the American Dream. His efforts to raise perfect sons, however, reflect his inability to understand reality. The young Biff, whomWilly considers the embodiment of promise, drops Willy and Willy s zealous ambitions for him when hefinds out about Willy s adultery. Biff s

31、ongoing inability to succeed in business furthers his estrangement from Willy. When, at Frank s Chop House, Willy finally believes that Biff is on the cusp of greatness, Biff shatters Willy s illusions and, along with Happy, abandons the deluded,babbling Willy in the washroom.BetrayalWilly s primary

32、 obsession throughout the play is what he considers tobe Biff s betrayal of his ambitions for him. Willy believes that he has every right to expect Biff to fulfill the promise inherent in him. WhenBiff walks out on Willy s ambitions for him, Willy takes this rejection as a personal affront (he associates it with “insult ” and “spite ” ). Willy, after all, is a salesman, and Biff s ego-crushing rebuff ultimately reflects Willy s inability to sell him on the American Drea