Willy suffers from the consequences of the internal and external conflicts in his life. One of the antagonists in this story is the false promise of the American Dream, not another person per se. Willy is unable to become rich and show his family h Continue Reading...
Dunbar writes his entire poem in a dialect that is nearly indecipherable at first glance as well.
All of the collective characters in Death of a Salesman, Beloved, and "Antebellum Sermon" have experienced some kind of difficulty in their pasts (som Continue Reading...
He continued to repeat the same behavior without at least trying to do something different. His dream probably kept him alive a little longer than he might have lived otherwise. As pathetic as his dream was, he owned it and believed he could reach i Continue Reading...
Arthur Miller's "Death of a Salesman"
Perhaps no other play in American history has captured the essence of the nation's collective consciousness during a particular era than Arthur Miller's 1949 drama Death of a Salesman. Presented predominately f Continue Reading...
Pygmalion -- George Bernard Shaw
George Bernard Shaw -- one of the most well regarded playwrights -- wrote this comedy and first presented it to the public in 1912. He took some of the substance of the original Greek myth of Pygmalion and turned it Continue Reading...
Appearance vs. Reality
Discrepancies between inner and outer realities:
1984 versus Death of a Salesman
Both George Orwell's dystopian classic novel 1984 and Arthur Miller's realist stage drama Death of a Salesman create a contrast between appeara Continue Reading...
Eugene O'Neill's play, "The Emperor Jones (1921)," is the horrifying story of Rufus Jones, the monarch of a West Indian island, presented in a single act of eight scenes of violence and disturbing images. O'Neill's sense of tragedy comes out undilute Continue Reading...
As a king in ancient Greek literature, Oedipus was required to have a dramatically catastrophic fall, while modern literature needs a tragic hero who is an "everyman." But both suffered greatly in their own ways, and in ways that the audience both e Continue Reading...
Drama
Death of a Salesman -- comparison between the play and a 1985 TV rendering of the play, starring Dustin Hoffman
The tragedy of Willie Loman in the play by Arthur Miller seems like a man who wants to be great, yet falls to a tragic and small e Continue Reading...
He cannot provide for his family financially, and emotionally he feels bankrupt. That is why the brief, transient sense that Biff likes him provides him with so much joy -- it is the proof, however small, that he has succeeded at something in life. Continue Reading...
Drama [...] how drama can capture the emotions of an audience and engage participants and audience to such an extent that they may experience feelings they forgot they had and thoughts they had not yet discovered. Drama can capture an audience and m Continue Reading...
loss affects not just Yank, who wrestles with it throughout the play, but perhaps also Yank's shipmates, Mildred and her aunt, the rich people on Fifth Avenue, the prisoners, and the union members. In what ways does the play suggest that modern exis Continue Reading...
Gun Control
Definition of the Problem (Gun Control)
In America as well as other parts of the world, the role played by guns in committing violent acts, and what must be done in this regard, is a hotly debated topic. However, some facts are incontes Continue Reading...