英语戏剧欣赏

Broken of American Dream in Death of

a Salesman

【Abstract】The great dramatist to come out of the 1940s is Athur Miller who was, along with Tennessee Williams, led the postwar new drama. Death of a salesman, one of Athur Miller’s best plays, is hi s masterpiece, won him the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1949 and some other prizes. Unlike the classic Greek or Elizabethan tragedy, which focuses on the downfall of a noble character, Death of A Salesman focuses on an ordinary character, a common American man. It’s said that Miller is criticizing and capitalism as a promoter of socialism.【内容摘要】十九世纪四十年代米勒写了一部最著名的戏剧，他和田纳西威廉引领了

战后的戏剧发展。推销员之死是米勒最好最杰出的剧作，在1949年为他赢得了普利策最佳戏剧奖和其他的奖项。与古代希腊和伊莉莎白时代的经典悲剧不同，它关注的是一个角色的衰落。推销员之死的主角是一个普通的美国人。米勒是批判资本主义者是社会的推动者。

【Key Words】American dream; friendship; materialistic America

Death of a Salesman is a great tragedy which was written by American dramatist Arthur Miller. This drama is one of the three great tragedies in the American drama history with Tennessee Williams’ s A Street Car Named Desire and Eugene O’ Neill’s Long Day’s Jouney into Night. It is different from the classical tragedy. It’s demonstrated through willy, the protagonist during the

story, who struggles to support his family and even himself. It’s a story of a man at the end of his life, who realizes he was wasted his years in pursuit of a goal is not only unattainable, but was never real to begin with. I think this drama’s protagonist willy loman’problems in life were usually caused of his chase towards the American dream. In Death Of A Salesman, we can learn a lot about the broken of American dream —a belief that as long as the United States after a hard struggle will be able to achieve the ideal of a better life, that is, people have to work through their own hard work, courage, creativity and determination to move towards Prosperity. There are also many other factors could direction our life.

Death of a Salesman is centered on one man trying to reach the American dream and taking his family along for ride. Willy is at the bottom of the totem pole in a capitalistic world. He owns nothing, and he makes nothing, so he has no sense of accomplishment. He believes that if a person is well liked and has a great deal of personal attractiveness, then all doors will automatically be opened for him, and he built his life around those dream. He lived everyday of his life trying to become successful, well-off salesman. His self-image that he portrayed to others was a lie and he was even able to deceive himself with it. He travelled around the country selling his merchandise and maybe when he was younger,Willy loman,the salesman of the title ,is as “phony” as Mark Twain’s Colonel Sellers but hardworking and honest, but in reality not as successful and “great”.