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一位普通美国人的悲剧原型论《推销员之死》中威利洛曼的悲剧形象一、本文概述《推销员之死》是美国剧作家阿瑟·米勒的经典之作，它深刻揭示了20世纪中叶美国社会底层人物的生活困境和心理挣扎。
威利·洛曼，作为这部悲剧的主人公，以其鲜明的个性和复杂的内心世界，成为了美国文学史上一个令人难以忘怀的悲剧形象。
本文旨在通过原型批评的视角，探讨威利·洛曼这一悲剧形象的深层含义和普遍价值，以期对米勒的创作意图和该作品的社会意义有更深入的理解。
我们将首先概述《推销员之死》的剧情和威利·洛曼的基本形象，分析他作为一个普通美国人在社会压力和个人追求中所面临的困境。
接着，我们将引入原型批评的理论框架，通过对威利·洛曼性格特点和悲剧命运的深入剖析，揭示他作为悲剧原型的普遍性和象征意义。
在此基础上，我们将进一步探讨威利·洛曼悲剧形象的社会文化背景和米勒的创作意图，以及这一形象对当代社会的启示和影响。
通过这一研究，我们希望能够更深入地理解《推销员之死》这部经典剧作的艺术价值和社会意义，同时也为悲剧原型的研究提供新的视角和思考。
二、威利·洛曼的悲剧性格分析《推销员之死》中的威利·洛曼，不仅是一个社会现象下的受害者，更是一个充满悲剧色彩的人物。
他的悲剧性格在多方面得到了深刻的体现。
威利·洛曼的性格中充满了不切实际的幻想和过度的乐观。
他对自己的能力和价值有着过高的估计，这导致他对现实世界的残酷和无情缺乏足够的认识。
这种盲目的乐观和自信，使他在面对失败和挫折时，往往选择逃避和否认，而不是面对和解决问题。
这种性格上的弱点，使得他在人生的道路上越走越远，最终走向了悲剧的结局。
威利·洛曼的性格也体现了一种顽固的执着。
他对于自己的理想和目标有着坚定的信念，但这种信念却缺乏足够的灵活性和变通性。
他无法接受现实世界的改变，也无法适应社会的变迁。
这种顽固的执着，使他在面对困境时，往往选择坚守自己的信念，而不是寻找新的出路。
2005年3月第21卷 第2期四川外语学院学报Journal of Sichuan I nternati onal Studies UniversityM ar.,2005Vol.21 No.2一位普通美国人的悲剧原型———论《推销员之死》中威利・洛曼的悲剧形象马可云(绍兴文理学院外国语学院,浙江绍兴 312000)提 要:以弗莱的神话———原型批评理论来探讨美国现代著名戏剧家阿瑟・米勒的代表作《推销员之死》中主人公的悲剧形象。
与传统悲剧不同,《推销员之死》成功地塑造出一位美国普通推销员的悲剧原型。
主人公威利・洛曼的命运悲剧不仅是其个人的悲剧,也是家庭关系的悲剧,更是美国社会的悲剧。
关键词:悲剧原型;个人悲剧;家庭悲剧;社会悲剧中图分类号:I7121073 文献标识码:A 文章编号:1003-3831(2005)02-0035-05The Trag i c Archetype of an Am er i can Everyman:W illy L oman i n D ea th of a Sa lesm anMA Ke2yunAbstract:This essay app lies Fryeπs Mythol ogical2A rchetypal App r oach t o the inter p retati on of the tragic p r otagonist in D eath of a Sales m an,the master p iece written by the modern American p lay wright A rthur M iller.D ifferent fr om traditi onal tragedies,the archetype of a co mmon American sales man has been successfully characterized in D eath of a Sales m an.The tragedy of W illy Loman may be considered as a tragedy of an individual,of a fa m ily,and of American s ociety as well. Key words:Tragic archetype;individual tragedy;fa m ily tragedy;s ocial tragedy 原型批评理论是加拿大著名的文学理论家诺思洛普・弗莱(Northr op Frye,1912～1991)在研究西方神话的本质基础上,通过《批评的解剖》(1957)一书建立起来的。
大理大学学报JOURNAL OF DALI UNIVERSITY 第1卷第11期2016年11月Vol.1No.11Nov.2016［DOI］10.3969/j.issn.2096-2266.2016.11.007《推销员之死》是犹太裔美国著名剧作家阿瑟·米勒的经典之作，一举囊括了托尼奖、普利策奖和纽约剧评界奖，该剧讲述了美国社会一名普通的推销员威利·洛曼在执著追求美国梦道路上陨落的故事，为观众展现了一个在理想与现实中挣扎纠结的小人物形象。
《推销员之死》的故事情节并不复杂，却为读者们提供了多层次多角度的阐释空间，不同文化背景、生活经历的人都能从中找到共鸣，拥有自己独特的理解。
但概括地说，评论家们大多把《推销员之死》的悲剧归因于威利·洛曼狭隘偏激的美国梦，“‘金钱至上’的美国梦是美国社会判断人的价值的唯一取向，这种不正常的价值观导致了威利的精神崩溃和自杀”〔1〕，并探讨在这种扭曲的人生价值观影响下普通人在事业、婚姻、家庭各个方面所遭受的挫败。
围城效应是钱钟书在其著名小说《围城》中所提出的一种探讨人生和文学的新理念。
“围在城里的想逃出来，城外的人想冲进去。
对婚姻也罢，职业也罢，人生的愿望大都如此”〔2〕。
围城是无法安于现状的人不自觉地束缚在自己身上的一副枷锁，总是无法满足的欲望禁锢了他们的身心自由，诱惑着人们走向自己想象的幻境进而走向绝望的深渊。
在围城视角下的《推销员之死》呈现出一种全然不同的理解氛围，威利·洛曼身上带有的阿瑟·米勒潜意识映射出的犹太文化欲融入美国主流文化未果；威利·洛曼妄想运用“好人缘”在物欲横流唯利是图的金钱社会中获得成功却惨遭失败；威利·洛曼内心极度渴望儿子的崇拜认可却在谎言和欺骗的阴影下与儿子的关系降到冰点。
欲求不得的围城心态折磨着威利·洛曼，无法解脱的他最终怀揣着带有诈骗性质的梦想放弃了自己的生命，然而他的死亡却成了他出售的最后一件毫无价值的商品，在寥寥无几的哀悼者见证下走完了自己悲惨的一生。
浅析《推销员之死》中威利•洛曼的悲剧作者：关羽含来源：《青年文学家》2017年第21期摘要：威利·洛曼是《推销员之死》中的主人公，也就是阿瑟·米勒在作品中塑造的人物，一名推销员。
他作为美国社会中最普通的一员，为公司卖力工作35年，年岁大被解雇；他对儿子寄托全部希望，儿子们事业却很失败；无力养家的他选择自杀，以便给家人带来一笔保险金。
他的悲剧不是他个人的悲剧，在整个美国社会中也是典型的悲剧。
关键词：威利·洛曼；价值观；期望与现实；付出和回报作者简介：关羽含（1994-），女，汉族，辽宁省本溪市人，辽宁大学英语语言文学专业硕士在读，研究方向：英美文学。
[中图分类号]：J8 [文献标识码]：A[文章编号]：1002-2139（2017）-21--01《推销员之死》是美国剧作家阿瑟·米勒的杰作，威利·洛曼是这部作品中的中心人物。
对于他的一生，有的人认为他可悲，有的人认为他可怜。
他是一个悲剧人物，他是美国人民中普通的一员，他的人生际遇，价值观的冲突、期望和现实的冲突、付出和收获的冲突就是美国民众的缩影。
美国当代批评家杰克·克罗尔曾说：“《推销员之死》把我们的某些最有深远影响、最致命的矛盾冲突以隆重的方式公布在大众面前。
它是一出关于美国社会中被扭曲了的人们的遭遇的戏剧……米勒这部作品的强大威力把观众的诚实心态升华到了一个新的高度，他们了解那个以虚幻的梦想欺骗自己而且至死不愿醒悟的威利·洛曼。
”一、价值观的冲突他有一句口头禅，“只要别人喜欢你，就什么都有了。
”他总是认为，一个人能否成功关键是看他人是否喜欢你，也就是人好缘不好。
“他希望别人真心喜欢他，希望得到别人的爱戴，希望成为一个了不起的人，希望能实现自己的幻想，一辈子没有白过……”然而，一名推销员对社会的意义是什么？他没有技术，不会安装机械；他没有知识，不能用法律手段帮助别人，不能帮人看病开药方。
美国梦的幻灭——《推销员之死》中威利洛曼的悲剧命运浅
析
王洋
【期刊名称】《海外英语（下）》
【年(卷),期】2018(000)008
【摘要】"美国梦"这一主题在阿瑟·米勒的代表作《推销员之死》中得到充分的体现,该剧主人公威利·洛曼之死则代表着"美国梦"的幻灭.威利扭曲的性格,其不正常的家庭关系及其所处的社会制度均是造成其悲剧命运的原因.
【总页数】2页(P187-188)
【作者】王洋
【作者单位】大连理工大学城市学院,辽宁大连116600
【正文语种】中文
【中图分类】I106
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1.浅析《推销员之死》中威利·洛曼的悲剧命运 [J], 宋正元;
2.殊途同归的美国梦——从盖茨比和威利·洛曼之死看美国梦的幻灭 [J], 陈刚
3.美国之梦的破灭--《推销员之死》中威利·洛曼的悲剧命运浅析 [J], 朱亚宁
4.美国梦的幻灭——《推销员之死》中威利·洛曼的悲剧命运浅析 [J], 王洋
5.一个普通人的美国梦寻——《推销员之死》中威利·罗曼的悲剧命运 [J], 李征戎因版权原因，仅展示原文概要，查看原文内容请购买。
（2013）届本科生毕业设计（论文）题目On Inevitability of Willy Loman’s Tragedy inDeath of a Salesman论《推销员之死》中威利·罗曼的悲剧必然性专业英语院系外国语学院论《推销员之死》中威利·罗曼的悲剧必然性摘要:《推销员之死》是美国著名戏剧大师阿瑟·米勒的作品，被誉为“美国梦不在”的代表作。
这部作品完成于1949年，它在百老汇的首演就取得了庞大的成功，许多评论家把这部戏剧看做美国第一部杰出的悲剧。
这部作品的主人公威利·罗曼是一个普通的推销员，但是各类冲突把他推向了死亡，他的悲剧命运是不可避免的。
本论文将以黑格尔的悲剧理论为基础对威利·罗曼的悲剧必然性进行分析。
本论文分为两大部份，别离是对那时社会大背景的分析和对作品中人物之间冲突的分析，通过这些分析得出其悲剧命运的必然性。
并通过对威利·罗曼的悲剧必然性的分析，探讨作家对那时社会的态度，和这种悲剧的普遍性，从而挖掘其现实意义。
关键词:推销员之死；悲剧；必然性；矛盾冲突；社会现实On Inevitability of Willy Loman’s Tragedy in Deathof a SalesmanAbstract:Death of a salesman is a famous work of the great American playwright Arthur Miller, which is a typical work about absence of American dream.The play premiered on in February 1949 and made a great success.Some reviewers view it as one of the great tragedies in American literature. The protagonist is a salesman named Willy Loman but all kinds of conflicts led to his final death. This thesis makes a thorough research on the inevitability of Willy Loman’s tragedy in Death of a Salesman on the basis of Hegel's theory of tragedy. The thesis mainly includes two parts: one is the analysis of the social environment, the other is the analysis of conflicts in this work, through which we can get the conclusion that Willy’s tragedy is inevitable. This thesis also makes a research about the writer’s attitude towards the social reality at that time and the universality of Willy’s tragedy.Key Words: Death of a salesman, tragedy, inevitability, conflicts, social realityContents1. Introduction (1)2. The social background of Death of a Salesman (1)The social factors in the 1940s (2)The influence of social background on the tragic plot (2)The influence of social background on the tragic character (3)The influence of social background on the inevitability of the tragedy (4)3. The conflicts in Willy Loman’s life (4)The conflict between Willy’s American dream and the reality (4)The conflict between Willy and his sons (6)The conflict between Willy and other characters (7)4. The inevitability of Willy Loman’s tragedy (8)5. Conclusion (10)Bibliography (11)Acknowledgement (12)1.IntroductionArthur Miller is a great American playwright and essayist. Death of a Salesman is generally acknowledged as his most remarkable masterpiece, which makes him well known around the world. It was the recipient of the 1949 and . The play premiered on in February 1949, which caused a tremendous sensation. Such a play full of melancholy and tragedy actually stirred the whole literary world and still occupied an important position in American literary.Death of a salesman tells a story of a four-number family, in which each of them is busy all day to satisfy their inner desire. Willy Loman, the protagonist of the play, is an ordinary salesman. He is 60 years old and very unstable, tending to imagine events from the past as if they are real. There is an irreconcilable conflict between Willy’s dream and the reality. Linda Loman is Willy's wife. She always smiles and nods when Willy talks unrealistically about hopes for the future. They have two sons, Biff and Happy, who also have their respective problems in their life. The conflicts still exist between Willy and other characters. Willy’s family was under great depress, and Willy got some metal illness. Their life is not so smooth and everyone in this family is weighted down by life.As Hegel argued that the tragedy is caused by conflicts. All the conflicts are divided into two groups. Firstly, some conflicts are caused by objective factors. Then the rest of conflicts are caused by psychological status, which are the most ideal conflicts in Hegel’s opinion. All conflicts would lead to two results, die or peace1 Atkinson，the famous critic of the New York Times, ever said, “Death of a salesman is a great work filled with humanistic concern. That is because Mr. Miller sympathetically had a insight into the inner world of ordinary Americans and quietly presented the pain into the stage.” In China, many scholars speak highly of this great play. Ying Ruocheng, a famous translator and performing artist in China, views Death of a salesman as one of the greatest play in America. But few scholars pay close attention to the inevitability of Willy’s tragedy. The study of the inevitability of Willy’s tragedy has its practical significance and academic value. The research on the inevitability of the tragedy is to have a deep understanding of the American society in the 1940s and explore the practical significance.2. The social background of Death of a salesmanThe social background is the cornerstone of the play. The study of social background is great of importance to the literature and literary study. This play was written in 1949. In that period, America achieved greatly success in economy. Most1of the people had blind optimism, so it was high time that artists sounded the alarm for people. Social background and the function of the social reality to Willy’s tragedy will be introduced in this part.The social factors in the 1940sThe play, Death of a salesman, which caused a great sensation, premiered on in February 1949 after the Second World War. American economy in that period had a rapid development. When America entered a glowing period after the Second World War, it had a market eight times larger than any competitor, giving its industries unparalleled economies of scale. Its scientists were the best; its workers the most skilled. All Americans were prosperous beyond the dreams. But it didn’t mean everything went well. At least, life is not so easy for ordinary people.Some serious social problems still existed. To begin with, although the American economy had a rapid development, it was in shadow of the Great Depression in the 1930s. Some social problems under the capitalist market economy, such as inflation, unemployment, still perplexed the ordinary Americans. In the next place, the cruel disordered competition of capitalist market economy caused a value which viewed the profits and wealth as the most important things. Some old people are eliminated by the society. Furthermore, most of Americans at that time were addicted in the pursuit of wealth and ignored other happiness, such as the family, friendship and so on. The value destroyed the nature of kindness and the harmony of society.The story of Death of a salesman happened in this settings. Willy Loman is an ordinary salesman. In general view, he was a man full of happiness. He had a beautiful wife and two sons, a house in downtown, a car and a steady work. But he didn’t feel satisfied until his death. In his mind, wealth and fame is the only thing which he pursues. He failed, so he wanted his sons to make his dream come true. At last, nothing went well. Misery over misery, he was fired by his boss although he had been working for the company for 34 years, so he ended his life at last. Therefore it’s not only a tragedy of Willy Loman, but also a tragedy of the American society.The influence of social background on the tragic plotThe social background has an influence on the development of plot in this play. Plot is the series of events which form the story of a novel, a play or a film. The plot and the reality have a close relationship. The development of the plot is not beyond the reality, that is to say, the plot should obey some rules which come from social reality in literature. The plot of Death of a salesman is deeply rooted in the society.Firstly, Willy Loman chose salesman as his ideal job when he was young. The choice is deeply influenced by the social background. In the 1910s, salesman is anideal and steady job. When Willy was young, he met an old salesman who could make money at the age of 84. From then on, Willy chose salesman as his lifelong job. His choice is obviously influenced by the social reality. The choice in the 1910s is the start of development of the plot.Secondly, salesman was on longer an ideal and steady job with the development of the society. The World War in the 1930s created much economic bubble in America. The impact of greatest economic crisis in 1939 on American economy existed. All these curbed consumption to some extent, which made salesman was not so steady in the 1940s. The change of social background deeply influenced on the development of the plot. Willy’s life should be better and better, but things don’t turn out the way he wants, his career was at a mess. At the same time, the relationship between Willy and his family turned complicated. Willy sticks to his original dream, but his son Biff wants to be a farmer to get away from the pressure from the society. The conflict between Willy and Biff become acute. The social background pushes Willy to the cliff step by step.Thirdly, the society is full of the law of jungle. Almost everyone pursues their success by hook or by crook and . This is the by-product of the high-speed development of economy. The social background impulses the development of the plot again. Willy was fired by his boss. In eyes of the boss, Willy was too old to create surplus value. Capitalists batten on the surplus value created by workers. It is inevitable for Willy to be fired by his boss. The change directly pushes the plot to a new high.Obviously, the plot is rooted in the social background. The function of the social background to the development of plot is great of importance.The influence of social background on the tragic characterThe tragic character in the play is also influenced by social background. Society is constituted by people, on the other hand, society also influences on individuals. Willy Loman is the one who is influenced by social reality.Firstly, the influence of social background on the tragic character reflects on the impact of the American Dream on Willy. The America dream is a belief which is rooted in the whole American society. Willy always sticks to his American dream, he don’t want to yield to the social reality. T he American dream has a great influence on Willy. On one hand, Willy is crazy for his dream, which makes him blind and paranoid. On the other hand, his fanaticism about his dream is unrealistic, which makes him frustrated. The two points cause his personality weakness, which is related to his tragedy.Secondly, the mainstream values also influence on Willy’s tragedy. Values are beliefs about what is right and wrong and what is important in life. Values originate in society and are rooted in social reality. In the 1940s, the cruel disordered competition of capitalist market economy caused a value which viewed the profits and wealth as the most important things. Willy is deeply influenced by the value. He was always crazy for fame and wealth. His craze was blind, which made him ignore the essence of life. This point directly causes the conflict between Willy and his family, which lead to his tragedy.It is obvious that the social background has a great impact on Willy and his tragedy.The influence of social background on the inevitability of Willy Loman’s tragedyFrom the analysis, we learn that social background has an impact on the plot and the tragic character. The plot and personality weaknesses are two factors in Willy’s tragedy. The two factors are both rooted in social background. In Hegel’s theory of tragedy, there is a kind of conflict which is caused by objective factors. Social background is sorted into objective factors, and is independent from individual’s will. Society is the accelerator of the tragedy. Specifically, the high-speed development of economy in that period made Willy crazy for wealth and fame. And the reality is so cruel. When Willy got old, he was fired by his boss. That directly caused his death. According to the analysis, we can safely get the conclusion that the inevitability of Willy’s tragedy is influenced by the social background.All in all, it is necessary to have a research on the social background. Social reality is not only the cornerstone of this work but also the environment of the story. Society’s function in this play is great and can’t be ignored.3. The conflicts in Willy Loman’s lifeIn Hegel’s idea, the basic factors which caused Willy’s tragedy are conflicts. Conflict is a situation in which people, groups or countries are involved in a serious disagreement or argument. This part will be divided into three parts to study the importance of conflicts in Willy’s life.The conflict between Willy’s American Dream and the realityThe America dream is a belief which is rooted in the whole American society. The American dream, originating from the colonization time, not only inspirits people to be successful but also is the spine of the American literature. The American Dream is a national of the , a set of ideals in which freedom includes the opportunity for prosperity and success, and an upward achieved through hard work.2this play, the protagonist, Willy Loman, also had his own American dream. He wanted to be successful, and he also imposed his dream onto his sons. But he failed at last.The society is full of the law of the jungle. Not everyone is the winner, loser is everywhere as well. Willy Loman was a man who was eliminated by the increasingly fierce social competition. On the other hand, Willy's neighbor，Charley, and his elder brother, Ben who became a diamond tycoon after a detour to Africa were successful. Willy is jealous of them. The comparison between Willy and the other two successful men also made Willy frustrated.In Willy’s mind, he should be the same successful as them, but the reality played a joke to him. In fact, his life is not so well. His two sons had conflicts with him, and they also didn’t achieve success. His salary was not high enough for him to repay the loan. He also had metal illness. All in all, there is a big psychological gap between his American dream and the reality.First of all, there is a big contrast between the job in his mind as a salesman and the job in reality. When he was young, he thought that a salesman was the best job because he met a successful salesman who could make money when he was 84 years old. From then on, he chose to become a salesman. But things went athwart. The job was full of difficulties. He didn’t make enough money when he was old. The worst thing was that he was fired by his boss. Everything was changing: profit was the highest standards to measure the value of a man. All those made him painful in his later life.Moreover, there is a conflict between his dream about his sons and cruel reality. He thought his son, Biff who was a football star with lots of potential in high school would have a rosy future, but Biff failed. He failed in the exam and lost the chance to become a football star. On the other hand, Bernard, Charley's son became a very successful lawyer. In Willy's flashbacks, he was a nerd. Willy was not reconciled to his failure. He still thought Biff had the potential to achieve success, but he wanted to become a farmer and failed over and over again. This is another gap between his dream and the reality. But Willy always had the confidence on Biff who was his last hope. Things don't turn out the way he wants, so Biff failed at last.Once more, he always boasted to his wife that he did well in his job, but in fact, he didn’t sell anything. He always said that he had a good relationship with his clients, but in fact, he did not have good relationships with his clients. This also made him painful in his life. It is also a conflict between his dream and the reality.Lastly, there is a conflict between the failure of Willy and the success of Ben and Charley. He couldn’t accept the fact that he failed while others achieved success2because he was a perfect man in his mind. He thought himself as a good husband, good father, good friend and good salesman, while in fact he didn’t do well as a father, husband, friend and a salesman.The conflict between his American dream and the cruel reality caused his metal illness. He was always addicted in the memory. Maybe it is a way for him to escape from the cruel reality.All in all, there is a big conflict between his American dream and the reality. According to Hegel's theory of tragedy, the conflict between his American dream and the reality belongs to the category which is caused by the psychological status. Meanwhile the conflict is unavoidable. There is an irreconcilable conflict between Willy’s American dream and the reality, so it determines the inevitability of his tragedy.The conflict between Willy and his sonsWilly had two sons, Biff Loman and Happy Loman. There were irreconcilable differences between Willy and his two sons. The conflict between them was very obvious.In the first instance, there is a conflict between Willy and Biff. Biff was a football star with lots of potential in high school, but he failed when he grew up. He went between going home to try to fulfill Willy's dream for him to be a businessman and ignoring his father and going out West to be a farmhand where he could find himself. Nevertheless Willy hoped that Biff came back to the city and work hard to achieve success.Biff liked being outdoors and working with his hands, while Willy wanted him to do something worthwhile which could make him proud. Willy had always been proud of him when Biff was a football player. Over time, they had different views, so they had a strained relationship between them. There are some factors which cause the strained relationship between them.Firstly, they have a different view of the world. Overall Biff remains a realist, and he ever informed Willy that he was just a normal guy, and would not be a great man. On the other hand, Willy is a man who never gives up and a man full of great ambitions. Then Biff had a prejudice on his father. When he was a little boy, his father was a hero with countless friends. Willy’s words were truth in little Biff’s mind. As he grew up, he found that his father was not such a hero and an ordinary man who always . He thought that all families were telling lies. Biff ever said to Willy, “The man doesn’t know who we are! The man is going to know! We never told the truth for ten minutes in this house!” Once more, he attributed his failure to Willy. He said to Willy, “And I never got anywhere because you blew me so full of hot air I could neverstand taking orders from anybody! Whose fault it is! ”Lastly, because of his father Biff failed math in his senior year. Meanwhile Biff dropped out of summer school due to finding Willy with another woman while visiting him in Boston. Such things made him upset. From then on, they had a strained relationship. They always quarreled with each other, and Biff knew that Willy wanted to kill himself.The conflict between Willy and Biff is enormous and unavoidable. Neither of them would compromise to each other.In the next place, there is a conflict between Willy and Happy. Happy Loman was Willy's younger son. He lived in the shadow of his older brother Biff most of his life. He always was ignored by his father, but he still tried to be supportive towards his family. He had a very restless lifestyle as a womanizer. He dreamed of moving beyond his current job as an assistant to the assistant buyer at the local store, but he didn’t make it.He was always looking for approval from his parents, but rarely gets any, and he even went as far as to make things up just for attention, such as telling his parents he is going to get married. In fact, he didn’t get enough attention from his father, because Happy wasn’t Willy’s hope, he never achieved success which made Willy proud. So he always lived in the shadow of Biff. The conflict between Happy and Will is also obvious.Generally speaking, the conflict among them was inevitable. Firstly, neither of the two subjects of the conflict would compromise. Then, the conflict is the inevitable production of Willy’s education method. The last, the conflict between two generations was common in America in 1940s. This conflict also attributes to Willy’s tragedy.The conflict between Willy and other charactersIn the play, Willy also had a close relationship to other characters. These characters include his wife, his neighbor, his uncle and his boss. There also exist irreconcilable conflicts between Willy and them.Firstly, the conflict between Willy and his wife, Linda, plays an important role in Willy’s tragedy. Linda Loman is Willy's wife. She always smiled and nodded when Willy talked unrealistically about hopes for the future, although she seemed to have a good knowledge of what was really going on. She was the first to realize Willy was contemplating suicide at the beginning of the play, and urged her two sons to make something for Willy. She didn’t prevent Willy herself, because she loved him too much to expose his secret. Linda’s love to Willy and Willy’s vanity was a pair of conflict, which accelerated Willy’s death.There is a conflict between Willy and the Charley’s. Charley is Willy'sneighborhood. He pitied Willy and frequently lent him money and came over to play cards with Willy, although Willy often treated him poorly. Bernard is Charley's son. In Willy's flashbacks, he was a nerd, who turned to be a very successful lawyer, married, and rich.The conflict is obvious. Willy was jealous of Charley because his son was more successful than Willy's. Meanwhile Charley’s success also made him jealous. Consequently Willy was hostile to them. Charley offered Willy a job many times during visiting to his office, yet Willy declined every time, even after he lost his job as a salesman. He didn’t want to yield to him. Furthermore, he was confused about Charley’s success.Uncle Ben also played an important role on Willy’s death. Uncle Ben is Willy's older brother who became successful after a detour to Africa. He had been dead but Willy frequently spoke to him in his hallucinations of the past. He went into the jungle when he was 17 and returned at 21 very rich. He was Willy's role model, although he was much older and had no real relationship with Willy. He represented Willy's idea of the . In Willy’s mind, Uncle Ben is a real successful man.There is a conflict between Willy and Howard Wagner. Howard is Willy's boss. He was named by Willy, and yet he saw Willy as a liability for the company and let him go, ignoring all the contribution that Willy has devoted to the company. Howard is the representative of the upper class in America, who views profit as only chase. In their eyes, there was nothing except money. He fired Willy, which made Willy lose all his hope directly and lead him to solve all the problems by suicide.All these conflicts come together to accelerate Willy’s death.4. The inevitability of Willy Loman’s tragedyThe death of Willy Loman is a tragedy of an age which is inevitable and common. Meanwhile the tragedy of Willy is also one of the great tragedies in English literature. Different from Shakespeare's tragedy, Death of a Salesman concentrates on the influence of the society and personality. The whole play is full of conflicts, which caused Willy’s death. All these factors come together to contribute to Willy’s death.All the conflicts are divided into two parts, one is caused by social environment and the other is caused by some factors which are deep down in his heart.The first group of conflicts which come from social environment is inevitable. There was a big irreconcilable gap between different classes. The upper class controlled most of the wealth in America, while the lower class still worked hard to get rid of poverty. The whole social is full of greedy egotism and vanity. As ordinary salesman, Willy has to accept the mainstream thoughts and work hard for it. That isto say, the first group of conflicts is inevitable. And the death of Willy is the tragedy of the age in 1940s.The second group of conflicts which come from Willy’s inner world is also inevitable. Specifically, Willy is a man with a lot of ambitions. As a salesman, he always made great efforts to achieve his so called success, but in vain. He was 60 years old and had some metal illness, tending to imagine events from the past as if they were real. Maybe the contrast was too obvious for him. He vacillated between different perceptions of his life.All in all, all kinds of conflicts in Willy’s life are inevitable. Willy is only a representative of such people. In Arthur Miller’s mind, he just wants to express that the society is full of the cruel disordered competition of capitalist market economy. This kind of competition caused a value which viewed profits and wealth as the most important things. Consequently, these conflicts in Willy’s life are universal and inevitable. And his tragedy is caused by these conflicts. These conflicts are not only the part of Willy’s life but also a part of the society in 1940s.Now we can safely get the conclusion that Willy’s tragedy is inevitable. That isn’t the final aim for which Arthur Miller to write this play, it has a deeper implication.Plays are s of society. Through all kinds plays we can peek at every aspects of reality. Art derives from life but it is beyond life. Meanwhile, the implication of art is the reflection of life and an instrument to guide life. Death of a salesman is a great work which makes readers deeply thinking.American dramatist Arthur Miller exposed the cruelty of disorderly competition under the capitalist market economic system in America through the play. In this play people establish a value of money as successful criterion which makes people cold-blood. It destroys the good and honest nature of human being to some extent. Meanwhile Miller expresses an idea that the weak are the prey of the strong in Death of a salesman. Consequently, the inevitability of Willy Loman’s tragedy has its representativeness. In America there is thousands of Willy working hard for a vain future. Miller wants to arouse the public attention through the play.There is some practical significance of the play. The practical significance is not only for America but also for China. The first, the government should pay a great attention to the education about shaping good values. Profit should not be the only social standard. Then, we should have a rational knowledge to success. Success is not all-powerful. Success is different from happiness. It’s not rational to be crazy for success ignoring other factors in life. In the next place, governments should create the Medicare insurance program for the elderly. Maybe it is one of the measures to reduce the tragedy of Willy Loman. The last, a great attention should be paid to thefamily education. The pattern of Willy’s is failure. Parents should set a good example to children. In one word, some measures should be taken to reduce the tragedy of Willy in society.All in all, the conflicts from society and individuals are both unavoidable. All the conflicts are rooted in objective reality which isn’t influenced by individual will. The inevitability of conflicts determines the inevitability of Willy’s tragedy. The inevitability of the tragedy makes the study of practical significance necessary.5. ConclusionThis thesis discusses the inevitability of Willy Loman’s tragedy in Death of a salesman. To analyze the inevitability of Willy Loman is mainly from two aspects, the social background and the conflicts in Willy’s life. Through the analysis of the social reality, the readers get to know that the tragedy is rooted in society. There is a close relationship between the social real ity and the tragedy. Willy Loman is just a representative of the age. From the analysis of the conflicts in Willy’s life, we learn that the all the conflicts are unavoidable. Conflicts are the most important factors in Willy’s tragedy. The tragedy is inevitable automatically because of the unavoidable conflicts.All in all, Willy Loman’s tragedy is inevitable. The social reality and the conflicts cause Willy’s tragedy. It is of great significance to study the inevitability of Willy Loman’s tragedy and excavate its practical significance and academic values to guide our life.Bibliography[1] Miller, Arthur. Death of a Salesman [M]. London: Penguin, 2000.。
浅析《推销员之死》中小人物威利的命运摘要：作家阿瑟米勒的著名作品《推销员之死》中描述了威利洛曼这个小人物，他的命运是坎坷的，在工作上，他得不到公司的承认，在社会地位上，他卑微而缺乏前途，在家庭上，他受到家人的排斥，也没有履行自己作为丈夫和父亲的责任，可以说，他的一生庸庸碌碌，毫无作为，只能自杀结束生命。
下面本文将具体分析威利的命运。
关键词：威利·洛曼；推销员；美国梦；悲剧美国戏剧家阿瑟米勒，在1949年写出了一个震惊美国的戏剧作品，这个作品就是——《推销员之死》。
这部作品，一经推出便获得了巨大的轰动。
可以说，这部喜剧成就了阿瑟米勒，因为这部作品，阿瑟米勒蜚声美国戏剧界，被称为美国戏剧界的大师级人物。
这部作品还获得了三项具有举足轻重地位的大奖，分别是“普利策戏剧奖”、“纽约戏剧评论奖”和美国舞台艺术成就最高奖项“托尼戏剧音乐奖”。
而《纽约时报》更是将这部作品，称为20世纪美国话剧中的领军作品。
这种荣誉可以说是无上光荣。
最后，阿瑟米勒更是获得了“终身成就奖”。
而这么伟大的作品，阿瑟米勒却用了仅仅一个半月的时间写完的，我们不得不由衷的对阿瑟米勒怀有敬佩之情。
在这部作品中，阿瑟米勒揭露了“美国梦的疵点”。
男主角威力诺曼非常崇拜美国这种资本主义社会制度，他总是渴望能够出类拔萃，高人一等，但最终却因为被利益迷惑了双眼从而走上不归路。
一、《推销员之死》内容简介年逾花甲的推销员威利·洛曼，拎着两只沉重的、装样品的箱子回到家。
他看起来非常疲惫不堪，看起来似乎奄奄一息的样子。
他活得非常累和卑微，只有老伴儿林达了解他、关爱他，她本分的做好妻子该做的分内之事，并尽最大给予自己的丈夫该有的尊严，希望能有自己的爱来增加他活下去的勇气，增强他对生活的信心。
但是她的努力似乎都收效甚微。
威利在年轻的时候，非常精明能干，他有两个儿子，比夫和哈皮。
大儿子比夫文化课学的不好，但是威利不以为然，他认为大儿子未来能成为一名出色的运动员。
