Miller’s Ethical Concerns In Death Of A Salesman

Death of a Salesman is one of the classic works written by Arthur Miller, anAmerican dramatist who has created many excellent dramas before he died in2005.Death of a Salesman has been studied by scholars and critics from differentperspectives abroad and at home. Many of scholars and critics stress the study of thesubject of the play’s tragedy and study of the tragedy of a common man, WillyLoman.However, Miller demonstrates in this play his consideration about the human lifeunder the impact of distorted moral and ethical values of the money-oriented societyin this play. The study of the concerns about morality and ethics is few. Therefore, thethesis applies Martha C. Nussbaum’s ethical criticism in the late20thcentury toexpound the flawed ethics and ethos in the characters, discuss how their ethical andmoral problems lead to the complicated and twisted relations, and moreover, discoverthe meaning of Biff’s awakening that he awakens from the twisted ethics and moralityof the American commercial society.The analysis of this paper points out Miller’s deep concerns about that under theguidance of the blind belief in the material success, people’s ethics and moralitieshave been twisted, which affects their life and their relations with others, and revealsMiller’s optimistic belief that young generation will realize the problems of themorality and ethics that the old generation represents, protest against the negativeimpact and guidance, and will have a healthy life and relationship eventually.