On The Tragic Beauty Of Death Of A Salesman

Arthur Miller (1915-2005) began his career as a playwright when he was still auniversity student, showing certain talent for drama and won some prizes duringthis period. Towards the end of 1940s, two of his works turned him into a nationalcelebrity. In 1947, he won his first great success, All My Sons. Two years later, hewrote Death of a Salesman, the first great American tragedy. Together with EugeneO'Neill and Tennessee Williams, Arthur Miller has been called one of the threegreat American dramatists in the 20th century.As Miller's masterpiece, Death of a Salesman depicts the painful conflictswithin one family on the surface and actually tackles larger issues on the Americannational values and the living plight of common people. The play presents a tragedyof American society. Directed by his views on tragedy, Miller uses creativelysymbolism, stream of consciousness and expressionism and many kinds of modernstage arts such as dialogue, action, especially light, music, to externalize successfullythe protagonist's thinking and inner world and vividly depicts the dilemma of acommon man in modern civilization. From different perspectives, the playwrightpresents readers with some essential contradictions and reveals many fundamentalproblems in life. In relating a simple story in American dally life, this play touchesthe psyche of modern man and strikes deep into the minds of the audience with itstragic beauty.Different from the traditional theories, Miller regards the common man, who is striving for finding his identity and the value of life as the protagonist and thinks thattragedy implies more optimism. By portraying a salesman in America as theprotagonist and displaying various conflicts in life, the play gives readers and theaudience not only pity and sorrow but also philosophy and hope, showing moreconcern to humanity.