Modern Reconstruction In Traditional Tragic Frame-Analysis On Traditional And Modern Elements Of Death Of A Salesman

As one of the greatest dramas in modern era, Arthur Miller’s masterpiece,Death of a Salesman, has been performed by many stage actors of diverse religiousbeliefs and nationalities since its first show in1949. It has won great popularityamong ordinary audience and critics. Death of a Salesman has been one of the foci inthe circle of Chinese literary critics since1980s. The focus of those critical articleswas on whether a small potato’s tragedy had as great tragic effect as that of anobleman. Due to this counter traditional feature, most of them were inclined todiscuss this play’s modern characteristics. Critics either discussed its tragic stature orits modern characteristics, Both failed to see its connection with the western tragictradition and ignored the play’s traditional features. Based upon this trend ofoveremphasizing its modern features which neglects its traditional aspects, the authorof this thesis holds that a thorough study of its traditional aspects would help us gain abetter understanding a this play. As is well-known, great works must nourish onprevious works, break free conventional restraints and form an unique style. Death ofa Salesman is such work that not only inherits the fine western tragic tradition fromAristotle, Shakespeare to Ibsen on the one hand, but also includes Miller’s own verycharacteristics on the other. His brave attempts in playwriting can be found in thisplay. He follows Aristotelian tradition of plot structure: Peripeteia and Anagnorisis areincluded in the plot development; In character creation, Aristotelian “tragic flaw” canbe found in Willy’s nature, too. It also reflects Hegelian tragic theories of tragicconflict, reconciliation and eternal justice. Moreover, a comparative study betweenDeath of a Salesman, Oedipus the King and King Lear, also reveals that the author isunder the influence of those classics. Besides these, under the traditional tragic fame,Death of a Salesman makes innovations in following aspects: it reconstructs its tragiccharacter and plot and redesigns the dramatic language correspondently. In its vividdescription of modern man’s struggle, stamp of modern philosophy and psychologyalso shows between the lines. By means of exemplification, summarization, induction,and comparative analysis, this thesis concludes that the play bears both western tragic traditional and modern features; it is the modern reconstruction in the traditionalframe.The structure of this paper is as follows: Chapter One is the introduction, inChapter Two the author will deal with traditional western tragic theory. Chapter Threeis the author’s analysis on Death of a Salesman’s traditional features. The followingchapter is about the play’s modern reconstruction and other modern features. Then inchapter five the author arrives at his conclusion of this thesis.