淺談《推銷員之死》中美國夢的磨滅

論文編號:YY699  論文字數:7222.頁數:21

摘要

 阿瑟·米勒是美國當代文壇上一位頗具影響的現實主義劇作家。他的代表作《推銷員之死》于1949年在紐約首演成功后，震驚了整個美國戲劇界，該劇一舉獲得普利策獎和戲劇評論界獎，也使阿瑟·米勒成為包括尤金·奧尼爾、田納西·威廉斯在內的20世紀三位最偉大的美國劇作家之一。
 米勒深受大蕭條和戰爭的影響，從而他能夠以更切實更生動的方式描繪工人階級及其生活�！锻其N員之死》成功的展現了大蕭條時期的社會和家庭危機，表現了普通百姓的普遍問題，激起了深受大蕭條和美國夢折磨的美國人的共鳴。
 《推銷員之死》觸及了美國價值觀等宏大的問題，剖析了人們盲目相信美國夢所付出的代價。米勒控訴美國社會兜售了一個圍繞二戰之后興起的物質至上主義建立起來的神話——美國夢。這種物質至上主義下的美國夢誤導了美國普通大眾的個人理想和道德觀念。該劇警示世人：被物質化了的美國夢迷惑就會淪為商品和社會錯誤價值觀的犧牲品。 《推銷員之死》揭示了普通美國人在現代社會中的生存困境。它向讀者展示出現代西方文明中存在的種種尖銳的矛盾和一系列社會問題。
 本文主要由五部分組成。第一章是關于作者及《推銷員之死》的文獻綜述。第二章描述了劇中美國夢的社會背景及米勒的成長背景對該劇的影響。第三章陳述美國夢的起源和發展及其在本劇中的反映。第四章從威利扮演的不同社會角色分析劇中威利美國夢幻滅的原因。最后肯定了阿瑟·米勒的文學地位和貢獻，總結出劇中美國夢幻滅的社會意義以及對人們的啟示。

關鍵詞：阿瑟·米勒；《推銷員之死》；美國夢；幻滅
 

Abstract
 
 Arthur Miller is an influential realistic playwright in contemporary American literature. Death of a Salesman, one of his representative plays, was an immediate success after its first performance in New York in 1949. It won both a Pulitzer Prize and a Drama Critics Circle Award. It also made him accepted as one of the three greatest American dramatists in the 20th century, along with Eugene O’Neill and Tennessee Williams.
 Profoundly influenced by the Depression and the war that immediately followed it, Miller managed to use a more practical and vigorous way to portray the working class and their lives. Death of a Salesman successfully unfolds the social problems and family crisis in the period of the Great Depression, shows the common people’s problems, and arouses resonance of those Americans who have suffered from the Great Depression and the failure of the American Dream.
 Death of a Salesman tackles large issues regarding American national values. It examines the cost of blind faith in the American Dream. Miller charges America with selling a false myth constructed around a materialism nurtured by the postwar economy. The American Dream under materialism misled individual ideals and morality of ordinary people. This play explicitly demonstrates that he, who is deluded by the materialistic American Dream, is bound to be sucked in and reduced to a victim of consumable merchandise and false values. The play examines the living plight of common Americans in modern society. It provides readers with contradictory conflicts and revelation of serious social problems in modern western civilization.
 This paper consists of five parts. Chapter One provides a brief introduction of Arthur Miller and the researches on Death of a Salesman. Chapter Two describes the social background of the American Dream and the influences of Miller’s growing background on this play. Chapter Three demonstrates the origin and development of the American Dream together with its reflection in this play. In Chapter Four, the author analyzes the reasons of the disillusionment of Willy’s American Dream from different roles he plays in society. Finally, this paper confirms Arthur Miller’s position and his great contributions to American literature and summarizes the social significance of the disillusionment of the American Dream and its enlightenment to people.
 
Key words: Arthur Miller; Death of a Salesman; American Dream; disillusionment

Contents

Chapter 1  Introduction 1
Chapter 2  Backgrounds of Death of a Salesman 3
2.1 Growing Background of Arthur Miller 3
2.2 Social Background of Death of a Salesman 4
Chapter 3  The American Dream in Death of a Salesman 6
3.1 The Origin and Development of the American Dream 6
3.2 Willy’s American Dream 7
3.3 Biff’s American Dream 8
3.4 The Essence of the American Dream 9
Chapter 4  Reasons of the Disillusionment of Willy’s American Dream 10
4.1 Willy’s False Values 10
4.2 Willy’s Failure as a Salesman 11
4.3 Willy’s Failure as a Father 12
4.3.1 False-teaching as a father 12
4.3.2 Biff’s failure 13
Chapter 5  Conclusion 14
Notes 15
Bibliography 16
Acknowledgements 17