goes an old saying‚ “All anyone asks for is a chance to work with pride.” Well‚ it seems that some people work with almost too much pride. In order to consider the extent to which pride applies to Sophocles’ Oedipus The King and Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman‚ consider the following: Oedipus and Willy both take extreme pride in their professions‚ their pride blinds them from seeing the truth of their situations‚ and their pride ultimately leads to their own demise/downfall‚ all of these invoking
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An overwhelming desire for personal contentment and unprecedented reputation can often result in a sickly twisted distortion of reality. In Sophocles’ Oedipus the King‚ a man well-known for his intellect and wisdom finds himself blind to the truth of h life and his parentage. Arthur Miller’s play‚ The Death of a Salesman‚ tells of a tragic character so wrapped up in his delusional world that reality and illusion fuse causing an internal explosion that leads to his undoing. Each play enacts the
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Death of a Salesman‚ Miller’s most famous work‚ addresses the painful conflicts within one family‚ but it also tackles larger issues regarding American national values. The play examines the cost of blind faith in the American Dream. In this respect‚ it offers a postwar American reading of personal tragedy in the tradition of Sophocles’ Oedipus Cycle. Miller charges America with selling a false myth constructed around a capitalist materialism nurtured by the postwar economy‚ a materialism that obscured
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Oedipus the King & Death of a Salesman Comparison In the play “Oedipus the King” (429 BCE) by Sophocles and “Death of a Salesman” (1949 AD) by Arthur Miller it is illustrated that the main protagonists Oedipus and Willy both fail to fulfill their responsibilities as leaders and instead surround themselves with personal conflict affecting their surroundings and families negatively as a result of their arrogance and excessive pride. In “Death of a Salesman”‚ Willy‚ who is envisioned as the
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Oedipus the King written by Sophocles‚ is a play about a king who has it all but is knowledgeable of his past and that ultimately leads to his downfall. He has great self pride after saving his kingdom from the Sphinx‚ but is oblivious to the fact that he is the reason for the deadly plague. Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller is a play in which a man named Willy struggles with his internal condition and everyday life. He is not able to sell enough product or to ever meet his quotas. He has great
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tragedy. When Sophocles’s "Oedipus the King" is compared to Arthur Miller’s "Death of a Salesman‚ the plots are very different‚ yet both use dramatic irony to reveal the basic points of tragedy: the actions of a tragic hero means the hero is destined to die. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The elements of a play are setting‚ irony‚ plot‚ characters‚ and theme‚ which will be discussed in the essay. Oedipus the King opens in a Greek amphitheatre
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King Lear Comparison A tragedy is not only an imitation of life in general but an imitation of an action‚ as Aristotle defined his ideas in the Poetics‚ which presents Oedipus as an ultimate tragic hero. There is a obvious link between the two characters in that blindness – both literal and metaphorical – is a strong theme in the stories. Issues of self-recognition and self-knowledge are significant for Oedipus as well as King Lear. For Aristotle‚ Reversal‚ Recognition and Suffering are key
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Pressures In Human Society A common idea presented in literature is the issue of the freedom of the individual in the constant pressures of society. In the play “Death of a Salesman” by‚ Arthur Miller‚ Willy Loman is a good example of this‚ as well as a sixteen year old boy named Holden Caulfield in the novel “The Catcher in the Rye” by‚ J.D Salinger. They are both men living in a controlling society‚ and feel it is too hard to keep up with all of the
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Shattering the American Dream: A Comparison Essay between Death of a Salesman And Flesh and Blood The American Dream has captivated the hearts of millions of cowboys‚ showgirls‚ immigrants‚ and refugees. All walks of life from the impoverished projects to the suburbs have fantasized the prosperity and complacency promised by America. Two novels‚ with nearly fifty-years between the two‚ have worked diligently to pierce through this mirage of promise. Death of a Salesman‚ a play by Arthur Miller‚ follows
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drama‚ most likely the protagonist‚ who is made victim to a circumstance within the plot. To this extent‚ Arthur Miller’s definition of a tragic hero varies because he believes "the common man is as apt a subject for tragedy in its highest sense as kings were [and] the tragic feeling is evoked in us when we are in the presence of a character who is ready to lay down his life‚ if need be‚ to secure one thinghis sense of personal dignity" (Miller‚ 1633)‚ meaning that mankind keeps tragedy above all
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