Realism and Idealism in the Plays of Arthur Miller, and Tennessee Williams - Essay Example

This essay concerns itself with a balance between realism and idealism in the plays of Arthur Miller, and Tennessee Williams. This essay explores the extent in which any attempt at leaving realism, for purposes of following idealism would most definitely led to the destruction of the individual under consideration. In meeting the objectives, the essay will compare both plays, Death of a salesman, written by Arthur Miller (1947) and A Street named desire, written by Tennessee Williams (1947). In the first play, Death Of Salesman (Miller, 1947) idealism is mainly depicted through the character of Willy, while realistic tendencies are depicted through his wife, and son Biff. In the play Street Named Desire, the realistic tendency is shown through the character of Stanley, while idealism is depicted through the character of Blanche Du Bois(Williams, 1947). The plays will be shown to display the extent in which failure to reconcile idealism and realism leads to the destruction of the characters. This can be seen as a reflectionof the time the plays were written, as following the Great Depression and the wars that people started questioning the fragility of human behaviour towards one another and the capacity of mankind being to destroy each other or to destroy themselves. The play by Arthur Miller is developed in the State of New England, and the protagonist in this play, Willy is a salesman. Willy has managed to pay his mortgages, “Work a lifetime to pay off a house” (Miller, 1947: pp 133) and the loan he took to buy a refrigerator. Willy is greatly convinced that the best method of achieving success and the American dream is by making a lot of money, and managing to be liked by so many people. However, he was not able to achieve this dream, and on this basis, he revivesmany illusions concerning his past. Parker (1988) explains that many plays produced in the 1940’s share such an obsession with the past. The past within the play Death of a Salesman becomes something glorified, a vision of how great it was, however ironically also a vision of greater things in the unforeseen future. The wife of Willy, Linda, allows him to have dream about his pasts, with her avoiding the problem “it’ll pass by morning” (Miller, 1947: pp 160). However, this turns out to be tragic to him, and this is because Willy losses the reality of his condition, making him to commit suicide. On this basis, at the end of the play, Willy is driven to commit suicide. Miller (1949) further explains that the name of this play is a reference to the loss of reality of Willy, as well as the suicide that Willy managed to commit. This therefore denotes that the suicidal death of Willy emanated from a variety of acts and situations in the life of the salesman that is Willy. On the other hand, the play by Tennessee Williams, Street named Desire is set in Louisiana, the region of New Orleans. Williams (1947)denotes that Blanche tries to maintain her luxurious lifestyle through a creation of a world that is full of her own idealism. Blanche continuously lies, and she is able to make people believe whatever that she is telling them, for purposes of maintaining her own self-esteem. Blanche Dubois clashes with Stanley because of the realistic stand that he takes towards the conditions of Blanche, and life in general. Monk, Lucas and Glubke (2006) denote that this play by Tennessee Williams consists mainly of the desires of Blanche Dubois, who is holding on to the past and of what she once possessed. This causes tensions between her and Stanley Kowalski. The name of this play emanates from a streetcar that is found in the State of New Orleans, and the car has the name of desire. Blanche Dubois is riding this streetcar, and also another streetcar with the name of cemetery. Williams (1947) explains that through this ride, she is able to explain her luxurious lifestyle. It is this lifestyle that she was able to change to a lifestyle that was more primitive in nature. Monk, Lucas and Glubke (2006) explain that these rides are able to depict the change in status of Blanche, whose luxurious desires were always fulfilled, later on leading to a primitive lifestyle. Monk et al. (2006) further explain that the location, in which Stella Dubois lives, is called Elysian Fields, and this word emanates from an ancient myth, which identifies the word as the land of the dead. Miller (1949) explains that idealism is a concept that provides a description of the pursuit or belief of a perfect vision. The vision under consideration is often based on unrealistic expectations or principles. Bloom (2010) manages to explain that this idealistic pursuit is always opposed and contrasted by the truth, and that reality and truth are the main factors that make an individual down-to-earth and grounded. On this note, Miller (1949) gives an explanation that a person must put in place high expectations, as this would enable them to do their best in their various endeavours. However, these people must acknowledge that not every expectation they have will be achievable. Any imbalance that exists between truth and idealism in the life of an individual can have a calamitous effect. This is clearly depicted in the two plays with the death of Willy, the salesman who was unable to meet his goals in life, and therefore decides to live in the past. In the case of Willy, his past has been instrumental in shaping his future. He credits the past as the source of his present day success, and past memories are still fresh in him. It is this past that Willy has continually reshaped to create the new person he is today. He credits his success to his human and personality that makes him a self-driven individual. In his interpretation, his funeral will be that of a successful salesman:An illusionborn from his desperate need to escape from the reality that his life was not successful (Miller, 2007, pp. 188). In the real sense Willy was a failure as a father as well as a salesman (Miller, 2007, p.62). At his funereal, his wife wondered aloud about the whereabouts of his supposed friends. He tried to use his past to reshape his present, and to create the things that he hoped for the future. His past was a mere channel of protecting his failures that are vivid in his future life. In A Streetcar Named Desire, Blanche is similarly afraid of the real. She desperately attempts to avoid the signs of aging, and the reality of a move into the future. Instead, she re-creates an image of herself from a moment of the past, and from what she had once hoped for her future. Christopher Bigsby describes Williamsas a romantic person in an unromantic world (Williams, 2004, p.33). This relates to the fact that his lifestyle does not represent the real lifestyle he hoped to achieve. Blanche, on the other hand, is an ingenious re-creator of the self who was bewildered with the destructive ability of Stanley who had no concern for the past, and who confronted reality. The force symbolized by Stanley is one that Blanche explains to be a destructive one. It is evident that the fantasy world that shapes an individual’s past indeed protects the reality of life as seen in Blanche life. Monk, Lucas and Glubke (2006) denote that this imbalance can lead to the deterioration of an individual’s life: Early mortality, destruction of the family relationships, as well as affecting the sanity of the person under consideration. In Arthur Miller’s play, Willy manages to spend his entire life pursuing the American Dream. He believes that the only way people can respect and like you, is when an individual manages to acquire wealth. For instance, Willy denotes that, “The whole wealth of Alaska passes over the lunch table at the commodore Hotel (Miller 1947, p. 184). Bloom (2010) explains that Willy considers this aspect as a wonder; a wonder of America, mainly because, a man can come with diamond in America, and because he possesses the diamonds, the individual under consideration is liked. This attitude by Willy is further explained when he states that,“Whenever an individual with the diamonds walks in a business office, then his name will be mentioned like a bell, and this would result into all doors opening for him” (Miller 1947, p. ).Through this illustration, it is therefore prudent to denote that Willy believed that the road to respect and status in a society is through accumulation of wealth. Furthermore, Willy believes that when an individual is respected, then the person under consideration can influence the actions and behaviour of others. This is displayed when he is more concerned with the reactions of Biffs classmates when he made fun of the mathematics teacher (Firestone, 2008). For instance, Biff, his son, tells him that when “he was talking to the teacher; he crossed his eyes for purposes of talking with a lithp” (Miller, 1947 p). The immediate reaction of Willy was a question on Biff, that, “What was the reaction of your classmates, did they like it” (Miller, 1947: p 42 ). Bloom (2010) explains that this is a clear indication that Willy wanted his children to have influence and status within society. In his idealistic world, Willy manages to envision the manner in which his funeral will become almost as an elegy for his dreams of that status and influence. He denotes that “his funeral will be great and massive, and that people will come from Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, as well as Vermont” (Miller, 1947: p. 49). The reason why Willy explains this, is based on his idealistic thought that because of the massive wealth he manages to acquire, he will gain respect, and it is this respect acquired that will attract rich and great men to his funeral. Bloom (2010) explains that Willy does not have to strive to achieve his American dream, and this is specifically because he has already managed to achieve this dream. He is financially secure, has paid off all his loans, and therefore there is no need of him complaining that he is poor. However, Bloom (2010) asserts that Willy was able to alienate the only friends he had, as of Bernard and Charlie, while pursuing his American dream, and hence he lived a miserable life, without any friends. Willy is unable to reconcile between reality and idealism, and on this basis, he is unable to face the truth. That is concerning his real situation. Miller (2007) explains that his dream has managed to bring a very negative impact on his life, and that of his family. However, Willy ignores and overlooks this impact. Blanche Dubois is, like Willy, very idealistic in her thoughts, and believes that social status can only be achieved through money (Heintzelman& Howard, 2009). Heintzelman& Howard (2009 ) explain that in as much as social status is achieved through money, Blanche Dubois is not so much interested in money. In fact, it is Stanley, who is interested in money, and this is depicted in the scene where Stanley discusses Belle Reeve, for instance, Stanley tells Stella that, “ According to the Napoleonic code, anything that belongs to the wife, also belongs to the husband, and if the wife is swindled, the husband is also swindled” (Williams, 1947, p. 18). In this statement, Stanley believed that Blanche Du Bois had sold the Belle Reeve, and refused to share the money with Stella. This is a clear indication that Stanley was concerned with money. On the other hand, Blanche Du Bois lives in a life of the past, and on lies, believing that she is still wealthy, and belongs to the upper social class she was in. Blanche refuses to believe that she is poor, and this is the cause of her destruction because Stanley keeps reminding her of her situation. For purposes of maintaining prestige, Blanche Dubois is forced to lie. In fact, she agrees with this notion, when she says, “ I do not like realism, all that I want is magic, yes, magic, I love misrepresenting issues, and telling what ought to be the truth, and not the truth, if this is sinful, then let me be punished for it” (Williams, 1947, p. 39). Based on this situation, we can denote that whatever Blanche was telling, were lies, and this clearly led to her destruction. Furthermore, Blanche could not believe that her sister Stella was married to Stanley, who was from a poor background. She refuses to accept the fact that the relationship between Stella and Stanley is not based on money, but physical attraction and sex. This depicted when Williams (1947, p. 36) manages to denote “they always manage to stare at each other, coming together with low animalistic moans, making her eyes to go blind with tenderness….”. This is an indication that the association between Stella, and Stanley was based on physical attraction, as well as sex. This is a fact that Blanche Du Bois refused to believe, trying to unsuccessfully persuade her sister to leave Stanley, based on his social status. Blanche is aware on the animal sexuality that Stanley possesses, and she finds physical sexuality frightening. Furthermore, she believes that sexuality is a private affair, and her presence in that home would mean that she is part and parcel of the sexual relationship between Stella and Stanley. This made her very uncomfortable but she did not have any choice in solving the situation. Furthermore, the relationship between Blanche and Mitch is based on companionship, and not sexual relations (Williams, 1947, p. 43). This is an indication that Blanche was more keen on companionship, as opposed to physical sexual relationship. Bloom (2010) further denotes that the life of Willy spurned out of control, and this made him to be more idealistic. On this basis, Hays and Nicholson (2008) denotes that the inability of a person to achieve his dream can lead him to insanity. For example in the case of Willy, Bloom (2010) denotes that his inability to realise that he has failed in life causes him to feel that he is lost. This in the end makes Loman to go insane, unable to distinguish between the real and his own ideals. In order to escape the truth of his failure, Willy engages in an affair with the secretary of one of his clients. Bloom (2010) denotes that this contradicts the goals of Willy to have a good life, and the discovery of this affair by Biff makes Biff hate him. Hays and Nicholson (2008) manages to explain that at the end of the play, Biff realizes that his father was wrong, and he pursued a wrong dream. Biff denotes that his father should have been a carpenter, and this is mainly because he was talented with his hands. Miller and Brater (2010) therefore explain that Biff believes that his father was living in an idealistic world, with no sense of realism, and this was the source of his failure and demise. Willy’s idealism is bad because he has no realism, completely unrealistic with no awareness of reality at all. His only interest is trying to reminisce on things that confirm the illusion of the present “I was right, I was right”(Miller, 1947, pp)However Biff manages to have a sense of realism, as well as some idealism, as he is desperate to get away from all the bad things in his past. On the other hand, Blanche is sent to a mental institution based on her idealistic beliefs and lies. On this note, Hays and Nicholson (2008) explains that Willy and Blanche met their downfall because they were unable to reconcile the feelings of idealism and realism. Stanley is a symbol of realism in the play written by Tennessee Williams, A Street named Desire, (Williams, 1947). Monk, Lucas and Glubke (2006) provides an explanation that there is nothing heroic in Elysian Fields, and this is because the people living there are poor, they have a fading hope, there is a feeling of desperation, carnality, sensuality as well as coarseness. Monk, Lucas and Glubke (2006) denotes that the background of Stella and Blanche Dubois is that of elegance, and an upper social class. This is because they belong to a wealthy, Southern land owning family. On the other hand, Stanley is a Polish immigrant, and he belongs to a working class family (Dickman and Dickman, 2012). Stanley is very vulgar, crude and uneducated, and he is proud because he boosts that he was able to get Stella out of the elegance and extravagance enjoyed by her family to his own social level. Williams (1947) explains that Stanley is a force of reality to Blanche, and this is because he reminds her of her failed marriage, her past moral corruptions, her sexual anxieties, as well as her age. The confrontation between Stanley and Blanche is best depicted at the beginning of the play, when the romantic views of Blanche, as well as the pragmatic and unsentimental views of Stanleys realism clashed. For instance, Belle Reve, the home of the Dubois has a romantic significance to Blanche. Cardullo (2007) gives an explanation that this because most stories that Blanche gives is centred on the home. This is the home that her family loved, loathed, and they lost it. On the other hand, for Stanley, the home is just an asset, and nothing by any means will stop him from digging into the home. Furthermore, Stanley realism is depicted when he comes across the love letters of Blanche Dubois. Stanley views these letters as old pieces of paper, while to Blanche, these love letters was a representation of her romantic past world. For instance, in depicting the values that these letters had to Blanche, she tells Stanley that “You are holding poems that a dead boy wrote to me; I did hurt him so much, the way you want to hurt me...” (Williams, 1947, p. 42). According to these words, it is an indication that Blanche loved her dead husband, and those poems were very important to her. On this basis, the interference of these letters by Stanley depicts a lack of respect towards her. Cardullo (2007) goes on to explain that, Williams manages to create a macho male, in the form of Stanley in the play. This is a male whose life revolves around sex, poker, and bowling. Furthermore, Cardullo (2007) explains that the way Stanley views life, is more real as opposed to the manner in which Blanche Dubois is able to view life. Cardullo (2007) further explains that the use of paper lantern by Blanche is an indication that she wants to make the world a less harsh place that an individual can live in. This is because it has an effect of artificially softening the environment where they live. However, Cardullo (2007) explains that the naked light bulb is a symbolism of the cruel ways of Stanley’s harsh realism: The realism associated in the play with the sound of a steam train, which is always on the background whenever Stanley approaches. This train was always huge, and had a big momentum that did not allow it to stop for anything. Furthermore, the train was only able to run in a straight line, and this represented the uncompromising nature of Stanley, that eventually led to the destruction of Blanche Du Bois (Cardullo, 2007, p. 32). Sterling (2008) gives an explanation that the reason as to why Blanche came to stay with Stella, is because she has been thrown out of the town in which she lived. Murphy (2010) explains that it is due to this realistic manner in which Stanley was viewing life that made him to have control over Stella, as well as win the argument he had with Blanche Dubois. In conclusion, in these two plays, Willy and Blanche are living in unrealistic world, that is shaped by their idealistic thoughts and. In the case of Willy, his wife and son Biff, are the ones who are able to reconcile his inability to achieve his own objectives. In fact, Willy is able to denote that his role as a father is a failure in life, because he pursued a bad career. He could have been a carpenter, because Willy was talented with his hands. On the other hand, Blanche tries to live in an idealistic world, after misusing the fortunes of her family. On the analysis of these two plays, Biff manages to save himself from destruction by pursuing both realism and idealistic ideals. It is Stanley who manages to reconcile her idealistic world, by telling her the realities of her conditions. Referencing Bloom, H. (2010).Death of A Salesman New Edition.. New York: Infobase Publishing. Cardullo, R. J. (2007). Selling In American Drama, 1946-49: Millers Death Of A Salesman, ONeills The Iceman Cometh, And Williamss A Street-Car Named Desire. The Explicator, 66(1), 29-33. Dickman, M., &Dickman, M. (2012).50 American plays: poems. Port Townsend, Wash.: Copper Canyo Press. Firestone, P. A. (2008). The Pulitzer Prize plays: the first fifty years, 1917-1967 : a dramatic reflection of American life. New York: Limelight Editions. Hays, P. L., & Nicholson, K. (2008).Arthur Millers Death of a salesman. London: Continuum. Linney, R. (2012). Six Plays. New York: Theatre Communications Group. Miller 2007, Miller, A., (1949). Death of a salesman; certain private conversations in two acts and a requiem.. New York: Viking Press. Miller, A., &Brater, E. (2010).Death of a salesman (Methuen Drama student ed.). London: Methuen Drama. Monk, P. A., Lucas, C., &Glubke, M. (2006). The Back Stage Book of New American Short Plays 2005.World Literature Today, 80(1), 59. Murphy, B., & Murphy, B. (2010).Death of a salesman, by Arthur Miller. Pasadena, Calif.: Salem Press. Parker, Brian. (1988) “Point of View in Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman.” Modern Critical Interpretations: Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman. Ed. Harold Bloom. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 25-38. Sterling, E. (2008). Arthur Millers Death of a salesman. Amsterdam: Rodopi. Thompson, T. W. (2005). Millers Death of a Salesman.The Explicator, 63(4), 244-247. Williams, T. (1947).A Street car named desire (play). New York: New Directions. Critical Companion to Tennessee Williams - Page 279 books.google.co.uk/books?isbn=1438108567 Greta Heintzelman, ‎Alycia Smith Howard Read More