Thanatos and Eros in The Death of Salesmas Play - Assignment Example

? Visual Arts and Films Studies Visual Arts and Films Studies Question 2 In the death of salesman, thanatos and eros operate in a more or less the same magnitude. Part of a highly generalized drive in an individual is the libido which in Freudian theory is referred to as Eros-meaning love or sexuality in the Greek language. It`s worth noting that libido is the energy drive that results from sexual desire. Eros can loosely be translated to mean life instinct that drives someone to love. However, the opposite of this is thanatos which in Greek loosely translates to death or the act of dying. It is a death instinct (Miller & Brater, 2010). In Death of Salesman the betrayal of love is evidenced when Willy betrays the love of Linda as well as the trust of Biff with his affair. Willy, as the main love betrayer, is preoccupied by some fear of love betrayal. He frequently accuses Biff being spiteful. This only reflects his understanding of the failure of Biff in business to be a rejection of his own dreams that he will be successful, and more importantly that the inability of Biff to keep the job safe is related to the love affair of Willy. The death of salesman also has some elements of thanatos, the drive of dying. Willy is not happy in his life and in the middle of a night, he is talking to himself very loudly that everybody wakes up. Linda his wife admits to their sons that as their parents they are financially struggling. Moreover, Willy, their father, has been on a suicide attempt mission. We clearly see the drive of death instinct-thanatos operating strongly is the death of the salesman. Willy is unhappy with his life and he let the drive to kill himself overwhelms him. We see Happy and Biff returning home after their dates and they find Linda, their mother was waiting for them to arrive. Linda is fuming mad that her sons have left their Willy at the restaurant. This results to a massive argument and everybody is not interested in listening to Biff. However he still manages to put his point across- he find it difficult to live up to Willy`s, his dad, unrealistic expectations. He therefore basically considers his dad just a failure. The fight ends and Willy realizes that Biff, despite considering him a failure, he still seems to really care and love him. It`s unfortunate that Willy cannot get beyond the "failure" bit and he thinks the biggest contribution that he perhaps can make toward Biff`s success is just to commit suicide. He hope that by doing away with his life is the best way Biff could make use of the life insurance cash to perhaps start a business. The drive of love, Eros is definitely taking stage in the death of a salesman. There is some considerably high level of love within Willy`s family. Consequently, the drive of dying is evidenced when Willy offers to commit suicide for the sake of his son`s success. Thanatos operates more prominently in the death of salesman. Willy is often driven by the urge to commit suicide and we see him engage in several suicide attempt mission. He makes it clear what sort of drive he is experiencing inside him. To him his death is probably the solution to the problem his family is facing. Willy cannot get beyond the "failure" bit, unfortunately he thinks the biggest contribution that he perhaps can make toward Biff`s success is just to commit suicide. There is love in the Willy`s family. The drive of dying is evidenced when Willy offers to commit suicide for the sake of his son`s success consequently. Willy is often driven by the urge to commit suicide and we see him engage in several suicide attempt mission. There is more operation of the Thanatos in the death of salesman. Willy makes the sort of drive he is experiencing inside him clear. According to Willy, death is probably the solution to the problem his family is facing. Willy is preoccupied by some fear of love betrayal as the main love betrayer. He accuses Biff being spiteful most of the times. This reflects the inability of Biff to keep the job safe is related to the love affair of Willy and his understanding of the failure of Biff in business to be a rejection of his own dreams that he will be successful, and more importantly that. The fight between Biff and Willy ends and Willy realizes that Biff still seems to really care and love him despite considering him a failure. Question 3 In the Death of a Salesman every person is seeking to achieve the American dream in their own version. The play champions and comments on American dream through the actions and desire of the characters. Willy, the main character, feels that when he is popular and well liked by people, he shall have achieved the American Dream and everything about it. He believes that what matters is when everyone respect and love you and not being good at whatever you do. Freudian terminology emphasis the dream work- this is a process in which real desires and events are transformed and placed into dream images. Part of the dream work is displacement whereby an event or individual is represented by some other person or event which is in a way associated or linked with it. In the death of salesman, Willy see the old man as his role model because the old man has achieved Willy`s goal of being liked by people. He dreams of becoming like the old man and he associate himself with him. However, Bernard feels that by a person being successful in professional career and academic is what constitutes the American. These feelings are evidently shown throughout the actions and dialogue of the characters in the death of a salesman. Willy Lowman has spent his entire life being a salesman with unfortunate fate- he has not seen success in his career. As Willy becomes older, he starts experiencing conflicts with everybody in his life. He consequently feels that by doing away with his own life will make all the persons around him to be happy. Throughout the death of salesman, two characters struggles to achieve their desire of American dream. Dream resembles literature by not normally making explicit statements. Dreams tend to communicate indirectly or obliquely and avoid open or direct statement. They represent meanings through solid embodiments of place, person or time. Willy Lowman is not successful in his desire and dream of being well liked by everyone while on the contrary Bernard is highly successful in his attempt to achieve his goal and desired dream. The death of salesman also criticizes the American dream as evidenced in two entirely different sides between these two characters. Despite Willy not being successful salesman he is still considered to have achieved success since he felt in himself he had succeeded. The death of salesman portrays Willy as being able to achieve some of his goals such as his death as well as viewing himself as successful and so he managed to achieve his American dream. This may be viewed as a good argument but it`s worth noting that Willy was still not well liked by his society as well as he was not successful in career as a salesman. Not even one of willy`s goals were achieved therefore it`s fair to say he did not achieve the real American Dream not unless a person considers Willy`s death a completed goal (Barry, 2002). There is a displacement of part of the dream work whereby an event or individual is represented by some other person or event which is in a way associated or linked with it. Willy dreams of becoming like the old man and he associate himself with him. He sees the old man as his role model because the old man has achieved Willy`s goal of being liked by people in the death of salesman. Bernard is highly successful in his attempt to achieve his goal and desired dream. On the other hand, Willy Lowman is not successful in his desire and dream of being well liked by everyone. Two characters struggles to achieve their desire of American dream throughout the death of salesman. By not often making explicit statements, dream resembles literature. Dreams represent meanings through solid embodiments of place, person or time. Dreams tend to avoid open or direct statement and communicate indirectly or obliquely. Not even one of Willy`s goals were achieved therefore it`s fair to say he did not achieve the real American Dream not unless a person considers Willy`s death a completed goal. Dreams may be looked at as a good argument but it`s worth noting that Willy was still not well liked by his society as well as he was not successful in career as a salesman (Barry, 2002). Question 4 It is clear that Freud was never the discoverer of the part of mind that exceeds consciousness-the unconscious part of our live that influence our actions. He liked the idea of unconsciousness with repression- the act of ignoring and forgetting of unresolved conflicts or traumatic past events in order to force them out of our conscious awareness to our realm of unconscious. In the death of salesman this theory of repression by Freud operates so evidently. Both repression and denial are the defense mechanism of Freudian. In psychoanalysis, each of the variety of unconscious reactions of personality that the ego uses when protecting the conscious mind to be free of harm from threatening perceptions and feelings is the Primary defense mechanisms which include denial and repression, that serve to prevent unwanted impulse or ideas from getting into the conscience. Willy is faced with a profession of a traveling salesman which proves to be undoubtedly arduous since he meets numerous failures along his way. Life is unfair on Willy and it denies him the social and financial success Willy is desperately craving for. As a way of coping with his failure, Willy persistently denies the fact that he has shortcomings instead he is convincing himself of achieving his perceived success. Willy also represses the failures he is facing so as to maintain and keep the bombastic self-image he commands. Willy Loman is seen to appear on the scene as performing his last staggering steps in his life which is of continual stumbling. Unfortunately he mistakes his life predicaments for glide on a smooth road destined to success. Willy`s compulsive use of repression and denial proves to be hindering his pursuit of being successful by resulting into several consequences in his family and social life. Willy Loman`s persistent repression and denial of reality finally results into his premature death ( Barry, 1997). Most individuals employ repression at some point in time in their lives especially when coping with certain stressful situations, for instance the death of their loved one. Repression is a coping strategy designed to help people reduce anxiety by simply avoiding information which might provoke anxiety. Willy, a subject in denial, has refused to believe and accept that the potentially painful information about his failure to be successful as a salesman is true instead he employs repression and avoids such information (Murphy, 1995). The denial and repression of Willy Loman finally stems from his own comprehensive acceptance of the perverse understanding of American Dream. Despite it being unattainable for several reasons, this dream promises Willy the financial and social security he desires. Initially, he derives this misinformed desire from his perceptions concerning his brother Ben and his father. The premature loss of the two role models in his life did leave the protagonist feeling sort of temporary about him. Willy could not compete with the idealized memory of the two role models. In spite of it being unattainable for several reasons, the denial and repression of Willy Loman finally stems from his own comprehensive acceptance of the perverse understanding of American Dream. This dream promises Willy the financial and social security he ever desired. Originally, Willy derives this misinformed desire from his perceptions concerning his brother Ben and his father. Willy could not compete with the idealized memory of the two role models. Willy Loman is seen to appear on the scene as performing his last staggering steps in his life which is of continual stumbling. Freudian uses both repression and denial as defense mechanism. Primary defense mechanisms which include denial and repression, that serve to prevent unwanted impulse or ideas from getting into the conscience. Willy`s compulsive use of repression and denial proves to be hindering his pursuit of being successful by resulting into several consequences in his family and social life. In psychoanalysis, each of the variety of unconscious reactions of personality that the ego uses to protect the conscious mind to be free of harm from threatening perceptions and feelings. Unfortunately Willy mistakes his life predicaments for glide on a smooth road destined to success. The premature loss of the two role models in his life did leave the protagonist feeling sort of temporary about him. References Barry, P. (1995). Beginning theory: An introduction to literary and cultural theory. Manchester [u.a.: Manchester Univ. Press. Barry, P. (2002). Beginning theory: An introduction to literary and cultural theory. Manchester [u.a.: Manchester University Press. Miller, A., & Brater, E. (2010). Death of a salesman. London: Methuen Drama. Murphy, B. (1995). Death of a salesman. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Read More