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Comparision between Hamlet and DOAS CPT
69
Comparing Hamlet and Death of a salesman
Composed By
William Shakespeare and Arthur Miller
Anna Singh
December 17th, 2018
Willy and Hamlet both fell from grace, by committing morally bankrupt acts and eventually died, giving way to a re-establishment of order. Tragic men, for different reasons, bound together through their demeanor and their deaths. The tragedy of Hamlet: The Prince of Denmark and Death Of A Salesman are alike in terms of their role and prevalence of appearance vs reality, their acknowledgment of women, the self-awareness in the tragic hero's and the tragedy as elaborated by A.C Bradley.
The role and prevalence of appearance vs reality in both Hamlet and Death of a Salesman.
Appearance Vs Reality
Appearance is "the state, condition, manner, or style in which a person or object appears; outward look or aspect"; whereas the reality is the "world or the state of things as they actually exist, as opposed to an idealistic or notional idea of them"(dictionary).
DOAS
- Willy has a vision that his brother Ben comes to see him. However, in reality no one was there.
- "Oh, I'll knock 'em dead next week. I'll go to Hartford. I'm very well liked in Hartford"(pg 28). In reality, "They seem to laugh at me...they just pass me by..."(pg ). "I don't want you to represent us. I've been meaning to tell you for a long time now"(pg 65).
- Willy is constantly going into flashbacks throughout the first act. He goes back to when Biff and Happy are younger and to other times and it appears to be going on during that time, however, in reality, Willy is just thinking about it.
- Loman believes that the boys are angels and that they do no wrong. But, Linda says that they are very rough with girls, they steal things, and they have bad grades in school. Also, he believes they are very well liked and successful, in reality, they haven't really done anything with their lives.
- Willy thinks that the American dream is all about obtaining many material things by personality and looks when in reality it is about hard work and determination.
Hamlet
- "Lord Hamlet, with is doublet all unbraced, no hat upon his head, his stockings foul'd, ungarter'd and down-gyved to his ankle, pale as his shirt, his knees knocking each other, and with a look so piteous in purport as if he had been loosed out of hell to speak of horrors, he comes before me." (Act 2, Scene 1-pg. 31)
- ""Therefore, since brevity is the soul of wit, And tediousness the limbs and outward flourishes, I will be brief. " ( Act 2, Scene 2-pg. 36)
- "Get thee to a nunnery" (Act 3, Scene 1-pg. 55)
- Hamlet believed his das ghost appeared to him while he was being aggressive with her yet in reality the queen tend to say nothing. Could have been an illusion in Hamlet's mind; maybe his conscience speaking to him.
There is a conflict between appearance and reality as every person struggles with two separate identities - an inner and an outer. In William Shakespeare's Hamlet and Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman, the theme's relevance stems from the consequences of deceit that both tragic heroes, Hamlet, and Willy Loman possess. They are unable to differentiate between whats real and what isn't which leads them to destruction.
Portrayal of Women
Role Of The Women
Gender inequality is a predominant issue in Hamlet as the two leading women are characterized as weak, obedient, and are used as tools of manipulation by the male figures in their lives. Shakespeare and Miller illustrate a sympathetic image of Gertrude, Ophelia, and Linda as their downfall can be blamed on how narrow-minded and sexist men are. These delicate female characters allow for the plot to advance easily through their constant dependence on men.
Hamlet
Getrude: Queen
Hamlet - "Let the bloat king tempt you again to bed; / Pinch wanton on your cheek; call you his mouse; / And let him, for a pair of reechy kisses, / Or paddling in your neck with his damn'd fingers, / Make you to ravel all this matter out, / That I essentially am not in madness, /But mad in craft.” (3.4)
Gertrude - "Be thou assured, if words be made of breath, / And breath of life, I have no life to breathe / What thou hast said to me."
Claudius - "And we beseech you, bend you to remain / Here, in the cheer and comfort of our eye, / Our chiefest courtier, cousin, and our son." (1.2)
Gertrude - "Let not thy mother lose her prayers, Hamlet. / I pray thee, stay with us; go not to Wittenberg." (1.2)
Ophelia: King's right hand man's daughter
Laertes- "For Hamlet and the trifling of his favour, / Hold it a fashion and a toy in blood, / A violet in the youth of primy nature, / Forward, not permanent, sweet, not lasting, / The perfume and suppliance of a minute; no more." (1.3)
Ophelia - "I shall watch the effect of this good lesson keep, / As watchman to my heart." (1.3)
Polonius- "I would not, in plain terms, from this time forth, / Have you so slander any moment leisure, / As to give words or talk with the Lord Hamlet." (1.3)
Ophelia - "I shall obey, my lord." (1.3)
Both Hamlet and Polonius use Ophelia to accomplish what they want. Hamlet takes advantage of Ophelia when he uses her as part of his plan to kill Claudius. Polonius uses Ophelia in hopes of figuring out Hamlet's madness.
DOAS
Linda: Willy's Wife
Although Linda did not take as much action into preventing his suicide, she still adored his every move and always justified his crazy actions to their children, saying he was just tired or stressed out.
"Linda: trying to bring him out of it: Willy, dear, i got a new kind of American-type cheese today, It’s whipped.
Willy: Why do you get American when i like Swiss?
Linda: I just thought you’d like a change
Willy: I don’t want a change! I like swiss cheese! why am i always being contradicted?
Linda: with a covering laugh: I thought it would be a surprise
Willy: Why don't you open a window in here for god's sake
Linda: with infinite patience: they’re all open dear "(Act 1, page 7).
Linda: “No, you can't just come to see me, because I love him. He’s the dearest man in the world to me, and I won't have anyone making him feel unwanted and low and blue”(Act 1, pg 55)
"Linda: *as a mother, gives a valid opinion about the topic being discussed*
Willy: Will you let me talk?
Biff: Don’t yell at her pop, will ya?"(Act 1, pg 65)
The other Women
She is effortlessly tossed aside like an old toy when Biff comes to see his father. The woman is blindsided, and she is left humiliated when Willy denies her, sending out of the room in her nightgown. It seemed as though she wasn't aware of Willy’s children, and of his marriage until Biff arrived at the hotel. As a lady, she does know her manners, politely greeting Biff when he sees her at the hotel.
Happy's "girls"
The play insists that Happy goes for girls just for their looks to build his self-esteem.
He says this by complimenting them, for example, when he states “Would you object to a compliment from a stranger? You ought to be on a magazine cover” (Act 2 Page 101).
Happy tell women things they would like to hear.
For example, it is stated when Happy says “Biff is quarterback with the New York Giants” (Act Two Page 102).
This demonstrates that the play is showing how easily fooled women can be.
The time period that Arthur Miller and Shakespeare wrote Death of a Salesman and Shakespeare were eras where women were mistreated and treated as objects. Willy treated his wife as the typical housewife that they would advertise, he also treated The Woman as an object. Willy’s character relates to the author Arthur Miller, "he was married but at the same time was having affair with Marilyn Monroe"(independent.co). Although we have advanced in the way people treat, and see women, they are still fighting for equal rights, and to stop being treated as objects. Similarly how Shakespeare treated his sister who allegedly wrote quite a few of his plays, but was never credited for them.
What really defines a Tragic Hero and Self Awareness
A tragic hero is "a literary character who makes an error of judgment or has a fatal flaw that, combined with fate and external forces, brings on a tragedy"(dictionary.com).
Self- awareness in the Tragic Hero's
Self- awareness is “when we focus our attention on ourselves, we evaluate and compare our current behavior to our internal standards and values. We become self-conscious as objective evaluators of ourselves"(positive psychology).
Willy’s tragic flaw was that he wasn’t willing to let go and accept the past so he couldn’t move on in the future. His stubborn unwillingness lead him to lose his job, alienated his family, and led to his death by suicide. He was unable to face reality and realize that he was unsuccessful. And this eventually leads to his downfall, his suicide. He is a tragic hero because his own character flaws cause his failure and death.
Willy Loman
Subconsciously, Willy knows where he went wrong and that he is a failure, but consciously is unable to come to terms with it. Willy refuses to admit that he is a failure. In the end, he eventually does achieve self-awareness.
This very awareness is something he is unable to come to terms with. He is unable to live with the reality hence hangs on to the delusion and dies with it.
Hamlet is of noble status. Hamlet possesses a tragic flaw: his failure to act and his inability to consolidate his thoughts and actions. His tragic flaw influenced his to downfall. His flaw not only destroyed him, but it killed off half of the royal family.
Hamlet
Hamlet is unquestionably aware of the tragic outcome of himself and his life. Because of this “awareness”, Hamlet is unwilling to make any seemingly noble actions. Deep down he is aware that despite his attempts to change the world he lives in, his outcome will still be tragic.
The biggest contrast between Hamlet and Willy Loman is that Hamlet is, in fact, aware of his own tragic being and Willy is to an extent not aware of his tragic being. Hamlet and Willy have very different personalities. They both had different ways of dealing with tragedies. Hamlet took everyone down with him; whereas, Willy died for the well being of his son and family.
Tragedy
A.C Bradley: The Substance of Shakespearean Tragedy
A.C Bradley explains a tragedy as a "tale of suffering and calamity leading to the death of a man in high estate. The suffering and calamity are exceptional; which, befall a significant person and attended by tragic pity... They are also, as a rule unexpected, and contrasted with previous happiness and glory"(Bradley pg 5).
Similarly to what Bradley explicitly said, both Hamlet and DOAS led to the death of a man in high estate due to suffering. Hamlet's loss of his father led him to turn mad and crazy, he went through and beyond his limits seeking revenge which resulted in his and all his loved one's death. Loman's age and past accompanied his loss as he turned mentally disabled, suffered from flashbacks, unattentiveness, fights, and ultimately his death for his loved ones so they could have a brighter future and accomplish the "American Dream".
Hamlet and DOAS vary in numerous contexts, yet are remarkably similar according to their role of appearance vs reality, how Hamlet performs a certain way(crazy) but in reality is a genius and how Loman has visions and flashbacks which are tirelessly far from the reality. The form they both are sexist and showcase women as men's slave or toy. Linda, Ophelia, Gertrude even being the queen without hesitation obeying what they are getting told to do by the so-called superior sex. The self-awareness in the protagonists, they both have a sense of what they did wasn't just disregarding still proceeded. These plays stand hand in hand with Bradley's definition of a tragedy as both protagonists end by dying, and overall are fascinating works of art.
Works Cited
- https://positivepsychologyprogram.com/self-awareness-matters-how-you-can-be-more-self-aware/
- https://www.dictionary.com/
- https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/marilyn-monroe-arthur-miller-joe-dimaggio-funeral-overdose-death-how-die-secret-who-killed-a8154086.html
- https://www.dictionary.com/browse/appearance
- Shakespeare, William, and Edward Hubler. The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. New York, N.Y: Published by the Penguin Group, Penguin Books, 1987. Print.
- Miller, Arthur, 1915-2005. Death Of a Salesman. New York :Penguin Books, 1996. Print.
- “Shakespearean Tragedy - A. C. Bradley.” ShakespeareBrasileiro, 22 Jan. 2016, shakespearebrasileiro.org/en/shakespearean-tragedy-a-c-bradley/.
DOAS is “the tragedy of a man who gave his life and sold it”(Collins) in pursuit of the American Dream. Willy Loman, a salesman who believed himself to be a powerful man, has his life unravel before him as he dissipates his job, his sanity and the respect of those around him. He had previously cheated on his wife and still treats her like a slave. This "dirtied" his appearance to his son Biff, though his wife never found out. Biff later went on to become a drifter of sorts, dabbling in one low-paying profession after another until finally settling on a farm.
An Overview of the Novels
After losing his job, Willy was too stubborn to accept a job from his next-door neighbor Willy is forced to lie to his family. Through visions of his older brother Ben, coupled with the degradation of his mind, Willy eventually commits suicide to ensure Biff's career through the Life Insurance policy. Willy dies an empty, shallow death.
Prince Hamlet has been summoned home to Denmark to attend his father's funeral. He is in a state of mourning and despair over the death of his father. He is further disturbed that his mother, Queen Gertrude, has married his uncle, Claudius, who is also the brother of the late king.
Hamlet
A Ghost, who he assumed his father requests for revenge. While seeking revenge, Hamlet ends up losing everything, including his life and murdering almost all of the royal family.