S Arts and
Journal es
ial Scienc oc
Arts and Social Sciences Journal
ISSN: 2151-6200
Ismail, Arts Social Sci J 2018, 9:4 DOI: 10.4172/2151-6200.1000360
Short Communication
Open Access
Existential Nihilism and Self-delusion in Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman Khaleel Ismail* Department of English Language, College of Science and Humanities, Prince Sattam Bin Abdulaziz University, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia *Correspondence author: Ismail K, Department of English Language, College of Science and Humanities, Prince Sattam Bin Abdulaziz University, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Tel: +966537493033; E-mail: khaleelextra63@gmail.com Rec date: April 04, 2018; Acc date: April 27, 2018; Pub date: May 03, 2018 Copyright: © 2018 Ismail K. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Abstract This paper explores the manifestations of nihilism and self-delusion in Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman. The paper argues that the feelings of hopelessness and despair experienced by the lead character Willy Loman are as a result of the piling pressures of modernity and the emasculating effects of American capitalism engendered by the two World wars. A direct consequence of these nihilistic feelings in the play manifest in the inability of the Loman family to face the harsh realities of everyday affairs, thereby rendering their lives meaningless. The paper concludes that the suicide of Loman at the end of the play is inevitable because it is the natural outcome of existential nihilism, especially the kind induced by industrial capitalism. In this respect, death, as seen at the end of the play, becomes a natural relief to existential suffering.
Keywords: Social; War; Peace; Humanity
Introduction According to Abbotson [1] “Arthur Asher Miller was born October, 17, 1915 in New York city, the second child of Augusta Miller and Isidore Miller. His mother was age 22 and his father 30 when Miller was born.” A great playwright of his time, Miller included his extended family of aunts, uncles, cousins, nephews and nieces in his plays. This is manifests in the play Death of a Salesman (henceforth D.O.S) with his presentation of Happy and Biff as brothers. In his autobiography, Time bends: A Life, cited in Abbotson, Miller “describes Arts and Social Sciences Journal The play marks a shift between the Aristotelian tragedy with the tragic character being someone of nobility or a respectable member of the society to the downfall of an ordinary member man who is poor and unrecognized. Even his name “Lowman” evokes in us a man who is 'low'. Willy Loman is not of noble birth, neither is he a man of fortune, which is the yardstick for assessing the success or otherwise of people in capitalist system.
Nihilism: The Concept and Philosophy The Webster's International Dictionary defines nihilism as “a viewpoint that all traditional beliefs are unfounded and that all existence is consequently senseless and useless: a denial of intrinsic meaning and value in life” [2]. As philosophical doctrine, nihilism is often traced to the works of Ivan Turgenev (Fathers and Sons 1961) and the German philosopher, Friedrich Nietzsche (see Rosli Taliff Dictionary of Literary Terms [3]. Nietzsche alongside other philosophers like Jean Paul Sartre and Albert Camus to mention a few, popularize the concept in the twentieth century. Nietzsche himself defines nihilism as the situation which obtains when “everything is permitted” Glicksberg [2]. In other words of Rosen [4], nihilism is therefore characterized by boredom and hopelessness often resulting in despair. Life in this circumstance becomes baseless and rootless without any solid anchor. Rosen [4] further observes that (this) mood
Arts Social Sci J, an open access journal ISSN: 2151-6200
of boredom or hopelessness is the most negative manifestation of nihilism.” Further, since nihilism is closely tied to the Nietzschean idea of the 'death of God' it follows that where it happens there will be a spiritual chasm in the life of people seized by its feelings. Consequently, there will be neither spiritual nor any material support to latch on to by these people in their period of anguish and despair. It is compelling to note that the causes of these nihilistic feelings are varied and diverse. However, the most important ones in the twentieth century are the two World wars. There is no doubt that the two World wars in general, and the Second World War in general in particular have impinged on the lives of people in general and that of writers in particular. The war and its attendant consequences of human loss, carnage, senseless violence, and displacement have helped in creating a feeling of alienation and despair among the post-war generations of writers in both Europe and America. As a result of this, their vision and image of man as the paragon of progress and civilization was shaken. The war also left a deep scar on their conscience and at the same time pushed them to question and re-evaluate the much touted humanity of man. Consequently, these writers, through their imagination, seized the initiative to educate people the populace about the existential uncertainties plaguing man in this period of despair and hopelessness. As a natural corollary the characters that peopled their works become the embodiments of these vexatious sentiments. Certainly, one of the post-war plays that mirror these feelings is Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman [5].
Existentialism: A Modern Philosophy Existentialism on the other hand is a philosophical movement whose origin could be traced to the nineteenth century Danish theologian Soren Kierkegaard. It is a very complex philosophy that harbors contradictory and competing ideas. There are two major strands of Existentialism current in the nineteenth century: Christian Existentialism and the Sartrean Existentialism. Whereas the former was built on the Christian morality of the doctrine “the original sin”
Volume 9 • Issue 4 • 1000360