2001. One definition of
madness is "mental delusion or the eccentric behavior arising from
it." But Emily Dickinson wrote
Much madness is divinest Sense-
To a discerning Eye-
Novelists
and playwrights have often seen madness with a "discerning Eye."
Select a novel or play in which a character's apparent madness or irrational
behavior plays an important role. Then write a well-organized essay in which
you explain what this delusion or eccentric behavior consists of and how it
might be judged reasonable. Explain the significance of the "madness"
to the work as a whole. Do not merely summarize the plot.
Death
of a Salesman by Arthur Miller has a classic example of a character that
goes through eccentric behavior. Willy, the main character, is a salesman, a
father, and a husband. He has reached the point in his life where everything
seems to be falling apart, which is when this play takes place.
It is mentioned throughout the novel
that the rest of the business world thinks he has officially gone crazy. He
mumbles and talks to himself, when looking from the perspective of someone in
the story. However, as the reader, we know that he is actually having
hallucinations and sees images of people like his brother Ben, whom he thinks
he is talking to. He has flashbacks of memories from the olden days, when
everything seemed to be going right for him, and he imagines himself there
talking to the people. He has finally snapped. His wife Linda explains at one
point in the story that he talks to himself because he is tired of all the
disappointment in his life. Everything that he had looked forward to had failed
him, his job was low to begin with then he lost it, not striking it rich in
Alaska, losing his relationship with Biff, having Biff be a failure in the
workforce and thinking it was his fault; it all piles up. So it makes sense
that he tries to remember the times when things were going well and there was
still hope for being rich and for his children being rich.
His mad behavior is important to the
play because the entire play revolves around it. We see reality, then it switches
to a flashback occurring in his mind, and then back to reality. As the reader,
we get an inside view of the madness going on inside of Willy’s head and we can
see how the other characters react to him while he is going through that
episode. The boys are initially cold to their father but as they see the
struggle he goes through daily to make his living, they try to help him
overcome his hallucinations by trying to bring success to their own lives,
which is all he wanted in the first place, especially for Biff. This is why
Biff tries to make a big sports deal. His mad behavior is essentially what threatens
to tear the family apart but then ends up bringing the family back together
right before his untimely death.
Great post! I loved your use of sentence length. It really made the essay better. I also used Death of Salesman for this post, but not this prompt. I thought it was odd becaue once we finished a book, I found that it fit a prompt. It was really helpful when it came to writing these essays.
ReplyDeleteOverall, you answered the prompt quite very well, though I think you could have gone a little deeper with your explanation of the significance of Willy's madness.
ReplyDeleteBe careful you don't abuse pronouns. You mentioned Willy once in your introduction, then his name just disappears in a mess of pronouns, resurfacing only once more near the end.
For example, read the following sentences from your essay:
"This is why Biff tries to make a big sports deal. His mad behavior is essentially what threatens to tear the family apart but then ends up bringing the family back together right before his untimely death."
The antecedent is clearly supposed to be Willy, but the wording implies it is Biff who's mad behavior does all that.
Noah Symanzik