In Psychoanalysis psychologiststry to have a grip on the problems that are deep rooted into unconsius mind. Byexploring unconscious many concisous problems can be solved. Many childhoodfixations are the cause of disturbance thorough out a person’s life.
Itincludes certain childhood traumas conflicts and repressed wishes.Psychoanalysis brings these repressed wishes and traumas through manytechniques into conscious to resolve them. In literature psychoanalysis isthought to be as a window to author’s mind. Certain traumas and conflicts inauther’s mind can be traced out through psychoanalysis.
By applying this theoryon aurther miller’s death of a salesman it becomes clear that auther millier’spsyche is very much influenced by the upheavel of America at theat time At thr time when death of a salesman was writtenAmerican society was going through many transformations that causes manypathological states and mental illness . Psychiatrists andsocial analyst presented explanations for these mental states; they contended,”Social insecurity caused rising occurrences of madness” ( morgo horn2127) many social poilitical and economic changes shaped people’s mental stateAurthermiller as being the member of same society had a great influence of all thisupheaval on his writing. He has shown the real picture of the society of thattime and what people were actually suffering from, after revolution. One of thegreat infelenc of it is seen on the mental situatuins of people.
In his playdeath of a salesman he is reflecting the same situation. Willy loman, the centrel character is suffering from narcissm.Willy is a self centred man who impses his false assumptions and values overhis family.
According to aurther miller commont men is also apt for tragedy askings and high class people.willy is a common man who is so much influenced bysociety that his family is also getting disturbed by it. He has dreams that areimpossible. He thought that selling was the best profession that can givewealth and fame but when it proves to be wrong ben and chrley all the timemakes him realise unconsciously that he is a faloure, he becomes victim tonarcissism and becomes menatly disturbed. He has false dreams values ego andpride.
Throughout the play he shows signs and symptoms of a narcisst. Narcissmis a common yet unknown term to many through psychoanalysis we can see thepresence of narcissism in many of the characters in literature. Giving too muchvalue to self is narcissim Sigmund Freud, in his essay, “On Narcissism,” claims that thedevelopment of narcissism occurs when “the libido that has been withdrawnfrom the external world has been directed to the ego, giving rise to a statewhich we may call narcissism” (32). This means, according to Freud, thatnarcissism is a seminal factor in creating a sense of self, or a unified being,and suggests that individuals, in the normal cycle of development, detach theirlibido from the ego and attach it towards external objects outside the internalself.
Such a process, Freud argues, is called primary narcissism. In addition,Freud claims that when individuals engage in the process of object choice,which is governed by the hope that the love object will fulfill theindividuals’ narcissistic needs the way the mother originally fulfilled them,they choose mother or father figures as their partners in the hope that theseparents substitutes will fulfill the needs of their ego-libido. In death of a salesman American society willyis cahallenged by three dreams firstly Ben and wealth at all costs(or J.P. Morgan “with his pockets on”) secondly Dave Singleman, the man who wasaccording to willy “well-liked” and thirdly Bernard and possibaly charley too willy continuesllay tries to followthem to be well liked as they are but he never get success the play can be seenas a series of symptoms leading to a final disaster or a disease that cause thedeath of willy loman. In psychoanalysis theory it is suggested that seveerlmental illness are caused by traumatic incidents in early life of the subject.How about willy loman?? Did he have traumatic incidents that leads to histragic end? In prychoanalysis this trauma is usually caused by baby’sseparation from mother but in willy’s case it is father who unexpectedly leftthe kid when he was 4 but the problem isnot that Willy’s father went to Alaska and stopped supporting his family.
It isfar more immaterial and common, if only because nothing in the play is to betaken at a purely factual level.maight be his father too had a tragedy atAlaska. There can be many possibilities for the case but the main problem isvery much significant. It is the only reason he cares and expects too much fromhis sons that is the real cause of his tragedy according to psychoanalysi.someother traumas would also possibaly have taken place that causes narcissism inhis personality.
His brother also abondons him at the young age that’s whythere is fra of abandonment in his personality he sufferes from insecure andunstable sense of self son=metimes hi self esteem is high and sometimes verylow. He uses many defence machenisams to cope with the anxieties he is facing.Most of the time he is aggressive and sometimes in a sense of regret. All thesefactors contributes to his tragic death at the end.
On the other hand selfesteem is also the factor that Is having its share in willy’s ruine a Self-esteem that is based upon the supportof others is momentary and causes self-delusion and self-destruction.most fwilly’s problems his dearth of self-knowledge, his denial to follow his naturaldispositions, his continuous self-doubt, misperception and lack ofself-reliance, his persistent, stubborn determination to do things his own way,some times pessimism and sometime optimism need for approval, the bad impact onhis sons all are the results of self esteem Willy always depends on othersapproval to raise up his self esteem but when he observes that all the peoplewho used to approve him are no more or not supporting him he started to have adrift in his self esteem. To ragain this self esteem he strts to remind himselfof the past and the times when he was happy
