The contradiction between what a character says and does is self-deception

51Due教员组今天给各位留学生带来一篇纯原创代写范文，讲的是一个人物的言行可能相互矛盾或对应，希望这篇可以帮助到各位留学生，同时需要代写也可以直接联系我们51Due客服vx（vx：Jenny_dynh）进行咨询。

The words and deeds of a character may contradict or correspond to one another. In at least two plays you have studied compare the extent of such contradiction and/or correspondence.

Contradiction and correspondence between a character's words and deeds often represent self-deception. The play “Death of a Salesman”  by Arthur Miller explores the central struggle of a salesman, Willy Loman, who fails to achieve an ideal future so that he is entangled in his past, which further results in his inevitable death at the end of the play. And the play “The Glass Menagerie” by Tennessee Williams explores the disintegration of Wingfield’s family through the narrator Tom’s memories, highlighting the frustrations of his mother and sister alongside his own desperate and conflicting desires to pursue an alternate without being haunted by the guilt of abandoning them. Within both plays, playwrights use contradiction to create a sense of nostalgia within a character that clings to the past for one part and the use of correspondence, for another, is for revealing the characters' attempt to escape, which contributes to the plays' overall presentation as "tragedy plays".

In "Death of a Salesman", Miller’s use of contradiction can be seen in the words of Willy Loman and such use aims to visually and dramatically show his self-deception of success on stage. The words of Willy in the reality that clash with his dreams are often heard in his conceptions of success in denying his failure. And the opening stage direction that remains visible throughout resembles directly to show this contradiction. Noticeably as the play opens, Willy's self-delusion is obvious in his crippled consciousness that "he hears but is not aware of" the flute being played, which successfully establishes the dysfunctional psychological activity that is gone within his mind, in sharp contrast to the audience's senses. Also, Willy calls his son Biff "a lazy bum" while communicating with Linda, revealing his real disappointment at his son and making him deflect Linda's criticism of his judgment against Biff's lack of material achievement. However, he denies by saying that "Biff is not lazy" the next moment, which enables him to hold on to the hope that Biff will eventually fulfill his expectations of "personal attractiveness and hard work". Willy constantly changes his interpretation of reality because of his psychological calls within dysfunctional mind at a particular moment. Moreover, he is likewise able to recall decisive moments of his past in his later assessment toward Biff, including "Don't say 'Gee', 'Gee' is a boy's word. A man walking in for fifteen thousand dollars does not say 'Gee!'… 'Gee, look at the moon moving between the buildings!". Willy's lecture to Biff shows his concern for Biff that Biff may not be able to grow up and become mature, yet again his expectation to his son let him claim back to his past of failure. He declares the passing of times while viewing the fast movement of the moon. In his remarks about Charley to his son, he says "because Charley is not - liked. He's liked, but he's not - well-liked", which highlights Miller's use of contradiction. This contradiction can be seen from that this sentence is used to prove Willy's life may have been flourishing at the time while he failed to earn the so-called impression of "well-liked" that he believed he could have in the reality. Thus, the instability of Willy's mind and his inability to communicate thoughtfully both confirm his state of confusion, which further leads to his tremendous downfall at the end of the play.

The same as “Death of a Salesman”, William’s use of contradiction can as well be found in the demands of parents and their expectation to children that they did not fulfil. Such contradiction within a character is seen in Amanda Wingfield’s clinging to her flourishing past. Amanda also lives in a world that fluctuates between illusion and reality. She recalls back upon her old ages to her children that “One Sunday afternoon in Bluemoutain – your mother received – seventeen! – Gentlemen callers!” This statement depicts a world of servants and gentlemen callers that possibly Amanda wants to escape to, a world that is highly contrasted with her current world. Amanda’s referring to the past also indicates her psychological needs to stay in the bubble of her own illusion to her past. And then Amanda’s words and deeds attempts to bring her illusion to the life of Laura as her Laura enters. Laura, a character that is highly juxtaposed to Amanda’s character who is seen with the “image of blue roses”, suggests an image of soft beauty and is identified with “her collection of glass”, which is right why Amanda brings her illusion to the life of Laura. When Laura listens and watches Amanda, “Deception? Deception? She slowly removes her hat and gloves…a bit of acting”, Williams effectively portrays the dramatic image of Amanda’s actions as if on stage to create a striking image of Amanda’s acting nature. The insistence of Amanda’s demands on her daughter can be readily detected in her questions on Laura: “What are we going to do, what is going to come to us, what is the future?” Here, the audience sees the projection of Amanda’s life onto the hands of her daughters, the use of the register “us” shows Amanda’s concern about her future life  without any decision or concerns about Laura. Apart from that, the “pause” and the “long breath” in the stage direction highlights the extent of her forceful nature in forbidding Laura’s opinion. Near the end of the play, Amanda angrily says to Tom in their final dialogue that “Go, then! Then go to the moon – you selfish dreamer!”, which is made dramatic ironic because Amanda is both selfish and a dreamer herself in many aspects. Throughout the whole play, the audience can get that the point of Amanda’s expectation about Laura and Tom is to secure her future. Many referring to Laura’s marrying a “Gentleman Caller”, Amanda’s reflecting on her old age can provide implications of her desires and demands for her children. On one hand, the audience sees a sweet and caring mother who tries to bring happiness for the family. But on the other hand, she is living in an unrealistic world where she dwells in her past too much and she refuses to see her present and future.

Furthermore, the use of correspondence in words and deeds of a character is also thematically significant in drama. Miller effectively conveys it through the words and deeds of Linda in revealing the theme of social roles as well as Linda’s care and attachment towards Willy. This idea is already present in the opening stage direction in Linda's description that "she more than loves him, she admires him, as though he mercurial nature, his temper, his massive dreams and little cruelties…longings which she shares but lacks the temperament to utter and follow to their end", implying that Linda would like to fulfil and carry on Willy's dream and life in her role as a loving wife. This idea becomes even obvious later in Linda's gestures like taking "his jacket" and "taking off his shoes", which portrays her as a typical housewife who takes well care of her husband and at the same time shows her devotion and affection towards Willy. In the meantime, Miller introduces the societal gender roles through Linda's stereotypical gestures, during which her desire to please Willy can be easily found. Throughout the play, the audience is given hints at many stage directions of Linda's gestures as can help reflect her duty as a wife of Willy, such as "very carefully", "delicately" and "helpfully", which shows Linda's feminity to abide by her role as a caring and tender woman and wife. Despite Willy's lack of love and gratitude, Linda's correspondence to her loving actions is also indicated in her repetitive patient responses to Willy's dysfunctional and contradictory mind. Those moments can be seen by "Maybe it was the coffee", "maybe it was the steering again" and "maybe it's your glasses", which implies that they are in denial of an existing issue and is further enhanced by Linda's solution "take an aspirin…it'll soothe you". Thus, Miller’s use of correspondence in Linda’s character is effectively conveyed to project in protecting Willy from the deception of others together with his own self-deception.

Unlike ‘Death of a Salesman’, correspondence is not described as showing affections towards another character while it is revealed via characters’ means of escape in “memory play” of Menagerie, such as Tom’s not fulfilling his duty at the end of the play. The closing scene of the play stands as a prominent moment to Tom in which his memories still lingered, and thoughts of what may have been exasperated his conscience, leaving him in a state of constant struggle. The effect of the contradiction use in Tom's feeling implies Tom’s inability in means of escapism from his memory and his guilt for abandoning his mother and sister, which is made visually striking for the audience. By portraying the inevitability of living in a dreamed world, Williams thereby furthers the sense of the tragedy of unchangeable facts and Tom's inevitability of escaping from his trapped role as a "shoebox" provided for him. The use of this metaphor symbolizes Tom's physical inability to escape, a bubble that he is trapped in, emphasizing his ambitions and urge in escaping from his duty. Williams highlights Tom's finality and his inner thoughts of complexity. One could perhaps overshadow Tom's escape to the outside world that he could have gained from his departure based on the contradiction and vagueness in his words that "I would have stopped, but I was pursued by something", which adds Williams' impression of Tom’s being lost further. The listing phrases in Tom's expression: "I reach for a cigarette … I run to the movies or a bar ..." illustrates the conflicted complexity in his struggles with his memories and his inevitability of escaping from the reality for the audience. Therefore Williams' use of contradiction in the final scene is significant in encapsulating the dramatic tensions of the play where the audience see Tom's driving motivation in his recounting of his memories to deny the correspondence of his duty from his guilt, and furthermore it made visually striking to provide a compelling closing to the play as a whole.

To sum up, a reasonable conclusion can be drawn that the contradiction and correspondence of words and deeds of a character is effectively displayed in both plays to highlight the central tension within a character and his/her self-deception, their dysfunctional family in which none of them achieve their dreams, the ephemerality of these dreams and to provide an overall striking presentation of the visual play.

51due留学教育原创版权郑重声明：原创优秀代写范文源自编辑创作，未经官方许可，网站谢绝转载。对于侵权行为，未经同意的情况下，51Due有权追究法律责任。主要业务有essay代写、assignment代写、paper代写、作业代写、论文代写服务。

51due为留学生提供最好的论文代写服务，亲们可以进入主页了解和获取更多代写范文提供论文代写服务，详情可以咨询我们的客服QQ：800020041。