Arthur Miller

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 Arthur Miller 

(1915-2005) 


  • Arthur Asher Miller was a prolific American playwright, essayist and prominent figure in 20th century American Theatre. 
  • Among his most popular Works/Plays are: 

  1.  All My Sons (1947)
  2. Death of a Salesman (1947) 
  3. The Crucible (1953) 
  4. A View from the Bridge (1955)

  • He also wrote several screenplays and most noted among them is his work on The Misfits (1956).
  • Thedrama ‘Death of a Salesman’ is among the finest American plays of 20th century. 
  • In 1947, Miller's play ' All My Sons ' established his reputation as a playwright. Critics regarded it as a very depressing play in a time of great optimism. 
  • His Death of a Salesman (1949) won all the three major awards of America i.e.

  1. Pulitzer Prize 
  2. Tony Award for best author and 
  3. The New York Drama Critic Circles Award 

  •  In 1956, One act version of Miller's verse drama “A View from the Bridge " opened on a broad way in a joint bill with a well-known play A Memory of Two Mondays. 
  • In 1964, "After the Fall” was produced and is said to be deeply personal view of Miller's experiences during his marriage. 
  • Healso wrote the penetrating drama The Price (1968). It was his most successful play since ' Death of a Salesman '. 
  • The Death of a Salesman was a major success also in China and thus in 1984 “Salesman in Beijing” a book of Millers experiences in Beijing was produced. 
  • In late 1987, Miller's autobiographical work Timebenels, which is about his experiences with Monroe in detail, was published. 
  • During the early mid 1990's Miller wrote two new plays “The Last Yankee” (1992) and Broken Glass(1994). 
  • Miller's Lecture was entitled "On Politics and the Art of Acting". 
  • Miller'sfinal play "Finishing the Picture” was published in 2004.'
  • 'Christopher Bigsby' wrote “Arthur Miller: The Definitive Biography”.
  • In1993, he received four freedom awards for Freedom of Speech. 
  • In 1969, Miller's works were banned in the Soviet Union after he campaigned for the freedom of dissident writers.

 Important Works of Arthur Miller 

1. No Villain (1936)

2. They too Arise (1937, based on 'No Villain')

3. Hohors at Dawn (1938, based on "They Too Arise”)

4. The Grass Still Grows (1938, based on “They Too Arise")

5. The Golden Years (1940)

6. Man who Had All the Luck (1940)

7. The Half Bridge (1943)

8. All My Sons (1947)

  •  It is a 3 acts play.

Main Characters :  

  • Joe Keller : Joe 60 years, was exonerated after being charged with knowingly shipping damaged aircraft engine cylinder heads from his factory to the Military during WW II causing death of 21 pilots.
  • He placed his crime for 31/2 years. 
  • KateKeller (Mother) : She is the wife of Joe Keller. Kate knows Joe's guilty but lives in denial while mourning for her older son Larry who MIA (Mission in action) for 3 years.  
  • Chris Keller : 32 years Chris, returned home from WW II , 2 years before the play begins. He is son of Joe Keller.
  • Annie  Deever : 26 years (Sleeve's daughter) Annie had relation with Larry. Later engaged to Chris Keller.
  • GeorgeDeever : 31 years, a lawyer and 2nd WW veteran , friend of Chris & brother of Ann Deever.
  • Jim Bayliss : A Doctor and close friend to Keller family.
  • Lydia Lubey : 27 years, Married to Frank.
  • Steve Deever : The convict who along with Joe Keller supplied the defective engine heads.

9. Death of a Salesman (1943) 

  • For this play Miller got the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and award for best play. 
  •  In the play before the curtain rises - "A melody is heard, played upon a flute”.
  • The curtain hires before us in the salesman house. 
  • Plot 

  •  Willy Loman returns home exhausted after a cancelled business trip. He is a 63 years old and very unstable, tending to imagine events from the past as if they are real. His full name is William " Willy " Loman. 
  •  Worried over Willy's state of mind and recent car accident, his wife Linda Loman suggests that he ask his boss Howard Wagner to allow him to work in his home city so he will not have to travel.
  •  Willy complains Linda that their son Biff has yet to make good in his life. But Biff after his schooling never went to college.
  • Uncle Ben is the older brother of Willy Loman.
  •  'Biff ' and his brother ‘Happy’, reminisce about their childhood together.
  •  They discuss their father's mental degeneration.
  •  Willy in anger says that the two boys have never amounted to anything.
  •  In order to pacify their father that Biff plans to make a business proposition next day.
  •  The next day Willy goes to ask his boss, Howard, for a job in town while Biff goes to make a business proportion, but both fails.
  •  Willy’s boss tells him that he is no longer required to represent the company and Willy is thus angered and fired.
  •  Biff steals a fountain Pen. 
  • Happy, Biff and Willy meet for dinner at a restaurant, but Willy refuse to hear bad news from Biff. 
  •  Willy gets angry and slips into a flashback of what happened in Boston the day Biff came to see him. 
  • Willy was having an affair with a receptionist on one of his sales trips when Biff unexpectedly arrived at Willy's hotel room. 
  • Shocked, Biff angrily confronted his father, calling him a liar and a fraud.
  •  From that moment Biff's view of his father changed and set Biff adrift.
  • Biff and Happy leaves the restaurant leaving Willy alone. When they returned home, Linda, their mother angrily confronts them for abandoning their father. 
  •  Biff tries to reconcile with his father but it escalates into another argument.
  •  The feud reaches an apparent climax with Biff hugging Willy and crying as he tries to get Willy to let go of the unrealistic expectations.
  •  Wily appears to believe that his son has forgiven him. 
  •  Biff and Linda cry out in despair as the sound of Willy's car blares up and fades out.
  •  The final scene takes place at Willy's funeral which is attended only by his family, Bernard and Charlie.
  •  The ambiguities at the funeral of mixed and unaddressed emotions persist, particularly over whether Willy's choices or circumstances were obsolete.
  • At the funeral Biff retains his belief that he does not want become a businessman like his father.
  •  Happy on the other hand, chooses to follow in his father's footsteps.
  •  Linda laments her husband's decision just before her final payment on the house..............."........... and there will be no body home. We are free and clear, Willy........ we are free....... we are free....... ".
  • The play was originally entitled "The Inside of His head". 

10. An Enemy of the People (1950) 

 It is based on Henrik Ibsen's play An Enemy of the People.

11. Crucible (1953) 

  •  It is a central work in the canon of American Drama. It is in 4 acts.
  • John Proctor is the protagonist.

12. A View from the Bridge (1956) 

  •  The play is set in 1950's America in an Italian American neighborhood near Brooklyn bridge in New York. 
  •  It employs a chorus and narrator in the charter of "Alfier".
  •  Eddie the tragic protagonist has an improper love of the most obsessions with Catherine.
  •  Mr. Alfieri, a lawyer in the small Brookly community of Red Hook, Narrates the story of Eddie Carbone.
  •  Eddie Carbon was an Italian American Longshoreman who lives with his wife Beatrice and her orphaned niece Catherine. 
  •  Eddie is stabbed with his own knife and dies with his family and neighborhood standing around him. 
  • It is in 2 acts.

13. A Memory of Two Mondays (1956)

  •  It is one act play based on Miller's own experience.

14. After the Fall (1964) : Play

15. Incident at Vicky (1964) : One act play

16. The Price (1968) : Play

17. The Creation of the World and other Business (1972)

18. The Archbishops Ceiling (1979)

19. The American Clock (1980) 

20. Mr. Peter Connections (1998)

21. Resurrection Blues (2002) 

22. Finishing the Picture (2004).


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