Arthur Miller: Tragedist. Humanist. Social dramatist. Marxist. Humanist.
Tragedist. Humanist. Social dramatist. Marxist. Humanist. Allthese labels have been used to describe the man and the work of ArthurMiller. Born in 1915 in Manhattan, Miller was a child of the Depression.He saw his father's garment business fail, witness the financial decay ofthe decade and moved from job to job in his early years before finallyfinding recognition as a playwright. It is all these things that go intothe work of Arthur Miller, making him one of the foremost playwrights of In a review of the plays he has written, a common theme of humanismappears. Even when the playgoer does not perceive the greater socialcommentary of his plays, readers are usually able to discern in his plays asense of dismay at the strength and impact that capitalism has on the worldand as scalding commentary on contemporary moral values. Above all things,Arthur Miller's plays appear to render a judgment - on society, on values,on man. It has even been said that the distaste that Miller showsregarding man's obsession with material gain supports in someway anexistentialism which is almost Christian in its approach. Interesting
In 1999, DEATH OF A SALESMAN was done inrevival on Broadway for its 50th anniversary and received the AntoinettePerry Award for Best Revival of a play. It was the story of avery successful man who is nonetheless very unhappy. He had met the actress Marilyn Monroe I n 1950, and in 1956 hemoved to Nevada for six weeks in order to divorce Mary Slattery and marryMonroe. It is at this time that Miller's life took unfortunate personalturns. The play opened toterrible reviews and closed after only four performances in New York. The centralcharacter is Maggie, a self-destructive woman, and it is widely speculatedthat the play is semi-autobiographical and the Maggie is based upon MarilynMonroe. Ultimately, Arthur Miller's impressive body of work can be seen, notas an accusation of an American life which encourages the wrong values anddreams, but rather as protests against humanistic failings and socialinjustice, a rallying cry for social responsibility. The University of EastAnglia in Britain named its centre for American Studies the Arthur MillerCentre. In addition, Miller produced his first novel, calledFOCUS, which dealt with anti-Semitism. Miller wasconcerned with the increasing tone of post-war paranoia and generalintolerance and separationism he saw in the United States. For this work, ArthurMiller received the Antoinette Perry Award or the "Tony". This would prove to be a life changing decision for him. His unique style with dialogue and his masterful use of symbolic devicesrequire the playgoer to be more than a passive attendant to his plays. It was seen byan audience of 25 million.
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Acceptance Essays
