Life and Career of Arthur Miller - Essay Example

Arthur Miller Arthur Miller is a famous American playwright who helped introduce a new approach to theater following World War II. Although theater had already begun to focus on realistic portrayals, Miller introduced a depth of field previously unsuspected. His plays focus on the stories of everyday Americans struggling and often not quite reaching the quintessential American Dream. In these presentations, he explores the various social issues involved, such as the changing American landscape and new attitudes of women, while he also reveals the very human personal weaknesses of his characters as they struggle to attain a quality of life woefully out of their reach and/or completely destructive to the family left behind. More than simply focusing on a single individual, Miller’s plays also tend to have a broad-reaching appeal, addressing political and social issues he saw around him as well as remaining true to the original context. With an understanding of the various types of work he has engaged in, it is possible to discuss the various aspects of Miller’s work that have made him famous some of which are the reasons he stands out to me as being a particularly outstanding author. Miller is most widely known for his work as a playwright, but he produced some notable works in other areas as well. When he first began working in New York, just out of school and trying to make a name for himself in the Federal Theatre Project, Miller also supported himself by writing scripts for various radio programs like Columbia Workshop (CBS) and Cavalcade of America (NBC) (Liukkonen, 2003). His first novel was published in 1945 following a 1944 tour of Army camps and the subsequent writing of a screenplay entitled “The Story of GI Joe”, also published in 1945. While the screenplay project was never realized, the novel was written in Miller’s understated way, depicting the life of an average New York office worker who finds it necessary to start wearing glasses. From this single event, Miller is able to explore the various aspects of anti-semitism as it is felt but unrecognized, as it is experienced and as it is lived. Throughout his career, he worked as a reporter covering the Nazi trials in Germany and wrote several short stories and even some children’s stories. Following his marriage to Marilyn Monroe, he was able to break into film on a more secure footing, producing The Misfits, Playing for Time, and Everybody Wins based on the play “Some Kind.” He also wrote politically and socially motivated essays and theses based upon his experiences as a suspect during McCarthyism and as an American Jew. During his career, Miller won numerous awards acknowledging the tremendous critical acclaim and popular appeal of his work, including the coveted Pulitzer Prize when he was just 33 years old for “Death of a Salesman.” His critics recognized him as a “great writer, staunch humanitarian and vital human being” (Martin & Centola, 1996). However, this does not necessarily indicate what it was about his writing that enabled him to be recognized as a legendary playwright. He was recognized not only for his ability to capture the spirit of the ‘little man’ such as what is seen in his character Willy Loman, but also for his ability to really examine the deep moral conscience of the country, to ask if this is something we truly believe, and to attempt to expose the fallacies where they lay as a means of diffusing the disappointing realities when the fantasy can’t be achieved. His unyielding humanism enabled him to demonstrate the ridiculous situations his characters could sometimes place themselves in as a result of their own greed and pride, yet also present them in a sympathetic light, enabling others to view them this way as well. Rather than hating Willy for his inability to accept life’s realities or to wake up and realize the future is not going to wait, the audience instead finds itself rooting for Willy, hoping against hope that something will happen for him and perhaps even resisting an urge to extend a helping hand. He remained true to his work by consistently participating in activities that would keep his writings firmly based on real life, such as his 1944 Army camp tour or his time spent with the longshoremen as a means of capturing the correct essence in “The Hook.” Even his more historical work, such as “The Crucible” was based on the real life experience of the McCarthy trials. This dedication to reality combined with his ability to evoke sympathy for his very personal characters enabled his work to appeal to critics and audiences alike. They were real, they were human, they captured the emotion and they related on not only an individual level but on a macro-social level as well. This is what he was recognized for and this is what he is remembered for. This general statement regarding what made Arthur Miller great is true for me as well. It is amazing to me how he could pick up a pen and write in any genre or style he wished and still capture the true human spirit behind his message. Although he wrote entertaining plays that had a tendency to pull at all of the emotions at one time or another, he was also able to write hard-hitting essays and theses regarding the ills of the world around him. He was able to communicate the importance of such world events as the Nazi trials even as he was able to understand the sad foolishness of a man stuck in his past. And regardless of the story he was telling, he was always able to convey the multi-layered sensibilities, strengths and weaknesses of a human character, completely believable, completely deplorable and completely forgivable at one and the same time. Because he allowed his characters to retain their real-life complexities, many of Miller’s plays were also easily identifiable on a more global stage. Willy Loman wasn’t just a poor, no-account traveling salesman of a by-gone age, he was every man born without a silver spoon in his mouth, who has had to work every day of his life in order to find himself back at the same spot 30 years later. Abigail Williams wasn’t just a resentful girl attempting to get her own way in an oppressive environment, she was a number of terrified young women emerging into a strange world that would give her no room for improvement, no hope for a future and no chance to make her own accomplishments regardless of her individual talents. Having achieved critical acclaim at an early age and notoriety thanks to a very public and awe-inspiring marriage to one of America’s all-time top icons, Arthur Miller was nevertheless able to retain his own popularity. He accomplished this thanks to his deep compassion for human life, his clear vision in recognizing the various social winds that were blowing and his ability to capture all this with paper and pen in such a way that presented a single character to identify with on a global scale. His large body of work on numerous subjects, time periods and genres proved him to be highly intelligent, deeply humanitarian and clear sighted in a time when many of these qualities had been presumed lost forever. Works Cited Liukkonen, Petri. “Arthur Miller.” Books and Writers. Finland: Pegasos, 2003. Martin, Robert A. & Centola, Steven R. (Eds.). The Theatre Essays of Arthur Miller. New York: Viking Books, 1996. Read More