Arthur Miller: The Great American Playwright and His Struggles - Research Paper

Introduction

Among the most renowned playwrights in the United States is Arthur Miller. The playwright was born in Halim, New York as the second child of the three children belonging to Augusta and Isodore Miller in 1916. His family was wealthy with a textile company, a posh summer house, and they afforded a chauffeur. However, this lasted until the Wall Street Crash took their wealth away in 1929. Miller had to help the family in making end meets and would deliver bread every morning before going to school. Miller graduated from Abraham Lincoln School in 1932 to search for menial jobs that would help him raise his college fees at the University of Michigan. He pursued journalism and would write for the Michigan Daily. Upon graduation in 1936, he was lucky to land a job as a psychiatric aide and copyright, realizing his dream in the literature (Marino, 35). He later worked for New York University and the University of Hampshire after joining the American League of Writers. In his real works like Death of a Salesman, The Crucible and All My Sons, this essay relates his plays in terms of the common thematic issues that arise until his death in 2005.

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The Characters in All My Sons seek to achieve the theme of the American Dream. In the American dream, improving the social status of people is one of the goals. Therefore, when Miller writes about characters like Joe Keller, whose intention is to be rich someday by upholding integrity, moral values, and industry, among others. As depicted in the Horatio Alger, everyone, whether languishing in poverty or with a stable background, has the opportunity to reshape their future through hard work, integrity, and upholding moral values. Such is the American Dream to make the life of every American affordable.

Nonetheless, Keller achieves this dream by losing his integrity to materialism. He has a polished career and wealth yet makes an irrational decision that compromises the state of American pilots, leading them to their death. It is more of a murder for money than a simple mistake.

Characters in The Death of a Salesman also try to reach the American dream that implies better living standards. The play was written during post-war times when every individual is trying to be independent through education and pursuit of their careers. Howard Wagner, one of these characters, yearns to take the footsteps of his father by increasing his wealth. Charley's son, Bernard, aspires to perfect his career in the legal field, and his dream comes true. Contrarily, Willy Loman portrays failure in the achievement of his goals. He anticipates to be a world-class salesman but fails terribly at it. He is frustrated by his failures in that not wish his sons to inherit them. Of his two sons, Happy is non-ambitious, while Biff fails at everything he tries just like his father. Wallowing in dismay, Loman tries to copy the success factors of his brother Ben who succeeded at a young age (Modleski, 23). However, things get even worse, and he commits suicide out of frustrations. Therefore, in both of the two plays, Miller tries to present the efforts that the Americans of the 20th Century make to achieve the American Dream of maintaining better living and social standards.

Another similar theme in the two plays is betrayal and atonement. In All My Sons, Joe Keller, is placed in a dilemma between choosing his family funds over the military career. He does the right thing by choosing his family. However, his choice leads to the death of twenty-one American pilot fighters making him guilty of murder (Modleski, 35). He is guilt-tripped, and his only option is to turn himself in, leave his family, and serve a jail term. Nonetheless, he opts for the easiest way to end his frustrations and commits suicide. Similarly, in The Death of a Salesman, the choices made by Willy Loman make him go along the same suicidal route as Joe Keller. Loman has an affair at the office through which he betrays his wife.

Moreover, he tries to force his son Biff into being a salesman like him, but this works against him. What he considers a dream is office work, which Biff finds boring. When his son eventually walks out on him, he is frustrated and terms himself as a failure and kills himself. Therefore, Miller relays the underlying themes of betrayal and atonement with the activities of contemporary society.

One of the related themes in The Crucible and The Death of a Salesman is gender. In the Crucible, Miller deviates from the stereotypes of a woman as a housewife, mother, and servant to her husband in the 1950s (Marino, 50). Miller brings out Abigail as a promiscuous young woman who does not respect herself by upholding her values. Infidelity has been acceptable from the men's side, and women learned to accept. However, the character of Abigail shows an aggressive woman determined to revenge against her John, who has left her. Women like Rebecca in the play pursue their dreams. Rebecca becomes a nurse showing that gender roles will soon change. Contrarily, women in The Death of a Salesman are still naive and loyal to their partners. With the example of Linda, Loman's wife, she stays faithful to her husband despite knowing of his extra-marital affair. In an era where women are rapidly becoming patriarchal, her loyalty is highly noticed. Therefore, Miller's contradicting view of women in the 20th century shows that he is oblivious to women who will fall for the modernity of patriarchy. In contrast, others will stick to their initial identity.

Guilt is a recurrent theme in both All My Sons and The Crucible. John Proctor feels guilty for cheating on Elisabeth, his wife in The Crucible. The guilt eats him up, and all he wishes is the possibility to bury it in his heart. However, since he realizes that his wife is aware of what he did, he turns against her. He accuses Elisabeth of being judgmental. The wrong choices that Proctor made cause him mental dilemma as he turns against his wife.

On the other hand, Hale had accused people who believe in witchcraft as sinners. However, he feels guilty for it through the rest of the play and considers such people as innocent by helping them. In All My Sons, Miller portrays a guilty Joe who feels bad after choosing his family finances over the life of 21 American pilot fighters (Marino, 70). It is an act of murder by conspiracy, and he fears going to jail this deciding to kill himself. Miller reveals the wrong choices that people make as a sacrifice for what is better for them. As Joe chooses family over career and his own life, Proctor neglected his wife for Abigail.

Miller reveals an apt style of literature through his tragedy Plays. For instance, All My Sons is a tragic situation in which a man is compelled to choose his family over the life of American plots. The tragedy occurs when he is blamed for the death and is to face murder charges and face a death sentence. However, he kills himself, and this is the sad part-the fear of facing your fears. When Loma kills himself in The Death of a Salesman, it is regarded as tragedy as he gives up on his life. He has lost his sons to other dreams other than what he harbored foe and continually fails in his career, thus giving up.

Conclusion

Conclusively, Arthur Miller is an example of many renowned authors whose workers have been recognized in the United States and globally. In his works like The Death of a Salesman, The Crucible, and All My Sons, Miller shows his tragic literature skills and even wins awards for the same. For instance, The Death of a Salesman earned him a distinction in the Pulitzer awards. The argumentative essay examines thematic issues in three of the works of Miller and how the themes contrast in each play.

Works Cited

Modleski, Tania. Feminism without women: Culture and criticism in a" postfeminist" age. Routledge, 2014. https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=YElsBAAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=critisism+on+Arhtur+Miller%27s+All+My+Sons&ots=roU5ROXbCz&sig=jGSVpZ55gvn5tS3ViK9tBj9CA7Q

Marino, Stephen. Arthur Miller-Death of a Salesman/The Crucible. Macmillan International Higher Education, 2015. https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=ghR5CgAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PR1&dq=criticism+on+The+crucible+by+Miller&ots=IhOhVvlbEy&sig=DCgd5Q1oQzStC0TJ7Bs-FvID5mc