Arthur Miller

Arthur Miller has been regarded as one of the most influential playwrights of the 20th century. His works often touched on controversial and challenging topics, such as the crucifixion of Jesus in his play The Crucible and the concept of justice in his well-known play Death of a Salesman. Through his works, he provided perspective on the social issues of his time to audiences around the world.

Born on October 17, 1915, in New York City, Arthur Miller was raised by Isidore, a women’s clothing manufacturer, and Augusta, a housewife. He was the second of three children in a prosperous Jewish family, but the stock market crash of 1929 caused the family to lose their wealth and situation. After graduating from Abraham Lincoln High School in 1932, Miller went on to attend the University of Michigan, where he initially studied journalism and began writing plays in his spare time.

In 1940, Miller’s first play, The Man Who Had All the Luck was produced on Broadway. Unfortunately, the play flopped and he was forced to return to writing jobs for newspapers. But he soon followed up with a new and successful play, All My Sons, in 1947. The story of two businessmen who sent faulty parts to war planes, risking the lives of soldiers, earned Miller the prestigious New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Play.

It was his next play, Death of a Salesman in 1949, which catapulted his reputation into the stratosphere, earning Miller a Pulitzer Prize for Drama and numerous other awards. This widely praised work dealt with the crushing despair that comes with the loss of the American Dream. It demonstrated Miller’s outstanding ability to show audiences the emotional and physical toll that the all-consuming pursuit of success can take on relationships.

Frequent collaborators, Miller and director Elia Kazan worked together to great “success” on the 1952 adaptation of Miller’s play, The Crucible. In it, Miller tackles the Salem witch trials by using them as a metaphor for contemporary McCarthyism, an atmosphere in which fear drove people to accuse each other of Communism, and inadvertently, of being un-American.

In 1956, Miller wrote A View from the Bridge, which was recently adapted into an Academy Award-nominated film by director and actor, Nicholas Cage. This work explores the ideas of justice and morality, as protagonist Eddie Carbone’s life quickly unravels after he discovers his wife’s niece has been sleeping with a man who has entered the country illegally.

Throughout his long and illustrious career, Miller continued to amaze audiences with his emotionally charged plays. One of his most famous later works, The Price, which details the struggles of a divorced family moving out of a home they could no longer afford, was performed on Broadway in 1968.

As his works were performed in theatres around the world, Miller’s ideas were met with both criticism and acclaim. His plays were often visually arresting and incredibly moving. To some, he offered an outlet for release, and to many, a more nuanced and gentle look at the turbulent times of the 20th century. His works will continue to provide insight into the issues of the past, giving audiences through the ages fresh perspectives on the challenging themes of his plays.