Arthur Miller's Tragic Heroes
Introduction
During and after the Second World War, Arthur Miller, American Novelist and Playwright, wrote three of his most successful plays: All My Sons, Death of a Salesman, and A View from the Bridge. These three beautifully tragic plays, are considered by many to be the epitome of all critical analyses using as a basis; the American culture and the American Dream. He does this by using tragic heroes, who on the one hand demand our sympathy, yet on the other we despise them.
Background
Arthur Miller wrote all three of these books after the Second World War. This was the time in which McCarthyism was started; an attempt to contain all forms of communism, especially in the public eye. This resulted in many authors, playwrights and actors, including Miller, to be blacklisted, and consequently contributed to much of Millers diatribe against the "Land of the free" (ref). It can also be said that Millers own unfortunate life, was another of the main factors that caused him to focus on the tragedy of the common man. He himself said in an essay that he wrote in 1949: "I believe that the common man is as apt a subject for tragedy in its highest sense"(ref). Miller found that not nearly enough of the books of his time were about tragedies in everyday situations, that it was a topic that was considered above the common man, reserved for the tragic heroes of Shakespeare, such as Hamlet and Macbeth. He explains that the society in which he lived had taken a turn towards the psychological, sociological view of life(example).
First Section: All My Sons
All My Sons, Arthur Miller's first commercially successful play, opened at the Coronet Theatre in New York on January 29, 1947. It ran for 328 performances and garnered important critical acclaim for the dramatist, winning the prestigious New York Drama Critics' Circle Award. The general plot consists of the trials and tribulations that a small suburban family endures, after losing a son in the Second World War. There are 5 main characters in the play: Joe, Kate and Chris Keller, and Ann and George Deever. The play opens with the news that during a terrible storm the previous night, an apple tree that was a memorial to the loss of the Keller's first born son, Larry, was split in half. This symbolic event coincides with the arrival of their late son's fiancée Ann, who has been in correspondence with their other son Chris. One thing that must be mentioned is that Kate Keller, still believes that Larry is alive, and has been delayed in his voyage home.
Introduction
During and after the Second World War, Arthur Miller, American Novelist and Playwright, wrote three of his most successful plays: All My Sons, Death of a Salesman, and A View from the Bridge. These three beautifully tragic plays, are considered by many to be the epitome of all critical analyses using as a basis; the American culture and the American Dream. He does this by using tragic heroes, who on the one hand demand our sympathy, yet on the other we despise them.
Background
Arthur Miller wrote all three of these books after the Second World War. This was the time in which McCarthyism was started; an attempt to contain all forms of communism, especially in the public eye. This resulted in many authors, playwrights and actors, including Miller, to be blacklisted, and consequently contributed to much of Millers diatribe against the "Land of the free" (ref). It can also be said that Millers own unfortunate life, was another of the main factors that caused him to focus on the tragedy of the common man. He himself said in an essay that he wrote in 1949: "I believe that the common man is as apt a subject for tragedy in its highest sense"(ref). Miller found that not nearly enough of the books of his time were about tragedies in everyday situations, that it was a topic that was considered above the common man, reserved for the tragic heroes of Shakespeare, such as Hamlet and Macbeth. He explains that the society in which he lived had taken a turn towards the psychological, sociological view of life(example).
First Section: All My Sons
All My Sons, Arthur Miller's first commercially successful play, opened at the Coronet Theatre in New York on January 29, 1947. It ran for 328 performances and garnered important critical acclaim for the dramatist, winning the prestigious New York Drama Critics' Circle Award. The general plot consists of the trials and tribulations that a small suburban family endures, after losing a son in the Second World War. There are 5 main characters in the play: Joe, Kate and Chris Keller, and Ann and George Deever. The play opens with the news that during a terrible storm the previous night, an apple tree that was a memorial to the loss of the Keller's first born son, Larry, was split in half. This symbolic event coincides with the arrival of their late son's fiancée Ann, who has been in correspondence with their other son Chris. One thing that must be mentioned is that Kate Keller, still believes that Larry is alive, and has been delayed in his voyage home.
