Analytical Focus: Arthur Miller’s Style & Honesty of Humanity

Arthur Miller writing at a typewriter

Arthur Miller is great at portraying the authenticity of human nature. It’s hard not to relate to any of his characters, because they all have believable struggles and faults within themselves that make them actual characters, and not fictitious bystanders in their stories.

For instance, there is Elizabeth Proctor from The Crucible who faces marital issues with her husband over an affair. Due to the structure of their society, John and Elizabeth Proctor remained together, but Elizabeth faced a believable struggle trying to let go of John’s cheating on her. Likewise, John Proctor is also a relatable character. He struggles with a huge mistake that he made in a heat of passion, drastically putting his reputation and his marriage on the line. His choice to have an affair with Abigail negatively affected the entire scope of his life, leading a young teenager to cry witchcraft in order to get rid of his wife, but more importantly distancing the love that the Proctor’s shared at the beginning of their marriage. They struggle to find peace in their marriage through the tumultuous events that surround them, but eventually put away such troubles when Elizabeth faces death. The thought of losing Elizabeth outweighs the bitterness they had between them, and it shows that even through John’s crucial and seemingly unforgiveable mistake, that Elizabeth and John are still willing and able to love each other in full.

  In another instance, you have Willy Loman from Death of a Salesman. His slow, unsuccessful life contrasts the bright hopes and dreams he had for himself as a child, all because of the way his father and brother left him. His father leaving placed Willy in a horrible state of mind, grasping for material things since a father figure wasn’t present. Then, when his brother struck rich in Alaska, it furthered the idea that the ‘Get Rich Quick Scheme’ was the way to win happiness, further deluding Willy. He was hurting his family through these delusions, and ultimately decided to kill himself for this very reason. Through his death, his family would receive $20,000 in insurance money – enough for them to make it through their struggling financial situation. While their stability came at a cost, Willy used his “Get Rich Quick Scheme” ideals to help the family. However, ultimately, his delusions and warped sense of materialistic ideals all stem from a believable center, making the reader sympathize with Willy as opposed to disliking him.  

These are the types of characters that has ‘meat’ to them, as opposed to just ‘bone’. They aren’t just names on a page; they are characters in a story. Arthur Miller writes not just about the shell of a man or woman, but about the human inside.

Arthur Miller in his late 20s

Alternatively, however, Arthur Miller also peels back the layer of the human inside to reveal and display to audiences the possible reasons for tragedy, beyond the classical reasons. Normally, one would see a tragic character and think of simple reasons for sadness: Death, Shame, or Embarrassment. No one would think about the more complicated reasons for sadness or tragedy, like Jealousy, Self-Esteem, a Sense of Inadequacy (to name a few). Miller looks into the true reasons behind tragedy through contrasting what his characters have, as opposed to what they want. He contrasts who they are, with who they want to be. He contrasts what they do, as opposed to what they want to do. Such contrasting brings out the true nature within characters that lets them relate to the audience more, and provide answers to those who don’t understand the scope of the tragic character. While most of his plays are sad, Miller’s writing can bring a lot of satisfaction for those who are seeking truth within what most people would overlook.

Miller’s work brings to mind the mental side to writing, which takes effort, thought, and time to evoke the right meaning. Every technique that he uses brings his work to life, and enriches the pieces of literature in which he has written.

Arthur Miller interview by Charlie Rose in 2002

Bibliography

"“Death of a Salesman”: Dennehy as Willy Loman". Photograph. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Web. 28 Apr. 2013. <http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/media/95327/Brian-Dennehy-as-Willy-Loman-flanked-by-Ron-Eldard-and>

"Miller, Arthur". Photograph. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Web. 28 Apr. 2013.   <http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/media/12991/Arthur-Miller-photograph-by-Inge-Morath>

"Arthur Miller". Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online.

Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2013. Web. 28 Apr. 2013<http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/382759/Arthur-Miller>.

The Crucible. Dir. Nicholas Hytner. Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, 1996. 3 April 2012.

Miller, Arthur. The Crucible. New York, NY: Penguin, 1996. Print.

Miller, Arthur, and Gerald Clifford Weales. Death of a Salesman. New York: Penguin, 1996. Print.

"Charlie Rose." - A Conversation about Arthur Miller's "The Crucible" Charlie Rose Network, 2002. Web. 05 May 2013. <http://www.charlierose.com/view/interview/2651>.

Brantley, Ben, Mel Gussow, and Lewis Nichols. "Arthur Miller Literary Criticisms."Nytimes.com. The New York Times, 11 Feb. 1999. Web. 9 Mar. 2013. <http://www.nytimes.com/books/00/11/12/specials/miller-attention.html>.
"Miller, Arthur". Photograph. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Web. 09 May. 2013. <http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/media/112926/Arthur-Miller>

A Feminist Analysis of the Crucible by Arthur Miller

The Crucible, Penguin Books

It would seem that, in the Crucible by Arthur Miller, women having power is painted as a positive and negative idea. Looking through the lens of Feminist Criticism, it would certainly seem that way. In the Salem Witch Trials of 1692, women were silently given unheard amounts of power, with their ability to cast judgments upon other women and men of Salem as being witches and wizards from a hellish realm. Not much evidence was required of these people to prove otherwise – so long as they were condemned a witch, for all that the courts knew, they were a witch. However, with Feminist Criticism in mind, was all this power given to these young girls simply a re-telling of a true story, or a larger comment on the negative effects of women holding power? One can’t assume the feminist point that Arthur Miller might have been making, but from an objective view, there were good things and bad things about women having power in the Crucible.

                The one key, crucial question that is ultimately asked is: how is the relationship between men and women portrayed? The relationship between Elizabeth and John Proctor is the best answer to this question. Elizabeth Proctor is not secure with her relationship with John, seeing as he had this extensive affair with their previous hand-girl, Abigail Williams. She is portrayed as bitter and upset, constantly reminding John of how hurt she was about him cheating on her. It is very easy for John and Elizabeth to start fighting. John always retorts that Elizabeth can never let go of what he did wrong, and how she holds grudges very fiercely despite her religious demeanor. Elizabeth replies that John hasn't dealt with Abigail in its entirety, as she still finds her glancing at John at church and other events. 

Elizabeth Proctor in Hytner's The Crucibile

This picture of a disjointed couple is a picture Arthur Miller portrayed excellently, but what does it speak to in terms of a Feminist Critic? It would appear that Elizabeth has a healthy amount of power. She has feelings about the affair John had, and righteously expresses her distrust and disappointment in him. While passive, Elizabeth holds John’s mistake over his head in a way that puts her in a powerful relationship position.  While maybe not entirely healthy for the relationship itself, she portrays power over his husband in justified situations. It’s when Elizabeth and John are in front of other townspeople that they revert back to the typical husband/wife stereotype. As soon as any other character is introduced within the Proctor’s household, Elizabeth returns to her wifely duties, staying very quiet and observing the men talk.

In this way, Elizabeth technically loses power over her husband. As the figurehead of the family, John is in charge of speaking on her behalf when she is mentioned. She is no longer in power, but submissive to him. However, the point could be made that she has not lost any power at all, since the situation has changed. When John and Elizabeth are in an intimate setting, she has control. When another person is involved that assumes society’s view on how a husband/wife relationship should work, she assumes the position of the stereotypical wife. That doesn't necessarily mean that she loses power. This just means that she suppresses her power for the sake of image and holds her power privately, but not publicly.

Abigail Williams in Hytner's The Crucible

Alternatively however, there is an instance where women have public power as opposed to private power. This instance is seen in Abigail Williams, the instigator for the Salem Witch Trials. The story begins with the mention of her affair with John, and through that affair, she seeks to rid Salem of Elizabeth so that she can be reunited with her lover. The snowball effects of her accusations, however, avert her attention from her original goal of achieving John. She goes from trying to rid Elizabeth to being consumed with the power she has over the town in accusing whomever she doesn't like. With just a cry from Abigail, people are sent to jail. Such power in Abigail’s hands was enormous, but was it the type of power that a Feminist Critic would encourage? No.  

The type of power that Abigail has is enough to conquer a town, but isn't portrayed in the type of light that is ideal. In fact, Abigail is portrayed very negatively, in that she inadvertently sentences people to death through her fake portrayals of possession. This wouldn't be the type of power that a Feminist Critic would encourage. In the Crucible, ultimately, it seems the roles of power have a double standard. Females given power privately is a positive thing, giving Elizabeth a voice within her relationship with John. Publicly, however, women having power is a negative thing, as Abigail’s power sentences people to death through accusations of witchcraft.

             

So what does this say to the question as a whole? Women’s relationship with men in the Crucible has a duality to it that changes depending on the situation. The line of power is blurred – what is correct or incorrect power, when given the two icons of it: Abigail and Elizabeth? Both are very different people given very different situations, but both speak to how women are treated as a whole in the book. In the end, the Crucible is a complicated piece of literature that is harder to understand when one realizes that the Salem Witch Trials actually happened, and people were intentionally sent to their death through such a feeble accusation as ‘witchcraft’. The power that women has over men in the Crucible, however, is one that is ultimately left up to opinion. 

ARTHUR MILLER: October 17, 1915 - February 10, 2005

ARTHUR MILLER, in full ARTHUR ASHER MILLER, American playwright, who combined social awareness with a searching concern for his characters' inner lives. He is best known for Death of a Salesman(1949). -- ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA

Arthur's Obsession: The Not Quite American Dream

The original book cover to "Death of a Salesman"

Arthur Miller speaks of the American Dream in his novels the same way that a second-place competitor would speak about being runner-up. There is a sense of loss in his novels, a sense of tension between what could of been and what was given. There is a grasping sense of frustration in the way he speaks about his characters dreams, and what ended up being their realities. Most of the time, the story is of a character who fails to grasp the idea of the American Dream, or sees the faulty underlining to what seems like a ‘good idea’ beneath it. This trend in his work shows with reoccurring struggles in most of his characters for achievements they never accomplished and dreams that never came true. This is especially true for a character named Willy Loman, the main character in Death of a Salesman.

Willy Loman and his two sons

Willy Loman is a salesman, to start with. At sixty years old, he's an aging businessman who enters his home tiredly, again and again. There is a crushed feeling that follows Willy: the crushed American Dream he used to cling so heavily to as a young man. He lives in the shadow of his deceased, rich brother Ben who struck gold (or diamonds in his case) in Alaska, and in the shadow of his father who abandoned him as a child. These influential men who eventually left his life left a huge impact on his sense of the American Dream. 

His father left him and his brother when they were very young, leaving them neither money nor a legacy to go off of. Ben, as he grew older, left Willy to find a better life in Alaska and luckily ended up becoming extremely wealthy with diamonds, something that Willy never could seem to do. These tangible items -- the money that Willy's father never left him, and the diamonds that Ben happened upon that made him rich -- gave Willy a warped sense of what it meant to 'achieve' the American Dream. He translated the achievement to mean that he must acquire superficial, tangible things to show for his success, ignoring the other side to the American Dream that demanded hard work and persistence as a sacrifice for happiness. As Ben said, "A diamond is hard and rough to the touch"(Miller, Act 2). While the diamond of the American Dream is attractive and beautiful, it carries with it a 'hard and rough' upbringing to achieve such brilliance. Willy, unfortunately, never grasped that side to the American Dream. He failed to understand the entirety of its meaning.

This lead to Willy to lead a miserable life. At sixty and a salesman, younger, more healthy salesmen were taking his place. Buyers were soon forgetting Willy's then-infamous name. He could no longer travel to large cities and expect anyone, besides the old and decaying, to remember his name. It had a depressing toll on Willy. All of this, however, stemmed from the fact that Willy 'missed the mark' -- he missed the idea of what it meant to live out the American Dream. 

This frustration, this depression, and this feeling of loss is what Arthur Miller sought to express. He wanted to paint the picture of someone who worked hard all his life to achieve nothing. Arthur Miller wanted to expose the holes in the idea of the American Dream, and its unfailing promise of success. As Arthur Miller suggested  some stories do not end happily. One could argue it was at the fault of Willy, or was it at the fault of the American Dream? Arthur Miller, in his writings, continued to work through these ideas and thus perpetuated his obsession with the American Dream.