Arthur miller was one of the leading american playwrights of the twentieth century. He was born in october 1915 in new york city to a women 39 s clothing manufacturer, who lost everything in the economic collapse of the 1930s. Living through young adulthood during the great depression, miller was shaped by the poverty that surrounded him. The depression demonstrated to the playwright the fragility and vulnerability of human existence in the modern era.

After graduating from high school, miller worked in a warehouse so that he could earn enough money to attend the university of michigan, where he began to write plays. Miller 39 s first play to make it to broadway, the man who had all the luck 1944 , was a dismal failure, closing after only four performances. This early setback almost discouraged miller from writing completely, but he gave himself one more try. Three years later, all my sons won the new york drama critics 39 circle award as the best play of 1947, launching miller into theatrical stardom. All my sons, a drama about a manufacturer of faulty war materials, was strongly influenced by the naturalist drama of henrik ibsen. Along with death of a salesman his most enduring success , all my sons and the man who had all the luck form a thematic trilogy of plays about love triangles involving fathers and sons.

The drama of the family is at the core of all of miller 39 s major plays, but nowhere is it more prominent than in the realism of all my sons and the impressionism of death of a salesman. Death of a salesman 1949 secured miller 39 s reputation as one of the nation 39 s foremost playwrights. Death of a salesman mixes the tradition of social realism that informs most of miller 39 s work with a more experimental structure that includes fluid leaps in time as the protagonist, willy loman, drifts into memories of his sons as teenagers. Loman represents an american archetype, a victim of his own delusions of grandeur and obsession with success, which haunt him with a sense of failure.

The play has been frequently revived in film, television, and stage versions that have included actors such as dustin hoffman, george c. Miller followed death of a salesman with his most politically significant work, the crucible 1953 , a tale of the salem witch trials that contains obvious analogies to the mccarthy anti communist hearings in 1950s america. The highly controversial nature of the politics of the crucible, which lauds those who refuse to name names, led to the play 39 s mixed response. In later years, however, it has become one of the most studied and performed plays of american theater. Three years after the crucible, in 1956, miller found himself persecuted by the very force that he warned against, when he was called to testify before the house un american activities committee.

Miller refused to name people he allegedly saw at a communist writers 39 meeting a decade before, and he was convicted of contempt. That year monroe appeared in her last film, the misfits, which is based on an original screenplay by miller. After divorcing monroe, miller wed ingeborg morath, to whom he remained married until his death in 2005. Miller also wrote the plays a memory of two mondays and the short a view from the bridge, which were both staged in 1955. His other works include after the fall 1964 , a thinly veiled account of his marriage to monroe, as well as the price 1967 , the archbishop 39 s ceiling 1977 , and the american clock 1980. Morgan 1991 , the last yankee 1993 , and broken glass 1993 , which won the olivier award for best play.

Although miller did not write frequently for film, he did pen an adaptation for the 1996 film version of the crucible starring daniel day lewis and winona ryder, which garnered him an academy award nomination. Arthur miller wrote the play the crucible based on what happened during the salem witchcraft trials. Is arthur millers x27 projection of what happened during the actual trials accurate. The crucible, written by arthur miller is a play that takes place in the late 17th century during the famous yet tragic witch trials. Miller x27 s depiction of the salem witch trials deals with a community that starts out with a tightly knit and church loving facade. Miller gave the impression that most who were suspected of witchcraft were adamant of their innocence and refused to admit their guilt. Arthur miller wrote this play as an allegory to show people the insanity of the mccarthy hearings.

American History Term Paper

The crucible, by arthur miller, is based on the mccarthy trials, which caused the errors of the society to be revealed. Orwell shows that, after complete tyranny takes over the farm, the society becomes oppressed.benjamin nelson says, arthur miller x27 s the crucible was inspired by the politics of the 1950s bloom 41. Nelson says that arthur miller chose the puritan time period to base his novel in to show the strained theocracy existing in salem at the time of the witch trials bloom 43. Arthur miller is trying to show us that if society takes a man x27 s soul, he will lose a. In arthur miller x27 s, the crucible, many themes are expressed throughout the play. The concept of justice in 1692 is shown when arthur miller dedicates the entire third act to the courtroom. Arthur miller clearly explains the how people react to things they do not understand.these were examples why the salem witch trials happened.