Introduction


Arthur Miller

Arthur Miller defined American theater in the 1950s with seminal plays such as Death of a Salesman and The Crucible. But he was not simply a literary phenomenon. He became a pop-culture sensation when he married Marilyn Monroe in 1956. On the whole, his works are about an individual’s struggle with an oftentimes indifferent, harsh, or irrational society—something he learned about firsthand when he stood against Senator Eugene McCarthy’s House Committee on Un-American Activities. Before his death in 1996, Miller had also written screenplays, novels, short stories, nonfiction, and an autobiography. He based his works on his family, his friends, and his own life, and he filled them with the rage, the love, and the self-doubt that Miller himself felt.

Essential Facts

  1. Miller got the idea for Death of a Salesman from his uncle Manny, who was a salesman. Manny came to the opening of Miller’s earlier play All My Sons and bragged about his two unfortunate sons. Salesman opened at the Morosco Theatre on February 10, 1949, and closed 742 performances later on November 18, 1950
  2. Due to an old football injury, Miller was ineligible for military service during World War II, so he wrote patriotic plays for the radio. He also volunteered to repair military boats in New York harbor.
  3. Miller’s honors include the Pulitzer Prize, seven Tony Awards, two Drama Critics Circle Awards, an Obie, an Olivier, the John F. Kennedy Lifetime Achievement Award, and honorary doctorate degrees from Oxford University and Harvard University.
  4. Miller was investigated by the House Committee on Un-American Activities in 1956, the same year he married Marilyn Monroe. He refused to give up the names of any people he thought might be Communists and was cited for contempt of Congress. The Supreme Court reversed this ruling in 1958.
  5. Miller’s most fateful personal decision was to marry Marilyn Monroe. The tabloids called it a marriage between “the Owl and the Pussycat,” the union of intellect and beauty. Labeled as Miller’s femme fatale, Monroe helped destroy his reputation and was the only person he ever allowed to keep him from writing.
 

Recommended Resources

  1. Arthur Miller - Dictionary of World Biography: The 20th Century
  2. Death of a Salesman Study Guide (eNotes)
  3. The Crucible Lesson Plans
  4. The Crucible Study Guide (eNotes)

All Resources

Display as: Categories, List
  1. After the Fall - Literary Characters
  2. All My Sons (1948)
  3. All My Sons (1986)
  4. All My Sons - Literary Characters
  5. All My Sons - Literary Places
  6. All My Sons - The Oxford Dictionary of Plays
  7. All My Sons Lesson Plans
  8. All My Sons Movie Learning Guide
  9. All My Sons Study Guide (eNotes)
  10. Arthur Miller - Author Profile
  11. Arthur Miller - Contemporary Literary Criticism (Vol. 1)
  12. Arthur Miller - Contemporary Literary Criticism (Vol. 2)
  13. Arthur Miller - Contemporary Literary Criticism (Vol. 26)
  14. Arthur Miller - Contemporary Literary Criticism (Vol. 6)
  15. Arthur Miller - Critical Survey of Drama
  16. Arthur Miller - Cyclopedia of World Authors
  17. Arthur Miller - Dictionary of World Biography: The 20th Century
  18. Arthur Miller - The Oxford Companion to American Literature
  19. Arthur Miller - The Oxford Companion to English Literature
  20. Death of a Salesman (1986)
  21. Death of a Salesman - Book Review
  22. Death of a Salesman - Contemporary Literary Criticism
  23. Death of a Salesman - Identities and Issues
  24. Death of a Salesman - Literary Characters
  25. Death of a Salesman - Literary Places
  26. Death of a Salesman Lesson Plans
  27. Death of a Salesman Study Guide (eNotes)
  28. Incident at Vichy - Literary Characters
  29. The Crucible (1957)
  30. The Crucible (1996)
  31. The Crucible - Book Review
  32. The Crucible - Identities and Issues in Literature
  33. The Crucible - Literary Characters
  34. The Crucible - Literary Places
  35. The Crucible Lesson Plans
  36. The Crucible Movie Learning Guide
  37. The Crucible Study Guide (eNotes)
  38. The Crucible Study Guide (Master Plots II: Drama)
  39. The Price - Literary Characters
  40. Timebends - Book Review