Illustration of Helen Keller and her teacher, Annie Sullivan

The Miracle Worker

by William Gibson

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Form and Content

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The script for The Miracle Worker begins with a general description of the set, which consists of two areas divided by a diagonal line. The area behind the diagonal represents the Keller house and includes two rooms and a porch area. The other area accommodates a variety of sets as needed. According to William Gibson, since the essential qualities of the set “are fluidity and spacial counterpoint,” the less set there is, the better.

Act 1 begins with three adults gathered about a crib. Directions are minimal: Kate Keller is described as “a young gentle woman with a sweet and girlish face,” the doctor as “elderly” with a “stethoscope at neck, thermometer in fingers,” and Captain Keller as a “hearty gentleman in his forties with chin whiskers.” The three adults are to appear with “tired bearing and disarranged clothing” to show that they have been through a long vigil. While the dialogue begins with the announcement that the child will survive her ordeal, her mother quickly discovers that the child is blind and deaf.

Although scenes are not noted as such, directions for a scene change are given using lights and distant belfry chimes. Three children and a dog are on stage when the lights rise. Two are described simply as “Negroes,” while Helen is described as “six and a half years old, quite unkempt in body, and vivacious little person with a fine head, attractive, but noticeably blind, one eye larger and protruding; her gestures are abrupt, insistent, lacking in human restraint, and her face never smiles.”

Since Helen cannot speak, hear, or see, her entire part is described in the parenthetical directions that are interspersed among the pieces of dialogue. The novice reader of plays, especially those who have never seen a live production, may have difficulty in imagining parenthetically described actions. The directions are detailed enough, however, to ensure that all actions required by the plot are included, yet general enough to encourage artistic freedom in acting and directing.

In the next scene, James, “an indolent young man”; Aunt Ev, “a benign visitor in a hat”; Kate, “a woman steeled in grief”; and Captain Keller disagree over help for Helen. This conversation leads to the introduction of Anagos, who reads a letter that he received from Captain Keller to Annie Sullivan, who is to teach Helen. In the remaining scenes of act 1, Annie meets the Keller family, tries to teach Helen to hand-spell, and is locked in her room by Helen.

In act 2, Annie continues to try to teach Helen. A noisy and violent breakfast lesson is presented in several pages of description. Act 2 ends as Annie and Helen begin a two-week stay in the garden house. Act 3 begins in the garden house, where Helen is behaving in an orderly fashion, and continues as Annie and Helen return to the Keller homestead, where Annie and the rest of the family resume their fight over control of Helen. Annie prevails, and Helen finally connects a spelled word “water” to the thing that the word represents and then eagerly seeks the names for other things on stage.

Dramatic Devices

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In his production notes for The Miracle Worker, William Gibson specifies that “the convention of the staging is one of cutting through time and place, and its essential qualities are fluidity and spatial counterpoint.” The stage space is divided diagonally, from downstage right to upstage left, into two areas. Behind the diagonal, on platforms, is the Keller house, in which the downstairs family room and an upstairs bedroom are visible; on the stage level, outside the porch, is the water pump. A neutral stage space in front of the diagonal is used at different times to represent various places, including the offices of the Perkins Institute for the Blind, a train station, the garden house, and the front yard of the Keller home.

Props are used to define the neutral area as needed. Thus, for example, a long table, a chair, and teaching equipment for the blind define the area as the Perkins Institute. For the scenes in the garden house, the requisite props are carried on and off stage in full view of the audience and without heed to the imaginary walls, which are themselves defined by the furniture and draperies that are brought on. Accordingly, Gibson maintains that “the less set there is, the better,” since “in a literal set, the fluidity will seem merely episodic.” He also suggests that, apart from functional requirements of props (doors with locks, the upstairs window, the water pump, and the like), the set should be constructed so that it is “free, airy, [and] unencumbered by walls . . . locales should be only skeletal suggestions, and the movement from one to another should be accomplishable by little more than lights.”

Subtle shifts in the color of the lighting also accompany the play’s shifts from exterior action to interiority as Annie’s guilt-ridden memories are evoked through the voices of her younger brother Jimmie and of unidentified adult authority figures. The “shadowy intimations” of these speakers are dimly visible in the background of their scenes.

Segues covering changes in time or locale are often achieved through sound effects that accompany shifts in lighting. Following the opening scene in which Helen’s blindness and deafness are discovered, for example, the bedroom dims out, and “time, in the form of a slow tune of distant belfry chimes which approaches in a crescendo and then fades, passes”; in the following scene, Helen is six and a half years old. Similarly, the chimes cover the hours that follow the initial onstage dining-room confrontation between Helen and Annie. The transition between Annie’s departure from Boston and her arrival in Alabama is conveyed through the sound of railroad wheels, which is maintained underneath an entire scene in the Keller homestead prior to Annie’s arrival.

In the final moments of the play, the lights dim over all the set except the water pump, the site of the miracle. The light takes on “the color of the past” before it fades and the curtain comes down.

Literary Style

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Flashback

One of the most notable features of The Miracle Worker is its unique writing style. While the play maintains a realistic tone, it frequently employs cinematic shifts in time and space to highlight the impact of the past on the present, much like Arthur Miller's Death Of A Salesman. It’s evident that Gibson drew inspiration from Death Of A Salesman, particularly in his use of flashbacks and stage design. The realistic dialogue in The Miracle Worker mirrors everyday conversation. However, it is Gibson's incorporation of flashbacks that introduces many of the cinematic transitions within the play's linear narrative. The first flashback occurs at the very beginning, revealing how Helen Keller became deaf and blind, setting the stage for the subsequent events. Following this scene, the play transitions to "real" time, progressing in chronological order.

After this opening scene, the approach to flashbacks in The Miracle Worker shifts. Unlike Death Of A Salesman, where characters physically step back into the past, Gibson uses offstage voices to juxtapose past events with the present action. This technique is used exclusively with the main character, Annie Sullivan, also known as The Miracle Worker. These offstage voices provide insight into Annie's motivations as she works with Helen at the Keller home, allowing the audience to peer into Annie's thoughts. These instances are the only moments when the play's point of view shifts. Typically, the action unfolds directly in front of the audience, without a specific character's perspective. However, during flashbacks with offstage voices, the audience glimpses the past through Annie Sullivan's mind.

Setting and Use of Space

The cinematic style employed by Gibson is evident in both the play's setting and the utilization of stage space. Gibson's approach to stage space parallels Arthur Miller's technique in Death Of A Salesman. Both playwrights create a foundational setting to represent reality in their plays, using only essential elements. In The Miracle Worker, Gibson includes only the items actively used during the play's action, such as the water pump and doors with locks, to establish the Kellers' home. Anything not directly interacted with by the characters is merely suggested. This technique allows characters to move into different areas of the play seamlessly, avoiding complex set changes that could disrupt the play's fluidity. As Gibson explains in the script: "The convention of the staging is one of cutting through time and place, and its essential qualities are fluidity and spatial counterpoint." This method swiftly transitions the audience from the Keller home to locations like the Perkins Institution for the Blind, the train station, or the garden house without interrupting the play's progression.

This staging convention enables characters in different stage areas to influence each other. An example occurs early in the play when Annie is at the Perkins Institution preparing to leave for the Keller home. During this scene, Annie hears offstage voices from her past until Anagnos calls her name, bringing her back to the present. Annie responds by calling out "Coming!" Simultaneously, Kate, in the Keller home, hears the word "coming" and "stands half-turned and attentive to it, almost as though hearing it." This illustrates how Gibson uses stage space to intertwine different worlds within the play, demonstrating their mutual impact. In production, strategic lighting makes these setting transitions clear to the audience, presenting a continuous unfolding of the world rather than interrupting the action for set changes. This technique keeps the audience engaged and immersed in the play's world, akin to how filmmakers use crossfades and editing to direct audience focus.

Honesty

While the cinematic style employed by Gibson in The Miracle Worker is highly effective, it is crucial to recognize Gibson's emphasis on the play's authenticity. Regardless of the techniques Gibson utilized in The Miracle Worker, his approach is grounded in honesty. This sincerity is essential, whether it pertains to the characters' interactions or the dramatic conflicts that unfold throughout the play. Without this honesty, the audience would struggle to connect with the performance.

It is precisely due to the play's authenticity that Gibson can incorporate flashbacks, cinematic shifts, and other techniques to captivate the audience and immerse them in the lives of Annie Sullivan and Helen Keller. The audience's ability to believe in and care about the events within the play is a direct result of the genuine portrayal of every character and situation in The Miracle Worker.

Expert Q&A

What was the tone, attitude, volume, and fluency of Annie's voice in "The Miracle Worker" when she discussed the asylum?

When Annie discusses the asylum, her tone is marked by stubborn rigidity with hints of disgust and desperation. She starts speaking softly but gradually raises her volume, reaching a crescendo near the end. Her fluency transitions from slow to fast, with a significant pause before saying, "No, it made me strong." This delivery reflects her determination to prevent Helen from being sent to the asylum, emphasizing the horrors she experienced there.

Places Discussed

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The Keller house

The Keller house was a two-story farmhouse located near Tuscumbia, Alabama, that was Helen Keller’s birthplace and the home in which she grew up. Gibson’s script calls for a set consisting of two areas divided by a diagonal line. The area behind the line represents the Keller house and includes two rooms and a porch area. The other area accommodates a variety of other settings as needed. Audiences can best appreciate the simple setting by trying to imagine how a blind and deaf child who initially has no concept of human language would interact with surroundings that she can neither see nor hear.

Angry and full of incomprehension of the world outside her body, Helen lashes out at those around her until Annie Sullivan forces her to settle down, behave civilly, and begin to learn how to understand the world in terms of language, which she teaches Helen through hand movements. Shortly after Annie arrives, she and Helen have a fight, which Helen wins by locking Annie in her room and hiding the key. Annie wins the next big fight by forcing Helen to eat off her own plate with a spoon. Afterward, she takes Helen from the main house to live with her in a detached garden house, where she can exercise complete control over Helen to break her of her almost feral habits. The play’s “miracle” occurs when Annie makes Helen pump water into a pitcher, and Helen finally grasps the connection between Annie’s hand movements and water, thus discovering the concept of language. The play thus ends with her on the threshold of full entry into human society.

Expert Q&A

In The Miracle Worker, where does Annie Sullivan want to take Helen for undisturbed learning?

Annie Sullivan wants to take Helen to a cottage on the Keller property, known as the "garden house," for undisturbed learning. This isolated location allows Annie to establish standards and boundaries for Helen, away from her family's indulgent behavior, which had hindered Helen's development. By living together in the garden house, Annie aims to teach Helen discipline and foster her independence, enabling her to reach her full potential.

Where do Jimmie and Annie play in "The Miracle Worker"?

In "The Miracle Worker," Jimmie and Annie played in the deadhouse of the state almshouse, where bodies were kept until burial. Annie shares these grim memories with Captain and Kate Keller to emphasize the urgency of teaching Helen to communicate, as she fears the possibility of Helen ending up in an asylum. Annie's past experiences highlight her determination to help Helen avoid a similar fate, underscoring the importance of gaining control over Helen's education.

In The Miracle Worker, where did Annie spend her childhood?

In "The Miracle Worker," Annie Sullivan spent her childhood in an asylum before attending the Perkins Institution for the Blind. Her brother died while they were at the asylum, which deeply affected her. At Perkins, Annie learned sign language and other skills that she later used to teach Helen Keller. Her experiences at the asylum and Perkins shaped her character and teaching methods.

Setting and Location of The Miracle Worker by William Gibson

The setting and location of The Miracle Worker by William Gibson primarily take place in the Keller family home in Tuscumbia, Alabama, during the 1880s. The play also includes scenes set at the Perkins Institute for the Blind in Boston, Massachusetts, highlighting the contrast between Helen Keller's home environment and the place where her education begins.

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