The Writing Style of Arthur Miller
Described as the greatest playwrights of the 20th century in his lifetime, Arthur Miller was an important literary figure in America who wrote plays, essays and short stories for over 60 years. His work includes fifty plays comprising widely popular ones such as The Crucible, All my sons and the Pulitzer Prize winner- Death of a Salesman.
His writing style could be described as “realism” meaning that Miller presented situations in his plays in the same form as they are presented in real life. A realist writer describes society as it is without any influence of false hope and unreal optimism.
Arthur’s plays are a true reflection of the problems faced by a common man in the American society before the Civil Rights movement. His work is based on the theme of the struggles and conflicts in life especially in the life of the working class and thus lending compassion to such a life fraught with inequalities posed by a tyrannical society. In his writing, he focuses on the concept of morality in society and how the definition of what is right and wrong is a constantly changing landscape. His plays bear strong opinions on the American life back in the day which was full of conflicts of the heart and mind that stirred the emotions of the audience.
In his Pulitzer Prize-winning play, Death of a Salesman, Arthur attempts to accurately depict the pathos of a salesman whose life begins to come apart after his retirement. The overwhelming and crippling awareness that one’s dreams will never be realized in the post-retirement life of old age, frailty and uselessness. This is a stark representation of the agony and desperation of a man who had wanted more from his life but had his hopes and dreams shattered by the system which governs the working class.
In The Crucible, Arthur describes the witch trials of Salem in the 17th Century. This is a portrait of the outcomes of hysteria taking over a society. In a time when accusation was used in lieu of evidence, a woman had the burden of proving herself innocent before the public. Such witch-trials did take place back in the day and the only way to acquit oneself was through a confession of guilt.
In All My Sons, Miller describes the relationship between a father and his son and the disappointing reality that neither of them could meet each other’s expectations. This play illustrates what happens when we are let down by those we love and admire and the consequences of a man’s amoral and dishonest actions on his own family as well as on society.
Arthur never cared for flowery words. Despite the majority of his plays are based on tragic themes, Miller used everyday words including slangs, adding relatability to the characters, this was an uncommon practice in his time as tragic plays were written with elaborate and ornate use of poetical verbiage.
Arthur Miller proved himself to be one of the most important social realistic writers of America and plays continue to be performed all over the world.
