Advancement In Playwriting

Arthur Miller is one of the most important postwar realistic playwrights in the United States. He is basically a socially conscious writer, for he usually puts the idea of social duty and responsibilities into the center of his plays, and considers the theatre as a convenient vehicle to deliver his profound contemplation on social issues. He is interested in exploring his own consciousness and good at conveying with force the crushing impact of society upon its members. "No other American dramatist has so directly engaged the anxieties and fears, the myths and dreams, of a people desperate to believe in a freedom for which they see ever less evidence. No other American writer has so successfully touched a nerve of the national consciousness."1 That maybe just explains the reason why Miller can for so many years successfully secure his distinguished position in the theater. Like some other important playwrights, Miller also experiences a gradual process of becoming mature, in which he perfects his theatrical techniques and magnifies his dramatic themes. Viewing through all his works, there are two plays marking respectively two vital turning points in his creation career: All My Sons and Death of a Salesman. In 1947, he produced his first great success, All My Sons, which won the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award for best play of that year and launched Arthur Miller's long and distinguished career in the theatre. However, his All My Sons has long been ignored since the birth of Death of a Salesman. Two years later in 1949, Miller wrote Death of a Salesman, which won the Pulitzer Prize and transformed Miller into a national sensation. Many critics describe Death of a Salesman as the first great American tragedy, and Miller gains eminence as a man who understands the deep essence of the United States. A half century after it was written, Death of a Salesman remains a focus in drama and still achieves universal applauses throughout the world. "Since its premiere, there has never been a time when Death of a...