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Home , After the Fall (play), A Memory of Two Mondays, Brooks Atkinson, Finishing the Picture, Joan Copeland, Resurrection Blues

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© Stephen Marino 2015 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No portion of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, Saffron House, 6– 10 Kirby Street, London EC1N 8TS. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The author has asserted his right to be identifi ed as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. First published 2015 by PALGRAVE Palgrave in the UK is an imprint of Macmillan Publishers Limited, registered in England, company number 785998, of 4 Crinan Street, London, N1 9XW. Palgrave Macmillan in the US is a division of St Martin’s Press LLC, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010. Palgrave is a global imprint of the above companies and is represented throughout the world. Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the , the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries. ISBN 978– 1– 137– 42979– 7 hardback ISBN 978– 1– 137– 42978– 0 paperback This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. Logging, pulping and manufacturing processes are expected to conform to the environmental regulations of the country of origin. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress.

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CONTENTS

Introduction 1

A cultural, political and literary biography of Miller focusing on him as a literary, cultural and political fi gure and the many plays he produced over his long career, with emphasis on the signifi cance of and in his canon; discussion of drama as text and drama as performance; summary of the organization of this text.

CHAPTER ONE 11 1949– 69: Reviews and Early Criticism

This chapter shows the different collaborative processes in the original Broadway productions of the plays, presents the initial re- views and examines critical perspectives in the two decades after the plays’ premieres. Includes commentary by Barry Gross, Gerald Weales, David Levin, Robert Warshow, Philip Hill, Penelope Curtis, Arthur Oberg, Stephen Fender, Dennis Welland, Sheila Huftel and Leonard Moss.

CHAPTER TWO 35 1949– 79: Society and Tragedy

This chapter explores how the early criticism of Salesman and Crucible viewed the plays through the lens of social realism, argued over whether the dramas were tragedies, and considered how they illustrated the American Dream. Includes criticism by Tom Driver, Leonard Moss, Brooks Atkinson, Emile McAnany, Esther Merle Jackson, Dan Vogel, Clinton Trowbridge, Richard J. Foster, John Prudhoe, Harold Clurman, Thomas Porter, Bernard Dukore and Alfred Ferguson. Also presents Miller’s own commentary.

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CHAPTER THREE 54 The 1980s: Salesman – Salesmanship, Psychology, Ethnicity

This chapter presents how scholars focused on the topics of salesmanship, psychology and ethnicity. Major critics offered comprehensive approaches to Miller and his entire oeuvre, with extensive analysis of Salesman. Ethnic criticism considered how Miller’s upbringing as a Jew infl uenced the play. Includes perspec- tives by Gordon Couchman, Thomas Porter, Michael Spindler, Robert Wilson, George K. Kernoodle, John V. Hagopian, Richard Evans, D. L. Hoeveler, Jeremy Hawthorn, Irving Jacobson, Christopher Bigsby, Guerin Bliquez, Sister Bettina, Morris Freedman and Enoch Brater.

CHAPTER FOUR 75 The 1980s: Crucible – History, Law, Politics

This chapter shows how noted scholars examining Crucible concen- trated on its historical accuracy, the role of theocratic law, the play’s political relevance to McCarthyism, and the character of John Proctor. Includes discussion by Henry Popkin, Robert Martin, William J. McGill, Edmund Morgan, Thomas Porter, June Schlueter, James K. Flanagan, E. Miller Budick, Christopher Bigsby, Edward Murray, William T. Liston and Walter Meserve.

CHAPTER FIVE 95 The 1990s: New Readings

This chapter considers the explosion in Miller scholarship in the last decade of the twentieth century. It examines how the ‘high theory’ that dominated literary criticism in the 1980s and 1990s altered the readings of Miller’s plays. Scholars also discussed themes and topics about Salesman and Crucible that critics explored in previous decades. Highlights criticism by Stephen Barker, Robert Martin, William Demastes, Barbara Lounsberry, Paula Langteau, Brenda Murphy, George Castellitto, Gary Hendrickson, James Martine, Michelle Pearson, Fred Ribkoff and Matthew Roudané.

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CHAPTER SIX 115 The 1990s: Feminism and Gender

This chapter explores how feminist and gender perspectives have created new readings of Miller’s plays. Many critics explored the signifi cance of the secondary role the women seem to have in the plays; some examined the powerful and infl uential role of the female characters; others probed the intersection of masculine and feminine roles and identities. Includes essays by Kay Stanton, Janet Balakian, Charlotte Canning, Heather Cook Callow, Wendy Schissel, Isak Alter and David Savran.

CHAPTER SEVEN 126 Beyond 2000: Critical Trends

This chapter shows how critical evaluation of ’s plays continued at a rapid pace from a range of perspectives. Reassess- ments of the characterization of and John Proctor chal- lenged more than 60 years of criticism. Miller’s death instigated comparative analyses with other playwrights and writers. Christo- pher Bigsby published an exhaustive Critical Study and a two- volume critical biography of Miller. Includes criticism by Terry Otten, Stephen Marino, Jeffrey Mason, Joshua Polster, Steven R. Centola, Brenda Murphy, Jane Dominik, Bert Cardullo, David Palmer and Susan Abbotson.

CHAPTER EIGHT 141 1950– 2000: Film and TV Versions

This chapter details the complication of moving Death of a Salesman and The Crucible from stage to screen. Adaptations of Salesman faced the challenge of transferring the expressionistic staging to fi lm. Ver- sions of Crucible confront political ramifi cations. Includes commen- tary by Brenda Murphy, Kevin Kerrane, R. Barton Palmer, Christopher Bigsby and Arthur Miller.

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CONCLUSION 148

A reconsideration of Miller’s status as a playwright and the signifi - cance of Salesman and Crucible in the world canon. Discusses critical areas ripe for future examination.

NOTES 152

SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY 169

INDEX 183

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Introduction

rthur Miller was one of the major American dramatists of the A twentieth century. He clearly ranks with the other truly great United States playwrights – Eugene O’Neill, Tennessee Williams and – and takes his place in the pantheon of great world dramatists. Miller earned this reputation during a career of over 70 years in which he achieved critical success in the 1940s and 1950s with the dramas , Death of a Salesman, The Crucible and , refused to name names at his appearance before the House Un- American Activities Committee (HUAC), had a celebrated marriage to the film actress , served as president of the literary organization International P.E.N., produced a critically acclaimed auto- biography, Timebends, in 1987, and premiered new plays on Broadway and in London in the 1990s and in the new millennium. Arthur Miller was not only a literary giant, but also one of the more significant political, cultural and social figures of his time. He was a man of conviction and rock- solid integrity who frequently took stands, pop- ular and unpopular, on the ethical issues that engage societies through- out the world. At his death, headline of called him the ‘moral voice of [the] American stage’.1 Arthur Miller was a native New Yorker, born in Manhattan on 17 October 1915, the second son of Isadore and Augusta Barnett Miller. An older brother, Kermit, was a businessman, and a younger sister is the actress . The Millers – his father a Jewish immigrant from Poland, his mother born on the lower East side of Manhattan to Polish Jewish émigrés – were wealthy from their family- owned coat and suit factory. The Millers lived in upper middle- class splendour on East 110th Street, Central Park North, in a large apartment. However, hard times came when Isadore’s business collapsed, even before the stock market crash of 1929. Miller’s father relocated his family to Brooklyn in 1928, when Arthur was 13. The move was clearly a step down, and the family settled in the Gravesend section of the borough in a little six- room house on East Third Street where Arthur shared a bedroom with his maternal grandfather.

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The onset of the Depression and the move to Brooklyn were clearly the defining events of Miller’s youth. Miller attended James Madison and Abraham Lincoln High Schools in Brooklyn where he was, at best, an average student (in one of his last interviews, he described himself as the ‘invisible man’ in high school2) and played on the second squad of the Lincoln football team. In 1932, he graduated during the depths of the Depression. His poor grades and his family’s finances kept him out of college. For two years, he worked in a succession of odd jobs until he finally entered the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor in 1934. His years at Michigan are most notable as the start of his playwriting career. Miller twice won the college’s annual $250 Avery Hopwood Award for best play. After graduation, Miller joined the Federal Theater Project, which employed promising young playwrights at a living wage of $23 a week. At this time, a high school football injury making him ineligible for the draft, he also wrote half- hour radio plays. To assist the war effort and earn some money, Miller worked in the Brooklyn Navy Yard for two years while continuing to write plays. In 1940 he had married Mary Slattery, a fellow student; they settled in Brooklyn Heights and had two children, Robert and Jane. In 1944, Miller had his first play produced on Broadway, The Man Who Had All the Luck. It opened to negative reviews and closed after four performances. Miller’s only novel, , one of the first impor- tant American works about anti- Semitism, appeared the following year. The novel was successful, selling 90,000 copies. Focus powerfully tackles a subject that Miller would make a major part of his dramatic canon: all humanity shares a responsibility for the suffering of the Jews. In 1947, Miller wrote the critically acclaimed drama All My Sons, his first Broadway hit. With this production, Miller began his professional and personal association with the film and stage director . Miller wrote his masterpiece, Death of a Salesman, in 1948. The play had been gestating in him for some time. At the age of 17, he had written a story based on his experiences with a Jewish salesman when he was working for his father; while a student at the University of Michigan, he had written a play about a salesman and his family. Miller was parti- cularly influenced by the memory of his uncle, Manny Newman, a salesman who had moved his family to Brooklyn earlier than Miller’s family. In Timebends, Miller relates how Manny, who would later com- mit suicide, raised his two sons, Miller’s cousins, to be competitive alter egos with Kermit and Arthur. Thus, the prototypes of Willy, Biff, and Hap were born. The premiere of Salesman on 10 February 1949 was a result of a creative collaboration between Miller, the director Elia Kazan, the set director Jo Mielziner, and the composer Alex North. With powerful

Copyrighted material – 978– 1– 137– 42978– 0 Copyrighted material – 978– 1– 137– 42978– 0 INTRODUCTION 3 performances by Lee J. Cobb as Willy Loman and Mildred Dunnock as Linda, the play was hailed as landmark in American drama and won a Tony Award and the Pulitzer Prize as best play. Critical debate began immediately about the play as a modern American tragedy. Miller himself contributed to the discussion in a New York Times op-ed piece, ‘Tragedy and the Common Man’, an essay that remains one of the most important commentaries on the nature of the tragic hero. In 1950 Miller wrote an adaptation of Henrik Ibsen’s 1882 play, An Enemy of the People. At this time, the United States was embarking on a period of political and social upheaval, called the ‘Red Scare’, that would have a lasting effect on Miller’s career and personal life. In April 1952, Miller decided to write a play about the Salem witch trials because he saw a connection to the so- called Communist witch- hunts. Miller took an exploratory trip to Salem to research the original court records. He was struck by the testimony about a farmer, John Procter, his wife Elizabeth, and their servant girl Abigail Williams, who accused Elizabeth, but not John, of witchcraft. Miller perceived that Abigail had personal motives against the Procters. Thus, he decided to wrap his his- torical play about the Salem witch trials around what he viewed as the personal story of John’s adultery with Abigail, discovery by Elizabeth, and the vengeance of Abigail. When Miller left Salem, he heard on his car radio a news report of Elia Kazan’s testimony before the House Un- American Activities Committee (HUAC): he had ‘named names’. Miller was struck by the power of the state to force men to testify and further implicate others. Kazan’s decision would cause a breach in his personal and professional relationship with Miller that would last until the next decade, when Kazan would direct . When The Crucible opened on 23 January 1953, the reviews were less glowing than for Salesman. Miller realized that the play was too hot for the political climate. The play is about moral choices when an individual confronts the pressures imposed by society. Many Americans were unwilling to confront these issues in 1953, which accounts for the mixed critical reception at its premiere. However, the play still won the Tony Award. For Miller’s next play, A View From the Bridge in 1955, he explored the Italian immigrant society of the Brooklyn docks. At this time, Miller had embarked on his affair with Marilyn Monroe, was about to divorce his wife, and was becoming a target of HUAC. In 1956, Miller’s troubles with the government over his leftist activities increased. Miller’s unlikely marriage to Monroe caused a media sensation. Miller suspected that the publicity would draw the attention of HUAC, whose influence had been waning. Miller was subpoenaed, and the hypocrisy of the committee was evident when his lawyer told him that Pennsylvania Representative Francis E. Walter, chairman of the committee, proposed that the hearing

Copyrighted material – 978– 1– 137– 42978– 0 Copyrighted material – 978– 1– 137– 42978– 0 4 ARTHUR MILLER could be cancelled if Monroe agreed to be photographed shaking hands with him. At his hearing, Miller freely admitted his presence, but refused to give the names of others in attendance, at a meeting of Communist writers a decade earlier. In a stunning example of Miller’s life imitating his own art, this was his John Proctor moment. The committee already knew the names of attendees; they were more concerned with Miller’s compliance and his betrayal of friends and colleagues. Miller was warned that he would be in contempt of Congress for refusing to answer since he had chosen not to claim the Fifth Amendment’s constitutional protection against self- incrimination. Miller still refused and, therefore, was cited. Miller was allowed a six- month visa to accompany Monroe to England where she was to make a film with , while Miller would oversee production of the two- act version of A View From the Bridge. Miller returned to stand trial for contempt of Congress and was found guilty on two counts. His sentencing was deferred for an appeal, and in 1958 the US Court of Appeals overturned his conviction. Miller’s first play in nine years, After the Fall, premiered for the new Lincoln Center Repertory in 1964. The play was a result of a concatenation of events for him since his marriage to Monroe ended during the filming of The Misfits. Miller had married Ingeborg Morath, a renowned photographer, whom he had met on the set of The Misfits. Morath and Miller had two children, Rebecca and Daniel. Miller also attended the Nazi trials in Frankfurt, Germany, which he covered for the . His experience in court solidified the form and theme of After the Fall – the paradox of denial – that Miller realized was at the heart of Germany in the aftermath of the war. Critical reaction to After the Fall was mixed at best. There was a cho- rus of negative reaction to the autobiographical elements of the play, particularly the portrayal of the character Maggie who was judged to resemble too closely Marilyn Monroe, who had already become an iconic figure in American culture. The lambasting of After the Fall illus- trates the complicated relationship which Miller had with American theatre critics his entire career. In the late 1960s and the 1970s, Miller produced plays that reflected his continuing interest in morality, politics and the Depression. He returned to Broadway in 1968 with , his most successful play since Salesman. He actively protested against the Vietnam War, served as a delegate to the Democratic Convention in 1968 and 1972, and assumed the presidency of International P.E.N. in protecting the rights of artists and writers throughout the world. In 1977, partially disgusted with Broadway critics, Miller premiered The Archbishop’s Ceiling at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. Miller returned to the Great Depression for the subject matter of in 1980.

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In 1980, Arthur Miller clearly was the major dramatic figure in the American theatre. He was engaged, as ever, in politics: supporting the Polish Solidarity movement, protesting Israel’s West Bank settle- ments, continuing to defend the rights of artists and writers in repres- sive regimes like Turkey and the . Miller’s railing against the Tiananmen Square massacres was particularly relevant since he had directed an acclaimed version of Salesman in Beijing in 1984. Miller also began loudly to criticize the state of the American theatre, particularly the commercialization of Broadway. The 1990s were a period of unparalleled creativity for a playwright of Arthur Miller’s age. Miller wrote The Ride Down Mt. Morgan, and Mr. Peter’s Connections, a one- act play, , a screen- play for The Crucible, published a novella, Homely Girl, oversaw reviv- als of his work around the world, and continued to write essays and political tracts. In the new millennium, Miller celebrated his eighty- fifth birthday with the publication of Echoes Down the Corridor, a collection of his non- theatre essays. His 2003 play, , is a political sat- ire where a TV company pays for the rights to advertise the live crucifix- ion of a messianic revolutionary by a South American dictator. His final play, , dramatizes the events of a Hollywood actress’s personal and professional difficulties in completing a film. It premiered a few months before his death on 10 February 2005, the same date that Salesman had premiered in 1949.3

Arthur Miller wrote Salesmen and Crucible during a time period that critic Christopher Bigsby has defined as a ‘Golden Age’ in American drama. Between 1945 and 1956, the playwrights Eugene O’Neill, Tennessee Williams and Arthur Miller premiered on Broadway The Glass Menagerie (1945), The Iceman Cometh (1946), (1947), All My Sons (1947), Death of a Salesman (1949), The Crucible (1953), A View From the Bridge (1955), Cat on Hot Tin Roof (1955) and Long Day’s Journey Into Night (1956) – works that are considered major plays in the American theatre repertory. As Bigsby judged, ‘People don’t realize how amazing the period was … This does not happen often in history … If you look back, when is the previous period in any country that had that kind of golden age?’4 For Arthur Miller, this was a time of great productivity. The four plays that he wrote during this period define his career as a playwright. In particular, Salesman and Crucible were recognized as significant American dramas destined to become world plays. Moreover, both dra- mas are unique for the large numbers of audiences and students who still experience them. For more than 60 years, Salesman and Crucible have been produced continuously on stages in many nations. Brenda Murphy has proclaimed that there is not a time when Salesman is not performed somewhere in the world5; Miller himself proudly noted that

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The Crucible was his most produced play.6 In addition, both texts are part of the permanent literary canon in academic institutions throughout the globe – read and discussed in high schools, colleges, universities and graduate schools. Salesman’s status as a world play was confirmed when it was ranked second to Samuel Beckett’s (1953 in French; 1955 in English) in a millennial project survey of theatre professionals conducted by England’s Royal National Theatre to cele- brate the best 100 plays of the twentieth century. In the same survey, Crucible was ranked sixth and Miller was named the top English lan- guage dramatist. When Salesman opened on 10 February 1949 at the Morosco Theater, the critical reaction was overwhelming. Brooks Atkinson of the New York Times wrote, ‘Arthur Miller has written a superb drama. From every point of view Death of a Salesman … is a rich and memorable drama … has the flow and spontaneity of a suburban epic … evokes a wraith- like tragedy’.7 Howard Barnes in the New York Herald Tribune wrote that the play has a ‘majesty, sweep, and shattering dramatic impact. Its lucidity, eloquence, and deep feeling make it far more than a good job of crafts- manship. It is a play to make history’.8 William Hawkins of the New York World Telegram called it a ‘powerful tragedy’.9 The production ran for 742 performances. Within a year of its premiere, Salesman was playing in every major city in the United States and within a few years began its incredible run of international productions. The original production of Crucible was not as spectacular a hit as Salesman with both audiences and critics, who, Miller noted, felt uncom- fortable with the subject and theme, given the parlous state of the polit- ical atmosphere in the United States. He reports that, on opening night, people with whom he had had some close professional relationships passed him by as if he were invisible. The reviews were respectable, but, as Miller wryly noted, ‘the kind that bury you decently’.10 Brooks Atkinson in the New York Times wrote: ‘Arthur Miller has written another powerful play … Neither Mr. Miller nor his audiences are unaware of certain similarities between the perversions of jus- tice then and today.’ However, Atkinson also noted, ‘After the expe- rience of Death of a Salesman, we probably expect Mr. Miller to write a masterpiece every time. The Crucible is not of that stature and it lacks that universality.’11 John Chapman in the Daily News proclaimed that Crucible was ‘a stunning production, splendidly acted and strongly written … it is a tragedy of the Puritan purge of witchcraft’.12 Walter Kerr of the New York Herald saw the play as a political statement and judged it as a ‘step backward into mechanical parable’ that ‘lives not in the warmth of humbly observed human souls, but in the ideologi- cal heat of the polemic’.13 However, the show played for 197 perfor- mances, a decent run.

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In 1958, well after the Communist witch- hunt hysteria had died down, Crucible was revived off Broadway to plaudits and ran for more than 600 performances. Today critics recognize the play for its power as a tale of personal guilt and redemption and warning of the power of a state to manipulate the individual.

Significant literary criticism was produced about both Salesman and Crucible almost immediately after their openings. This book aims to identify the seminal texts and major areas of discussion that have devel- oped since Salesman and Crucible premiered and highlight some of the major critics who have influenced the critical judgement of Miller’s masterpieces. The plays in Miller’s large dramatic canon, particularly Salesman and Crucible, continue to draw scholars and theatre critics from all disciplines and theoretical approaches. These plays are so flexible to many, many critical approaches that Miller is a writer who never really has been ‘out of fashion’ or marginalized. His work survives the whims and biases of many ‘theories’ and ‘isms’. Thomas Adler in Tennessee Williams: A Streetcar Named Desire/Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, A Reader’s Guide to Essential Criticism (2012) succinctly explains the marginalization that American drama endured as a fitting subject for lit- erary criticism until the late 1950s and early 1960s. He points out how Christopher Bigsby has described this as well- known ‘casual disregard’.14 Susan Harris Smith explains this as the probable result of the genre’s ‘visual nature … meant initially for performance and popular consump- tion and the collaborative nature of theatre which might occlude identi- fying a single author’.15 Adler also notes that it was not until 1959 that a major publication like American Drama was one of the first journals devoted exclusively to Drama. Literary criticism of American drama was so margin- alized that the Modern Language Association conference on drama held its first session only in 1959, the same year that Robert Brustein argued that American plays were not literature.16 Yet Arthur Miller, like Tennessee Williams, had the advantage of being considered a major playwright just at the time that dramatic criticism was gaining more scholarly respect. However, there are still strong forces that negatively affect discussion of American drama. Literary criticism and theatre criticism too often are considered distinct entities. As a literary genre, drama is unique from its siblings, poetry and fictional prose. Plays exist in two forms, in text and in performance. As readers, we encounter a play not unlike the way we encounter a novel or a short story; consequently, our analysis of character, of action, of theme are text based. However, by its very nature, drama is not only a literary genre, but also a living art – meant to be performed. Consequently, our experience with the text – that is, the script – is quite different in performance. Should there be distinction between dramatic literature and dramatic performance?

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Because Salesman and Crucible are produced so frequently, they gen- erate much theatre criticism and literary criticism. The reality – not fully acknowledged – is that theatre criticism informs literary criticism and vice versa. A few examples serve to illustrate this point. Miller’s original title for Salesman was ‘The Inside of His Head’ because the most important action of the play occurs in the ‘imaginings’, the psychological flashbacks that occur in Willy’s mind. Literary critics have produced important text- based analyses of Willy’s psychological imaginings. In response to literary critics, the set designer Fran Thompson, for a 1996 revival of Salesman at London’s National Theatre, designed an open stage with a sawn- off tree trunk at the centre of concentric circle. The actors remained on the outer edge of the circle the entire time, coming forward or backward as they entered Willy’s imaginings or the real time of the play. Similarly, in the fiftieth anniver- sary Broadway revival that originated at Chicago’s Goodman Theatre, the set designer used a series of boxes that moved around the stage, the boxes clearly meant to indicate the movement of memory in Willy’s mind. These radical set designs, inspired by critical analysis of the play, produced fur- ther theatre and literary criticism. Similarly, Elizabeth Franz’s portrayal of a powerfully charged Linda Loman in the 1999 New York production undoubtedly was influenced by feminist critics of the play, who in the late 1980s and 1990s began to move away from the traditional view of Linda as a suffering ‘doormat’ to the dominant males in the play. These critics view Linda as a crucial linchpin in the lives of the Lomans. Franz’s performance has subsequently led to additional literary criticism of Linda. Similarly, ’s stage portrayal of a physically small Jewish Willy Loman generated significant literary criticism. Although this Guide focuses mainly on the literary criticism of Salesman and Crucible, I also highlight significant instances when theatre criticism and productions of the plays were influenced by literary criti- cism and vice versa. The criticism of Salesman and Crucible approximately follows the three periods into which we divide Miller’s canon: the first part from 1944 to 1968 when he produced the four great plays; a middle period from 1968, after his success with The Price, until the mid- 1980s when he seemingly ‘disappeared’ from Broadway; and a final era starting in the late 1980s (around the publication of Timebends in 1987) when there was an explosion of literary criticism on Miller, significant revivals of his major plays, and productions of new plays. The early criticism of Salesman focused on how the play uses real- ism, expressionism and characterization. The early criticism of Crucible focused on the historical connections to the Salem witch trials and the allegory of McCarthyism. Both plays reinforced Miller’s reputation as a social dramatist, a status he earned with his first Broadway hit, All My Sons, and many critics consequently considered the moral, political and

Copyrighted material – 978– 1– 137– 42978– 0 Copyrighted material – 978– 1– 137– 42978– 0 INTRODUCTION 9 societal implications of the plays. Many thematic perspectives also devel- oped for both Salesman and Crucible. Thus, early criticism of Salesman discussed whether the play is a modern American tragedy and how the drama illustrates the pursuit of the American Dream. The early criticism of Crucible focused on John Proctor’s role as a tragic hero and the play’s commentary on political, religious and sexual issues. The major critical themes and issues on which scholars concentrated in Salesman up to the mid- 1980s include psychology, business, law, eco- nomics, capitalism and language. The major critical themes and issues that concerned critics about Crucible to the mid- 1980s were its historical accuracy, its political relevance to McCarthyism, John Proctor’s role as a tragic hero, and language. There has been an explosion in critical scrutiny of Arthur Miller, Salesman and Crucible since the late 1980s. These contemporary criti- cal perspectives include feminist approaches, gender studies, language analysis and autobiographical perspectives. In the new millennium, subject areas that have developed since Miller’s death and are ripe for future scrutiny include comparisons/ contrasts of Miller, Salesman and Crucible to other playwrights, plays and genres; women as major characters of the plays; cultural compari- sons; and cognitive approaches. This period also saw the publication of a major critical study and definitive two- volume critical biography of Miller by Christopher Bigsby. In addition, the founding of the Arthur Miller Society and publication of The Arthur Miller Journal have influ- enced the current course of Miller scholarship.

In organizing this Guide, I have intended each chapter to present the essential representative criticism of the major topics and issues for both Salesman and Crucible. However, I have found it necessary to devote chapters exclusively to Salesman and Crucible because there are topics relevant only to each play. I also have arranged the material both chron- ologically and by subject; in this, I aim to show how critical approaches to Miller have changed and adapted since the plays premiered. Chapters 1 and 2 focus on the early criticism in the few decades after their premieres. Chapter 1 briefly details the unique production histo- ries and first reviews of each play, and then analyses the early criticism that evolved for both plays in the areas of characterization, dramatic form and style, and language. Chapter 2 examines how the topics of society and tragedy operate in the dramas. Chapters 3 and 4 explore the critical focus of the individual plays until the mid- 1980s. Chapter 3 details the major critical themes and issues of psychology, ethnicity and salesmanship in Salesman. Chapter 4 discusses the major critical themes and issues of history, politics and law that concerned critics about Crucible.

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The next chapters consider the explosion of critical scrutiny of Miller since the late 1980s. Chapter 5 focuses on the criticism produced at the end of the twentieth century. This chapter also reviews how critics in the late twentieth century reinterpreted some of the initial perspectives of the plays. Chapter 6 considers topics such as feminism and gender stud- ies, which examined the plays from startling new perspectives. Chapter 7 explores critical trends in Miller scholarship in the new millennium; and, finally, Chapter 8 discusses the critical commentary of the film and TV productions of Salesman and Crucible. The conclusion considers the future course of Miller scholarship.

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Index

Abbotson, Susan, 114, 139–40 Callow, Heather Cook, 119–21 absurdism, absurdist theatre, 99–100 Canning, Charlotte, 119 see Esslin, Martin Cardullo, Bert, 136–7 Adler, Thomas, 7 ‘Career of a Salesman’, 132, 143–4 Albee, Edward, 1, 67 Carpenter, Charles A., 136 Alter, Isak, 123–4 Carson, Neil, 66–7 American Dream, the in Death of a Castellitto, George P., 102 Salesman, 9, 27, 35, 49–53, 54, 56, 58, Centola, Steven R., 113, 131, 133 64–5, 68, 100–2, 111, 115, 117, 118, Chapman, John, 6 128, 131, 149 Chayefsky, Paddy, 137 anti-Semitism, 2, 73 Chekov, Anton, 148 Ardolino, Frank, 112–13 Clark, Eleanor, 12 Aristotle, Aristotelian drama, 23, 37, Clurman, Harold, 49, 54–5, 148 39–40, 42, 43, 46, 95–6, 104–5, 127 Cohen, Paula Marantz, 131 see Greek tragedy, Poetics, The, Cohn, Ruby, 28 Sophoclean drama Cold War, 103, 106, 124, 138, 144 Arthur Miller Journal, 9, 126–7, 133, 149, 150 see also Communism Arthur Miller Society, 9, 113–14, 126, 131 Communism, Communist witch hunts, Atkinson, Brooks, 6, 12–13, 38, 85, 148 3, 4, 7, 19–20, 85–90, 103–5, 124, 130, 139 Balakian, Janet, 117–18 see House Un-American Activities Barker, Stephen, 95–6 Committee (HUAC), McCarthyism Barnes, Clive, 149 and McCarthy, Joseph Barnes, Howard, 6 Copeland, Joan, 1 Beckett, Samuel, 6, 150 Couchman, Gordon W., 30, 55 Bentley, Eric, 13, 20, 31, 40, 79, 85, 103 Crowther, Bosley, 145 Bernstein, Samuel J., 137 The Crucible Bettina, Sister, 70 allegory of McCarthyism, Cold War, Bigsby, Christopher, 5, 7, 9, 12–13, 21, 32, Communism, Communist witch 67–9, 71, 89, 111, 113, 127, 132, 133, hunts, 3, 8–9, 11, 13, 14, 30, 37, 146, 148 46–8, 75–81, 83, 85–90, 102–4, 121, Bliquez, Guerin, 69–70 130, 134 Bloom, Harold, 132, 149 characterization, 19–21, 75 Bolt, Robert, 128 film and TV versions, 105, 106, 145–7 Boyer, Paul, 79 history in, historical analogy, historical Brater, Enoch, 73–4, 148 accuracy, see Salem witch trials, 3, Bronson, Daniel R., 135–6 6, 8, 9, 11, 13, 14, 19, 20–1, 30, 47, Brooklyn, 2, 3, 16, 27, 71, 73, 136 75–90, 102–6, 121, 130, 134 Brown, John Mason, 38, 69, 103 language use, 9, 14, 28–30, 47–8, 92, 110 Brozinsky, Noah, 137 law, 81–5 Brustein, Robert, 7, 20 production history, 3, 5, 6–7, 12, 13, Budick, E. Miller, 87–9 135–6 Burns, Robert, 138 psychological approaches, 106–7

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The Crucible – continued expressionism, 8, 14, 21–23, 35, 64, 70, Puritans and Puritanism, 20–1, 28–9, 76, 97–9, 132, 133 79–81, 85, 90, 108, 134, 139 see also absurdism, German religion, theocracy, 29, 75, 82, 85, 87–9, expressionism, realism 90, 107–8, 134 as tragedy, 9, 14, 34, 46–9, 102, 104–5 feminist and gender approaches, 115–24 witchcraft in, 47–8, 76 Fender, Stephen, 28–9 cultural anthropology, 130 Ferguson, Alfred R., 52 cultural semiotics, 130 Ferres, John, 85, 86 Curtis, Penelope, 24–5, 28 Fiedler, Leslie, 72 Fitzgerald, F. Scott, 137–8 Death of a Salesman Flanagan, James K., 86, 93–4 characterization, 8, 14–18, 22, 65–70, 99 Forrestal, James, 130 comparative studies, 30, 33–4, 43, 55, 137 Foster, Richard J., 45–6 critique of capitalism, 9, 20, 30, 40, 54, Foucault, Michel, 134 100, 102, 137 Franzen, Jonathan, 137–8 father and son conflicts, 17, 36, 40–2, Freedman, Morris, 72–3 45, 50, 58, 63–4, 65–8, 108–9, 116, Freshwater, Lori, 137 118, 119, 137 Frost, Robert, 138 film and TV versions, 62, 101, 141–5 Fuller, A. Howard, 16, 54 language use, 9, 14, 25–8, 71–2, 98, 111–13 Gassner, John, 38 as Marxist play, 30, 102, 129 German expressionism, 98, 142, 145 Oedipal theme, 9, 14–15, 60 see also absurdism, expressionism, original production, 2–3, 6, 11–12, 21, realism, social realism 38–9, 71, 99, 100, 135, 142, 145, 149 Gottfried, Martin, 12 production history, 2, 5, 6, 8, 11–12, Greek tragedy, 37, 42, 43–4, 47, 96, 137 21, 149 see also Aristotle, Aristotelian drama, psychological drama, psychology of, Greek tragedy, Poetics, The, Sophoclean 8, 14–15, 33, 57–65, 67, 98, 108–9, drama 132, 136 Griffin, Joan and Alice, 45 salesmen, depiction of; salesmanship, Gross, Barry, 16–18 14, 16–7, 100–2 Guijarro-Gonzalez, Juan Ignacio, 131 as social play, 30, 35–7, 38, 40, 43, 50, 60 see also Espejo, Ramon as tragedy, 6, 9, 16, 30, 32, 34, 35, 37–46, 48, 52, 95–7, 132, 137 Haedicke, Susan, 30, 141 Demastes, William, 97–8 Hagopian, John V., 60 Depression, the, 2, 4, 73, 137 Hallman, Ralph, 59–60 Dietrick, Joe, 132 Hawkins, Ty, 137–8 Dominik, Jane K., 114, 135 Hawkins, William, 6, 38 Driver, Tom F., 36–7 Hawthorn, Jeremy, 64–5 Dugan, Timothy, 136 Hawthorne, Nathaniel, 138 Dukore, Bernard F., 51–2 Hayman, Ronald, 35 Heims, Neil, 132 Espejo, Ramon, 131 Hendrickson, Gary P., 102–3 see also Guijarro-Gonzalez, Juan Ignacio Hewes, Henry, 75 Esslin, Martin, 99 Hill, Philip G., 23–4 ethnic and Jewish approaches, 71–4, 127, Hitler, Adolf, 58 136–7 Hoeveler, D. L., 64 Evans, Richard, 61–2, 144 Hogan, Robert, 35

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Holocaust, the, 71, 89 McCarthy, Mary, 20, 72–3 House Un-American Activities Committee McCarthyism, McCarthy, Joseph, 8–9, (HUAC), 1, 3, 4, 11, 19, 89–90, 103, 11–14, 20, 23, 30, 37, 46–8, 75, 77, 130, 133 82, 83, 85–7, 89, 102–3, 105, 121, 137 see also Communism, Communist witch see also Communism, Communist witch hunts, McCarthyism and McCarthy, hunts, House Un-American Activities Joseph, Committee (HUAC) Huftel, Shelia, 14, 31 McGill, William J., 78–9 Hynes, Joseph A., 44 Meserve, Walter, 92–3 Mielziner, Jo, 2, 11, 12, 21, 22, 99, 100, Ibsen, Henrik, 21–2, 26, 32–3, 97, 137, 145, 149 148, 250 Miller, Arthur impressionism, 62, 135 biographies, 9, 31, 133 biographical details, 1–5, 20, 27, 54, 71, Jackson, Esther Merle, 42–3 73, 103, 126, 133, 140, 146 Jacobson, Irving, 65–6 see also Brooklyn, Depression, the, John Proctor University of Michigan as romantic hero, 19 Miller, Daniel, 4 as tragic hero, 9, 14, 24, 46–8, 52, Miller, Jane, 2 126, 138 Miller, Kermit, 1 Miller, Rebecca, 4, 105 Kazan, Elia, 2–3, 11–13, 21, 89, 133, 143 Miller, Robert, 2, 146 Kernoodle, George K., 58–9 Miller, Timothy, 107–8 Kerr, Walter, 6, 13, 85, 103 Monroe, Marilyn, 1, 3–4, 104, 133, 140, 150 Kerrane, Kevin, 132, 143 Monteiro, George, 138 Krutch, Joseph Wood, 25, 90 Morath, Ingeborg, 4, 150 More, Sir Thomas, 128 Langteau, Paula, 99–100 Morehouse, Ward, 12 Lawrence, Stephen A., 50 Morgan, Edmund S., 79–81 Les Sorcieres de Salem, 145–6 Moss, Leonard, 14, 26, 27, 31, 37 Levin, David, 19–20, 87 Murphy, Brenda, 5, 12, 100–1, 113, 132, Levine, Peter, 113 142–5 Lewis, Daniel-Day, 105, 146 Murray, Edward, 14, 28–9, 31–2, 90–1 Lewis, Sinclair, 30, 55 Liston, William T., 91–2 Nathan, George Jean, 23, 39 Lorenz, Matthew, 138 naturalism, 21, 132 Lounsberry, Barbara, 97, 98–9 new historicism, 77, 130 Lowe, Valerie, 132 Newman, Manny, 2, 71, 111 Nissenbaum, Stephen, 79 Manacchio, Tony, 63–4 see also Petitt, William Oberg, Arthur, 26–7 Marino, Stephen, 110–11, 113–14, 128, 132 Odets Clifford, 58, 72, 73 Marlow, Stuart, 132 O’Neal, Michael J., 28 Martin, Robert, 77–8, 96–7, 151 O’Neill Eugene, 1, 5, 27, 72, 137 Martine, James J., 104–5 O’Toole, Fintan, 149 Marxist Approaches, 102, 129 Otten, Terry, 81, 113, 127, 131, 132 Mason, Jeffrey, 129–30, 134–5 Owens, Craig N., 131 Masselli, Joseph, 137 Mather, Cotton, 79 Palmer, David, 138 McAnany, Emile, G. 40–1, 43 Palmer, R. Barton, 144–6

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Parker, Brian, 22–3 social realism, 8, 21, 26, 33, 35, 36 Pearson, Michelle I., 106–7 see also absurdism, expressionism, Petitt, William, 63–4 German expressionism, realism see also Manacchio, Tony Sophoclean drama, 24 Poetics, The, 39, 96 see also Aristotle, Aristotelian drama, Polster, Joshua, 130–1, 132, 138–9 Greek tragedy, Poetics, The Popkin, Henry, 76–7 Spindler, Michael, 57 Porter, Thomas, 50–1, 56, 82–5 Stambusky, Alan A., 46 Private Conversations on the Set of Death of a Stanton, Kay, 115–17 Salesman, 143 Steinbeck, John, 58, 138 Prudhoe, John, 28, 47 Steinberg, M. W., 46–7 psychological approaches, 8, 14–15, 33, Sterling, Eric J., 131 57–65, 67, 98, 106–7, 108–9, 123, stream of consciousness, 60, 61–2, 98 132, 136 Strindberg, August, 32, 148 Puritans and Puritanism, 20–1, 28–9, 76, 79–81, 85, 88, 90, 108, 134, 139 Tannen, Deborah, 119 see also Salem witch trials Thacker, David, 148 theoretical approaches, 8–9, 14, 56, 71–4, realism, 8, 14, 21–3, 35, 47, 97–9, 77, 95, 115–24, 129, 130, 131, 133, 132, 133 136, 138, 145, 150 see also absurdism, expressionism, see also cultural anthropology, cultural German expressionism, social realism semiotics, ethnic and Jewish Reinking, Brian, 138 approaches, feminist and gender Ribkoff, Fred, 108–9 approaches, new historicism, Rosenberg, Julius and Ethel, 130, 139 psychological approaches; The Ross, George, 71–2 Crucible, language use, psychological Roudané, Matthew, 111–12, 113, 150 approaches; Death of a Salesman, critique of capitalism, language use, Salem witch trials, 3, 8, 20–21, 79, 85, as Marxist play, psychological drama, 103, 105, 106, 121, 130 psychology of see also Puritans and Puritanism Timebends, 1, 8, 12, 86, 103, 133, 144 salesman, travelling salesman, depiction of, tragedy, 3, 9, 37–, 95–7, 104–5, 132, 138 16, 22, 50, 54, 71–2, 100–2 see also Aristotle, Aristotelian drama, see also Fuller, A. Howard Greek tragedy, Poetics, The, Sophoclean Sartre, Jean-Paul, 32, 145–6 drama Savran, David, 124 ‘Tragedy and the Common Man’, 3, 39–41, Schissel, Wendy, 121–2 44–5, 85, 105 Schlueter, June, 86, 93–4, 115 Trowbridge, Clinton, 44–5 Schneider, Daniel, 14–15, 57 Tynan, Kenneth, 33 Shakespeare, William, 33, 38, 42, 46, 132, 137, 148, 150 University of Michigan, 1, 73 Shaw, George Bernard, 30, 150, 151 Upham, Charles W., 105 Shipley, Joseph, 13, 20 Shockley, John S., 132 Vogel, Dan, 43 Siegel, Paul, 33–4 Sievers, W. David, 33 Walker, Phillip, 46 Simon, John, 109 Warshow, Robert, 13, 20–1, 31–2 Slattery, Mary, 2, 105, 133, 140 Wattley, Ama, 137 Smith, Susan Harris, 7 Watts, Richard, 13 Smith, William, 135 Weales, Gerald, 18–19, 28, 36, 113

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Welland, Dennis, 14, 18, 30, 73 Collected Plays, 35–6, 40, 43, 75, 77, 85, White, Sydney Howard, 48 89, 105 Whitley, Alvin, 46 Echoes Down the Corridor, 5, 106 Whitman Walt, 51 Finishing the Picture, 5 Williams, Raymond, 21 Focus, 2 Williams, Tennessee, 1, 5, 7, 11, 25–6, 33, Homely Girl, 5 59, 111, 124, 137, 147 , 71, 150 Willy Loman ‘It Could Happen Here – and It Did’, 86 and the American Dream, 35, 49–54, ‘Journey to The Crucible’, 85 56, 58, 64, 100–1, 111, 115, 117, 118, Mr. Peter’s Connections, 5, 127 128, 149 ‘On Screenwriting and Language: as salesman, 16–17, 22, 40–1, 43, 49, Introduction to Everybody Wins’, 147 50–1, 54–63, 100–2, 137 ‘On Social Plays’, 35 as tragic hero, 33, 38, 40–6, 48, 59, 65, Resurrection Blues, 5 66, 96–7 The American Clock, 4 Wilson, August, 137 The Archbishop’s Ceiling, 4 Wilson, Robert N., 57–8 ‘The Crucible on Film’, 147 Wordsworth, William, 138 ‘The Crucible in History’, 106 Works (other than Salesman and Crucible): ‘The Family in Modern Drama’, 35–6, , 31, 37, 132 65–6, 97 A View From the Bridge, 1, 3, 4, 5, 31, The Last Yankee, 5 35, 37, 42, 56, 81, 104, 123, The Man Who Had All the Luck, 2 135, 150 The Misfits, 4, 31, 37, 124 After the Fall, 3, 4, 56, 71, 72, 81, ‘The Nature of Tragedy’, 105 123, 124 The Price, 4, 8, 56, 72, 150 All My Sons, 1, 2, 5, 8, 11, 21, 32, 35, 42, The Ride Down Mt. Morgan, 5, 81 48, 56, 72, 81, 97, 129, 144 ‘The Shadows of the Gods’, 44 An Enemy of the People, 3 ‘Why I Wrote The Crucible’, 105, 147 Broken Glass, 5, 109 Worsley, T. C., 25

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