Arthur Miller Biography Powerpoint
Arthur Miller Background Study:
In preparation for Death of a
Salesman
Miller’s Early Life
● Arthur Miller was born on Oct. 17, 1915, in
New York City.
● His father ran a small coat-manufacturing business; during the Depression it failed.
● He was 17 before he read any serious literature and had poor grades in high school. (woo hoo – there’s hope!)
The College Years
● Two years after high school graduation, he
enrolled in the University of Michigan.
● Before graduating in 1938, he won two Avery
Hopwood awards for playwriting.
His Theatre Work
● With the opening of All My Sons on
Broadway (1947), Miller's theatrical career burgeoned. ● The tragedy won three prizes and fascinated audiences across the country.
● Then Death of a Salesman (1949) brought
Miller a Pulitzer Prize, international fame, and an estimated income of $2 million.
● His third Broadway play, The Crucible, opened in 1953.
Miller Against the Government
● In these three plays Miller's subject was
moral disintegration.
● His shifting from contemporary life in
Salesman to the Salem witch hunt of 1692 in
The Crucible hardly disguised the fact that he had in mind Senator Joseph McCarthy's investigations of Communist subversion in the United States and the subsequent persecutions and hysteria.
● When Miller was called before the House
Committee on Un-American Activities in
June 1956, he argued, "My conscience will not permit me to use the name of another person and bring trouble to him." He was convicted of contempt of Congress; the conviction was reversed in 1958.
Death of a Salesman
● 1st title of the play was “The Inside of His
Head”
● Miller was absorbed by the concept that “a man is his own past and that past and present exist together at all times in a man”. ● In DOAS, Miller’s goal was to show a “little man” battling to make his mark on the world while keeping his dignity intact.
● Is the play a tragedy? What defines a tragedy? How does this differ from
Greek/Elizabethan tragedy?
In preparation for Death of a
Salesman
Miller’s Early Life
● Arthur Miller was born on Oct. 17, 1915, in
New York City.
● His father ran a small coat-manufacturing business; during the Depression it failed.
● He was 17 before he read any serious literature and had poor grades in high school. (woo hoo – there’s hope!)
The College Years
● Two years after high school graduation, he
enrolled in the University of Michigan.
● Before graduating in 1938, he won two Avery
Hopwood awards for playwriting.
His Theatre Work
● With the opening of All My Sons on
Broadway (1947), Miller's theatrical career burgeoned. ● The tragedy won three prizes and fascinated audiences across the country.
● Then Death of a Salesman (1949) brought
Miller a Pulitzer Prize, international fame, and an estimated income of $2 million.
● His third Broadway play, The Crucible, opened in 1953.
Miller Against the Government
● In these three plays Miller's subject was
moral disintegration.
● His shifting from contemporary life in
Salesman to the Salem witch hunt of 1692 in
The Crucible hardly disguised the fact that he had in mind Senator Joseph McCarthy's investigations of Communist subversion in the United States and the subsequent persecutions and hysteria.
● When Miller was called before the House
Committee on Un-American Activities in
June 1956, he argued, "My conscience will not permit me to use the name of another person and bring trouble to him." He was convicted of contempt of Congress; the conviction was reversed in 1958.
Death of a Salesman
● 1st title of the play was “The Inside of His
Head”
● Miller was absorbed by the concept that “a man is his own past and that past and present exist together at all times in a man”. ● In DOAS, Miller’s goal was to show a “little man” battling to make his mark on the world while keeping his dignity intact.
● Is the play a tragedy? What defines a tragedy? How does this differ from
Greek/Elizabethan tragedy?