Introduction to
the Collected Plays:-
Q-1:- How Miller presents his conception
of drama and its objectives in his “Introduction to Collected Plays”.
Or
What is Miller’s view of the reality in
the context of modern dramatic practice? How it is related to history, common
man, playwright and its representation.
Annswer:-
In the “Introduction to his collected
plays” Mr. Miller presents his theories of art and drama. A Play, he says is a
dynamic communication between audience or common man and the dramatist which
pre-supposed a mutual frame of reference. ‘Something in the air’ collectively
sensed. The role of the playwright therefore is to detect this “Something” and
refine it artistically. A play should be understood at all revels and should express
a universal human behavior or emotion. The conception and execution of “All my
Sons,”, “Death of a sales man”, “The Crucibel”, “A Memory of Two Mondays” and
“A view from the Bridge” is outlined in the introduction and illustrates how
the theory Miller has used in these dramas.
After Miller’s
assessment of his own work and the examination of the context in which he
practice his craft as a playwright in the 20th century offer us his
perception of the modern theatre. He wrote this long essay to introduce the new
generation of readers to his five plays. The essay is also a discourse on the
nature of drama and he involves his views on composing, objectives, style,
performance, social relevance and theatrical understanding which will inform
the contemporary dramatic audience. Miller takes a historical perspective on
the subject of drama which is to be expected as he also presented a theory of
time which under corrents in his own dramatic works. Here he provides us about
his views on the traditions of theatrical practice in the west.
Miller’s draws attention
to the fact that there is a distinction between what is drama and what is
regarded as literature. He considers the “Introduction to the collected plays”
to be an opportunity to place his views on drama and the theatre, especially
his own practice and priorities as a playwrights. When he starts the discussion
by asserting that the nature of drama determined by the condition of organicity,
he invite us to take the note of the historical orbit through which the
different developments in modern theatre may be addressed and understood.
Miller located the art of drama to its purpose and how the experience of living
cannot be separated from what is enacted on the stage. Whatever may be the
theme or plot, who ever make playing the roles, the prime business of a play to
create a sense of reality among its audience? This reality will strike the
audience and make them emotional.
The focus on the
objectives of drama is an important feature of this “Introduction”. As Miller’s
analysis about the art of theatre within the context of human existence and
experience. When the actor appears on the stage, there is anticipation that
there will be an action and that performance will generate a sense of reality
in the mind of the audience. The way an actor appears and performs on the stage
is linked to what the playwright aims to project. The choice of dress,
mannerism, vocabulary, and stage craft represented in the play come together to
show what the playwright aims for and there is always an expectation that same
linked will be there between what is put up on the stage and that which people
consider the part of their lives. For a modern audience, therefore it is likely
as miller suggest that Shakespeare will seem to be more realistic than Sophocles.
In this way Miller projected that reality is the organic part of a drama which
enables its audience to establish a link between the theatre and their lives.
In this discussion Miller reveals how he maintain this base in most of his
drama.(How Reality Is)
Q-2 How does Miller present
the criticism of his own dramas through the essay “Introduction to the
collected plays?”
Answer:- The Introduction to
collected plays is a valuable criticism by Arthur Miller on his own dramas.
Here Miller presents his conception of drama and how he projected that dramatic
conception in his five most celebrated dramas. As a playwright Miller emphasizes
the necessity of dramatic design. According to him, a play must end in a climax
which much goes through the different threads of the plot to arrive at a
justified conclusion. In this sense all plays present the view point of the
playwright. In this essay Miller presents the dramatic structure, objectives
and form of presentation of his most renown plays like, “All my sons”, “Death
of a Sales man”, “The Crucible”, ‘A view from the Bridge” and “A memory of two
Mondays.”
“All my sons” is a drama
about guilt and responsibility. When Keller discovers that his much love father
Joe Keller was responsible through his part in supplying defective equipment to
the Army air force, for the deaths of 21 air pilots and also his brother Larry
Keller, he developed a strong hatred toward his father. The play ends with the
suicide of Joe Keller. “Death of a Salesman” is a tragedy in which past and
present are mingled involving middle aged travelling Salesman who after end
unsuccessful attempted to materialized his dramas, ultimately commit suicide.
So that with his insurance money his family could have a better of life. The
Drama “The Crucible” is about a character name Salem who had a daughter, whom
the villagers convicted as a practitioner of witchcraft. As a result the woman
has to suffer a lot. “A view from the Greece” is a drama concerning the tragic
consequences of Eddie Carbon’s illegal love relation with his 18 year old Miss
Catherine, whom he adopted after her mother’s death. “A memory of two Mondays”
is a one act play that examines a group of factory workers trapped without hope
of relief in their mechanical job. In two Mondays, separated a span of years,
the playwright projected the sufferings and exploitation of the working class
people.
Although “All my sons” was
not the first play that Miller wrote but it was the one which showed him the
importance of the organic unity of a drama. In this drama he was able to fuse
the various element of the play into one decisive organic structure. In this
regard Miller is in depth to Ibsen. That is why he says that he was trying the
play to make appear real and less dramatic so that the audience would connect
to the subject that he was dealing with.
‘Death of a Sales man’ is
his most well known play. In this introduction Miller likes about the critical
reception to which the play has been subjected over time. One of the important
issues of the play that it rejected the conventional conception of tragedy and
elevated a common man to the status of a tragic hero. In this drama Miller looked
of the idea of tragedy in the context of 20th century as he remarks,
“Things to change and even a genius is limited by his time and the nature of
his society.” “Death of a Salesman” is not a play that may be confined within a
specific frame that is why Miller considers this drama to be a “Slippery text”.
This is because the play challenges the Aristrolian notions of tragedy and
brings in the common man as a crucial factor in the scheme of things.
In the crucible which shows
Miller departing from the thematic orientation of his earlier plays. This drama
deals with the interior and subjective emotions that beset man at the time of
social crisis with question of quilt occupy in the centre Miller writes that
this was a tough play. The Crucible enabled Miller to look at the practice of
his craft afresh and examine how the moral question in the modern age requires
a different from of address. In his next two plays such as “A View from the
Greece” and “A memory of two Mondays”, there was a shift in a presentation.
Both the plays are concerned with modern man’s existence in this age and their
economic and emotional problem. But, none of them could capture the audience
imagination in the way that “Death of a Salesman” did.
The thread that runs through
the “Introduction” to gives importance on the changing social scenario with
which the issue of reality must be addressed. The two key points ‘realism’ and
‘performance’ remain consistently at the axis of the ‘Introduction’ and
Miller’s examination about his plays provide us and over view of his entire
dramatic composition. Miller is not a prolific writer. He writes only when he
feels the need for it, but what he write is great. His “Introduction to
collected plays” is a profound self criticism coupled with intellect. In most
of the dramas Miller blends the techniques of realism and expressionism to
convey his dramatic objectives and he is much appropriate when he calls his
dramas, “Bright view point about mankind”.
All the Best