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 by P.B.