“The Realism of Arthur Miller” by Raymond Williams: Summary and Critique

1. Arthur Miller’s Contribution to Social Drama:
   • Arthur Miller revived the drama of social questions in a significant way. Williams points out that Miller’s work reintroduced social criticism to theatre, at a time when such drama was rejected as superficial, particularly in England.
   • Miller broke out of the deadlock created by inadequate dramatic forms, characterized by “low-pressure naturalism” and “self-conscious problem plays.” Williams emphasizes that Miller’s critical perception and experimental forms, coupled with his intensity of social thinking, made him the central figure in this shift.
   • Miller’s plays are notable for their balance of the individual and society, with neither being just a background for the other. Williams argues that Miller’s realism is closer to the great tradition of nineteenth-century fiction, where personal lives are inseparably affected by the broader social context.

“The society is not a background against which the personal relationships are studied, nor are the individuals merely illustrations of aspects of the way of life.” (p. 140)

2. Analysis of “All My Sons” and “Death of a Salesman”:
   • All My Sons (1947) and Death of a Salesman (1949) are compared as different in method but linked deeply in their experiences. Williams calls All My Sons a “successful late example” of Ibsen’s method, where personal guilt and social responsibility are intertwined.
   • The play’s climax relies on “the social fact of responsibility and consequence,” portrayed through the personal relationships disrupted by Joe Keller’s crime of sending defective airplane parts, which results in the death of pilots, including his own son.
   • Death of a Salesman marks a significant development where expressionism is used to portray the internal consciousness of Willy Loman, who is depicted as a man selling himself as a commodity within an alienating capitalist society.

“The social figure sums up the theme referred to as alienation, for this is a man who from selling things has passed to selling himself.” (p. 144)

3. Thematic and Structural Shifts:
   • Williams sees Death of a Salesman as an “expressionist reconstruction of naturalist substance.” This play captures the breakdown of Willy Loman’s personal consciousness within a broader critique of the alienation inherent in modern work relations and success ethics.
   • Williams critiques the limitations of naturalism, observing that Miller’s use of conversational writing falters when dealing with deep crises, such as those in All My Sons, which touch on complex themes of alienation without fully supporting their expression through action.
4. Historical Dramas and Experimental Work:
   • The Crucible (1952) is described as a more straightforward play, where the historical context of the Salem witch trials clearly brings out the social and moral crisis without needing Miller’s earlier methods of experimentation.
   • In contrast, A Memory of Two Mondays (1955) and A View from the Bridge (1955, revised 1957) represent different approaches. A Memory of Two Mondays attempts a new form by capturing modern frustrations and inconsequentiality, but its experimental methods often feel “mechanical” and less impactful.
   • A View from the Bridge, on the other hand, returns to an intense realism, dealing with the guilt and personal breakdown of Eddie Carbone, who betrays the immigrant community out of jealousy and love for his niece.

“The end of drama is the creation of a higher consciousness and not merely a subjective attack upon the audience’s nerves and feelings.” (p. 147)

5. Conclusion – Arthur Miller’s Centrality in Modern Drama:
   • Williams concludes that Miller’s plays are ultimately about the loss of meaning in life and the struggle to find significance through death, a recurring pattern in his tragedies. These plays consistently depict a loss of social meaning, rooted in personal and familial relationships.
   • For Williams, Miller’s drama stands as a drama of consciousness, where the personal and the social are inseparably connected. Despite the difficulties and weaknesses in Miller’s work, Williams sees him as a central figure in modern theatre, someone who embodies the challenges and potentials of realism in the contemporary world.

1. Realism and Social Realism

• Contribution to Realist Theory: Williams expands the understanding of realism by emphasizing how Miller’s work reinvigorates the connection between individual experiences and broader social realities. His argument centers on the idea that Miller’s plays resist simplistic sociological interpretations by embedding social issues within the lives and personal struggles of individuals.
  • Reference: “The society is not a background against which the personal relationships are studied, nor are the individuals merely illustrations of aspects of the way of life. Every aspect of personal life is radically affected by the quality of the general life.” (p. 140)
  • Significance: This perspective advances realism beyond traditional notions, positioning Miller as a key figure who reestablishes the balance between individual subjectivity and social critique in the 20th-century theatre. Williams’ analysis aligns realism with a social commitment, as seen in Miller’s plays that address pressing societal issues like business ethics and alienation, yet remain focused on personal drama.

2. Marxist Literary Theory

• Contribution to Marxist Criticism: Williams discusses alienation in Miller’s plays, a core concept in Marxist theory. He notes that characters like Joe Keller and Willy Loman are estranged from meaningful human relationships due to their entrapment in capitalist systems, where personal ethics clash with the demands of production and success.
  • Reference: “This concept, though Miller does not use the term, is the classical Marxist concept of alienation, and it is with alienation embodied both in a social action and in a personality that Miller is ultimately concerned.” (p. 142)
  • Significance: Williams’ reading of Miller through a Marxist lens connects the theme of alienation in Miller’s plays to the larger socio-economic structures of capitalism. This approach situates Miller’s works as critical engagements with the dehumanizing effects of capitalism, where personal relationships become commodified.

3. Expressionism and Modernism

• Contribution to Modernist Theory: Williams situates Miller’s use of expressionism within the modernist movement. He highlights how Miller employs expressionist techniques, particularly in Death of a Salesman, to depict the internal psychological states of Willy Loman. This method allows Miller to dramatize the disintegration of personal identity in a way that naturalism could not achieve.
  • Reference: “Death of a Salesman is an expressionist reconstruction of naturalist substance, and the result is not hybrid but a powerful particular form.” (p. 145)
  • Significance: Williams’ analysis shows that Miller extends the modernist project by blending expressionist techniques with realist substance, creating a form that captures both the external and internal crises of individuals in a capitalist society. This blending of forms challenges the boundaries of traditional realism and naturalism.

4. Tragedy and Existentialism

• Contribution to Theories of Tragedy and Existentialism: Williams views Miller’s plays as modern tragedies, where the protagonists confront the loss of meaning in their lives, often leading to self-destruction. He links this loss of meaning to existential themes of alienation and the search for significance in an increasingly fragmented world.
  • Reference: “The loss of meaning in life turns to the struggle for meaning by death. The loss of meaning is always a personal history, though in Willy Loman it comes near to being generalized.” (p. 147)
  • Significance: By framing Miller’s works within the context of tragedy, Williams contributes to the understanding of existentialist themes in modern drama, particularly the idea that individuals are trapped in systems beyond their control, yet continue to struggle for personal agency and significance.

5. Post-Ibsenite Drama and Formal Experimentation

• Contribution to Dramatic Theory (Post-Ibsenite Drama): Williams identifies Miller’s formal experimentation as drawing heavily from the tradition of Ibsenite drama, particularly the retrospective method and focus on moral dilemmas. However, Williams argues that Miller pushes beyond Ibsen’s naturalism to explore deeper social and psychological realities.
  • Reference: “The process of this destructive infiltration is carefully worked out in terms of the needs of the other characters… so that the demonstration of social consequence, and therefore of Keller’s guilt, is not in terms of any abstract principle, but in terms of personal needs and relationships.” (p. 141)
  • Significance: Williams acknowledges Miller’s inheritance of Ibsen’s technique, but also highlights how Miller evolves the form, particularly through the use of memory, impression, and psychological disintegration in plays like A View from the Bridge and Death of a Salesman.

6. Alienation of Modern Consciousness

• Contribution to Theories of Modern Consciousness: Williams positions Miller’s plays as a drama of consciousness, wherein modern individuals struggle with their fragmented identities in a world that no longer offers coherent meaning. Miller’s use of fragmented narrative structures and expressionist techniques serves as a reflection of the disintegration of modern consciousness.
  • Reference: “Miller’s drama, as he has claimed, is a drama of consciousness, and in reaching out for this new social consciousness…Miller, for all the marks of difficulty, uncertainty and weakness that stand within the intensity of his effort, seems clearly a central figure in the drama and consciousness of our time.” (p. 148)
  • Significance: Williams’ analysis here contributes to theories of modern consciousness by exploring how Miller’s characters confront existential despair and alienation, themes central to 20th-century modernist literature.

7. Critique of Bourgeois Morality

• Contribution to Critique of Bourgeois Morality in Drama: In his analysis of All My Sons, Williams points out that Miller critiques bourgeois morality, not just in terms of individual ethical failure but also in how these failures reflect the broader failures of capitalist society. The play’s exploration of guilt, responsibility, and social consequence speaks to larger critiques of the bourgeois worldview.
  • Reference: “The social reality is more than a mechanism of honesty and right dealing, more than Ibsen’s definition… Miller reaches out to a deeper conception of relationships.” (p. 142)
  • Significance: Williams extends the discussion of bourgeois morality beyond simple ethics, positioning Miller’s critique within a framework that interrogates the capitalist system’s failure to account for human interconnectedness and moral responsibility.