Arthur Miller was born on October 17th,
1915 in Manhattan. He was raised in poverty when his father’s business was
bankrupt after the Wall Street Crash in 1929. At his teenage age, he delivered
bread and had worked in an auto parts warehouse as a clerk. He attended University
of Michigan in 1934 to study about Journalism. When he was in college, he was
being sceptical toward religion because of his childhood experience. He began
to lean towards the left party in politic. For him to express his view, he
decided to enter the Hoptwood Drama competition. There, he published his first
play, “No Villain” after wrote it in five days which has received an award from
the University.
After his graduation, he wrote more
writing plays and radio dramas. These are some of her major works:
- All My Sons (1947)
- Death of a Salesman (1949)
- The Crucible (1953)
- A View from the Bridge (1955)
- After the Fall (1964)
- Broken Glass (1994)
- Resurrection Blues (2002)
- Finishing the
Picture (2004)
For his works, he also received a lot of awards and nominations such as:
§ 1947 – Best Author (All My Sons)
§ 1949 – Best Author and Best Play (Death of a Salesman)
§ 1953 – Best Play (The Crucible)
§ 1968 – Nominee for Best Play (The Price)
§ 1994 – Nominee for Best Play (Broken Glass)
§2000 – Lifetime Achievement Award
He also was being famous because he got married to Marilyn Monroe in
1956, before he divorced her five years later. In 1987, his autobiography was
published. At the age of eighty nine, he passed away due to heart failure after
a battle against cancer, pneumonia and congestive heart disease.
Broken Glass
Broken Glass
 |
| Broken Glass |
Plot Summary
Phillip and Sylvia Gellburg are Jewish
married couple living in New York in the 1938. Phillip works at a Wall Street
bank, where he works on foreclosing. Sylvia suddenly becomes partially
paralysed from the waist down after reading about the events of Kristallnacht
in the newspaper.
Dr. Harry Hyman is contacted by
Phillip to try to help Sylvia recover. Dr. Hyman believes that Sylvia's has
mental paralysis, and though he is not a psychiatrist, he begins to treat her
according to his diagnosis. All through the play, Dr. Hyman learns more about
the problems that Sylvia is having in her personal life, particularly in her
marriage.
After an argument with his boss,
Philip suffers a heart attack and is dying at his home. Phillip and Sylvia
confront each other about their feelings. Before Phillip dies (although his death
is never confirmed), his final words are "Sylvia, forgive me!". Upon
his 'death', Sylvia is cured of her paralysis.
Characters
§ Sylvia Gellburg
§ Phillip Gellburg, Sylvia's Husband
§ Dr. Harry Hyman, Doctor of Sylvia Gellburg
§ Margaret Hyman, Wife of Dr. Hyman
§ Harriet, Sylvia's sister
§ Stanton Case, Phillip Gellburg's employer
Setting
Time: 1938
Place: New York
Themes
Identity struggle
·
A play is about
being a Jewish in times when racial and religious hatred were still happened.
Works Cited
Bradford, Wade. Biography
of an American Authur Miller. 2013.
<http://plays.about.com/od/playwrights/p/arthurmiller.htm>.
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