Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg

Englisches Seminar, SoSe 2007

PS: 20th Century American Drama:

Tennessee Williams and Arthur Miller

Guilt and Responsibility in Arthur Miller′s Plays

von

Andreas Keilbach

Table of contents:

1. Introduction

3

2. Joe, Kate, Chris, and Larry Keller in

All My Sons

4

3. Proctor in

The Crucible

11

4. Conclusion

14

2

Introduction:

The purpose of this term paper is to examine how the characters in Arthur

Miller′s plays are confronted with guilt and responsibility and how they deal

with it. Furthermore, I want to demonstrate how personal, individual guilt

and responsibility not only become a matter for the individual but also

have an important impact on the community and the society. According to

Miller, there is a really strong mutual relationship between the individual

and society. He states: "Society is inside man and man is inside society,

the water is in the fish, the fish is in the water."1 Miller′s main protagonists

always try to defend themselves against an accusation, to deny their

responsibility and guilt, and to believe in their innocence. Bigsby mentions

what all of the characters concerning innocence and guilt have in

common: "... [They] spend much of their time rebutting charges whose

justice they acknowledge even as they are rejected. They are people who

try to escape the consequences of their actions, who try to declare their

innocence even when that involves implying the guilt of others."2 This truly

applies for the plays and characters I will observe in the following. I

decided to focus on two plays published in the 1940s and 1950s:

All My

Sons

(1947) and

The Crucible

(1953). Their main protagonists experience

confrontation with themselves which finally leads to death. Most emphasis

will be laid on

All My Sons

as there we have a number of characters

dealing with guilt and responsibility, namely Chris, Larry, Kate, and Joe

Keller. In addition, I will discuss the character of Proctor in

The Crucible

.

The dominant question in these characters becomes this one: "How

can a human being work out the interconnections among the ever-

widening circles of responsibility: self, family, society, the universe?

According to Miller, "to violate the codes of any circle is to sin."3

1 Christopher Bigsby,

W.E. Modern American Drama, 1945 ­ 2000.

(Cambridge:

Cambridge University Press, 2000) 79.

2 Bigsby, 2000, 71.

3Donald Costello, "Arthur Miller′s Circles of Responsibility:

A View from the Bridge and
Beyond

" in: Centola, Steven, R. / Cirulli, Michelle (ed.)

The Critical Response to Arthur
Miller

. (Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers, 2006), 321f.

3

1. Joe, Kate, Chris, and Larry Keller in

All My Sons

As a manufacturer of airplane parts Keller knowingly shipped cracked

cylinder heads to the United States Army in World War II. As a

consequence, twenty-one American pilots die when their planes crash in

Australia. He justifies his action saying that he did it for the benefit of his

prosperous business and the family. Nevertheless, his sons do not accept

his unsocial responsibility: Larry kills himself, and Chris totally rejects him.

He does not take responsibility for what he did until the end when Chris

forces him to. However, as he cannot meet his son′s expectation of being

a good father anymore he sees no other way out than killing himself.

Joe Keller grew up as an uneducated man who made it in a world of

materialism and competitiveness. According to Keller′s imagination, his

well-going business and providing his family with enough money are the

most important things in life. Being a good father for Keller means to

provide his sons with financial and material stability but most importantly

"His desire to pass his business on to his sons is rooted in love. Keller′s

regard for his sons is undeniable, and his belief in the sanctity of

fatherhood is clear as he cries, `A father is a father′4 and this cry affirms

his belief that blood should always be put before outside concerns".5 Using

this illusion of the sanctity of fatherhood allows Keller to do everything ­

morally right or wrong, social or unsocial ­ as long as it helps to fulfill his

role of a good father. "This desire to bond with his son is, in a sense, what

frees him from moral responsibility, and allows him to ship those faulty

parts with a clear conscience."6 Keller creates for himself a morally right

world of illusion where his family enjoys uppermost priority, and social

rules, guilt, and social responsibility do not exist. Miller explained Joe

Keller′s problem and trouble: "His cast of mind cannot admit that he,

personally, has any viable connection with his world, his universe, or his

society."7 According to Keller′s moral values, his actions are not criminal

4 Arthur Miller.

All My Sons. Arthur Miller′s Collected Plays. Vol. 1

. (New

York: Viking, 1957), 136.

5 Susan Abbotson, C. W.

Student Companion to Arthur Miller

. (Westport Connecticut:

Greenwood Press, 2000) 60.

6 Abbotson, 2000, 60.

7 Arthur Miller.

Plays: One. Death of a Salesman, The Crucible, All My Sons, A Memory of
Two Mondays, A View from the Bridge

. (London: Methuen Publishing Ltd, 1988), 19.

4