Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg
Englisches Seminar, SoSe 2007
PS: 20
th
Century American Drama:
Tennessee Williams and Arthur Miller
Guilt and Responsibility in Arthur Miller's Plays
von
Andreas Keilbach
2
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
3
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.
3
Donald 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.
4
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.
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