Arthur Miller - Research Paper Example

As a student in the University of Michigan, Miller pursued journalism as his major but soon changed it to English. This change opened the doors for him as a playwright. During his time in college, his greatest influence was from his professor and lifelong friend Professor Kenneth Rowe (Wald, 2007). Miller’s first recognition came from the first play he ever wrote known as ‘No Villain’ while still studying journalism as his major. This play marked a turning point in Miller’s academics.

For this play, Miller received the Avery Hope Award putting him on the map of playwrights. He continued to write even after graduating from college pursuing a profession in scripting. In 1946, he wrote ‘All My Sons’ and this play sealed his status as a scriptwriter and won him the best author Tony Award for its success on Broadway. His other influential works that people appreciate to this day are Death of a Salesman and the Crucible. Crucible got him into trouble with the (HUAC) House Un-American Activities Committee.

To this day, his playwright known as Death of a Salesman, can be considered among his best pieces (Fisher, 2009). The House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) got interested in the Millers works after the release of the Crucible. Here, Miller had likened them to the Salem witch hunters of 1692. Miller got the idea of the Crucible from his friend Kazan who had betrayed him by naming names in front of the HUAC. Miller then travelled to Massachusetts to a town called Salem to research on the 1692 Witch trials.

Miller's friend, Kazan, testified and named him as part of the eight people in his list of people in the Communist party. This in turn, increased the HUAC’s interest in him. Despite him overcoming HUAC’s accusations, the HUAC’s actions significantly affected Miller's life (Wald, 2007). Miller’s personal life was also in the limelight after his marriage to his second wife Marilyn Monroe. Monroe was an actress and her life had been the object of intense scrutiny by the public. He married Marlin in June of 1956 after he ended his first marriage to Mary Slattery.

Miller and Slattery had two children. Miller had met Monroe in 1951 and had an affair with her. After this affair, they kept in touch. His marriage to Monroe coincided with his tribulations with the HUAC, of which Monroe accompanied him. However, these trials put Monroe's career at risk because of the accusations made against Miller at the time. The HUAC had found Miller guilty when he refused to name other people who supported Communist activities. This led to Miller’s US passport to be revoked.

The judge’s decision became overturned by the appeal courts on grounds of misleading the witness. This can be based on the fact that Miller had made a deal with the judge to appear before the court which had subpoenaed him earlier to testify without naming any other person (Fisher, 2009). He buried himself in his work. ‘The Misfits’ was the film he wrote of which Marilyn his wife was starring. Before its debut in 1961, the couple divorced. Miller remarked that, during scripting of the movie, he underwent one of the most undesirable instances of his life.

The death of Monroe also cast some light back on Miller because she died just nineteen months after she and Miller had divorced. Monroe died from a drug overdose. Miller moved on to his next wife who he remained married to till her until his death in 2002. Inge Morath was a photographer by profession. Miller and Morath had two