Quest for Identity in Arthur Miller's Plays

Arthur Miller began his literary career at a period of social, moral and private turmoil. The occurrence of the World Wars and the Great Depression in the first half of the twentieth century were some of the events of far reaching consequences that left deep mark on the social, moral and private world of man that put several myths and realities under tremendous pressure. Placed under this pressure what is perceived was a fractured human relationship as well as displacement of principle for pragmatism leading to identity crisis which are extensively reflected in the plays of Arthur Miller. This book is an attempt to study the development of Arthur Miller's protagonists in course of their quest for identity. In course of the study it has also explored the nature of struggle of Miller's characters for determining their identities along with pointing out the similarities and differences in them from this perspective. In course of the study different aspects of psychoanalytical criticism related to identity crisis and personality study and Existentialism are taken into consideration while interpreting Miller's plays from the aforesaid perspective.