Stifled, Staid, and Suspect: The Working Women in Arthur Miller's Drama

Abstract

Abstract Most literary criticism on Arthur Miller's drama has focused on its male characters. Those plays that arguably have a female protagonist or a more balanced cast between the genders focus on women mostly in traditional roles of wives and mothers, sisters and daughters, and mistresses. Amidst these roles is one that has received scant attention, either by Miller or scholars—the working woman. Women work outside of the home in twenty-two of his twenty-nine published plays. Some women are prevented from working by the men in their lives. The few women who have more independence through jobs with greater responsibility reflect women's earlier frustrations, increased opportunities, and careers beyond those earlier, more traditional ones. An examination of the roles of the working women in Miller's drama reveals their struggles and strengths to survive and assert themselves in a world dominated by men who struggle themselves to survive and succeed.