The Price

2011 | Essays

This Student Edition of Miller's play The Price is perfect for students of literature and drama and offers an unrivalled guide to Miller's classic play. It features an extensive introduction by Jane K. Dominik which includes: a chronology of Miller's life and times; a summary of the plot and commentary on the characters, themes, language, context and production history of the play. Together with over twenty questions for further study and detailed notes on words and phrases from the text, this is the definitive edition of the play. Premiering on Broadway in 1968, The Price ran for over 400 performances and earned Miller the New York Drama Critics Circle Award. Like Death of a Salesman and After the Fall, it is a memory play, but one presented as an escalating argument within a traditional, realistic structure. The play concerns two brothers who must return to the home of their deceased father prior to its destruction to dispose of the furniture crammed into the attic.

Exhibiting many features characteristic of Miller's work including sibling rivalry, confrontation with the past and with their memories, the effects of the Great Depression and the war in Vietnam, the pursuit of a dream, and the responsibility one must assume for one's own life, The Price is recognised as one of Miller's major works.

Arthur Miller (Author)

Jane K. Dominik (Author)