The Price

Arthur Miller's "The Price" is as excellent as his View From the Bridge, All My Sons, and Death of a Salesman. And, I am quite positive it equals to what I have not read it yet, "The Crucible." Estranged from his brother Walter for 16 years, 50 year old, policeman, Victor Franz is finally reunited because the need is to sell furnishings of their dead father. Victor is bitter over the choice he made in his youth to care for his father, who became one of millions of victims of the crash of 1929 and the Depression. Victor supported his father who was broke and shamed over the Depression. He became a policeman, instead of taking a career in science that he seemed primed for. His brother Walter, however, made his choice in life to become a successful surgeon, and he has endured his share of life's problems, and some that only belong to the rich. The two brothers have kept away from each other because of their own guilt. Walter made his choice in life to be educated and knew that Victor was saddled with supporting the father thus, foregoing his career. And very Milleresque, the plot thickens with an important twist. The lengthy play could have been shortened, because the best dramatic dialogue doesn't happen until the end of the 2nd act. But to Arthur Miller, that's where his expertise comes in, engrossing you in small dialogue, building the character's past, ideals, morality, etc. and then, time to create those certain twists he is familiar for. The successful four-character, two-act play first appeared on Broadway in 1968. Victor's wife, Esther, and the aging antique dealer, Solomon, have secondary roles. The setting is in the attic of a Manhattan brownstone in the present time, 1968. The building is to be demolished; therefore Victor called upon Solomon to give him a price for the furnishings. Victor repeatedly asks for a price, but the "price" metorphorically becomes the price you pay in life for choices you made. Excellent play!!.....MzRizz I recommend highly Arthur Miller's: All My Sons (Penguin Classics) A View from the Bridge (Penguin Plays)

I saw this play on June 14,2005 in a performance given by the Jerusalem English Speaking Theatre . The play was directed by Leah Stoller, and featured David Glickman, Gail Kirschner, Marvin Meital,and Arthur J. Fischer. The performance was excellent and Fischer was especially convincing as the policeman brother Victor Franz who sacrificed the education and career he might have had to care for his father and his own family. The play tells the story of the selling off of the family furniture sixteen years after the pater familias has died. The policeman brother and his wife open the play speaking about their own life, its disappointments, their lack of money and status. Soon after they are joined by the appraiser Solomon a ninety year old Yiddish accented fighter for life who throughout the play laments the loss of his daughter. They speak about the 'price' which the appraiser will give for the old furniture. Later when they are joined by the second brother, the successful surgeon who ran away from family responsibility to make a career and who has a broken and difficult family of his own, they begin to speak about the real ' price' .And this is the price which is paid for making the decisions we make in life, choosing the path we choose, making or not making the sacrifices we make. One brother has chosen the path of family loyalty and sacrificed career and prestige. The second chose the opposite. The first resents this and in the second part of the play voices this resentment, as his brother tries to rationalize and justify his failure to truly help the family when they needed it. Their dialogue is made in a simple colloquial language but as with the other work of Miller, this simple speech often contains profound reflections on life and its meaning. And as a whole the work is sustained by this sense that it , as the life it depicts , is really about ' something'. It is not about nonsense and post- post- post disintegrations into fictional absurdities. The play has a particularly strong closing , ironic and moving at once which I will not give away. My sense is that this closing must be ' seen and heard' and not just read if it is to be most effective. Miller is a writer of our everyday life and dreams, of the most American kinds of struggles, disappointments and confusions. He is also in the end a writer about life which truly ' means' something to those who live it. This may not be his greatest work, but it is certainly a fine and memorable one.

On the surface, the title of the play seems to be deducted from the value accessment of the main characters' late father's home. In reality, the theme is much deeper. Much like many of his other great works, Arthur Miller makes the reader take a disturbing look into the human mind. While Walter was at medical school, Victor was caring for their sick father. Despite being the smarter of the two, Victor was never able to pursue a career in science in order that he would be able to care for his father. Victor and Water have not communicated in many years. Only through the Walter's unexpected appearace at the assessment of his father's house do the brother's speak. The initial conflict is centered on the low price Victor receives for the initial assessment and whether Walter should receive any of the money from the sale. The story evolves to reveal Victor's bitterness toward his brother. Similarly, Walter feels guilt for not contributing to his brother's education and not letting Victor know their father was not nearly as poor or sick as Victor believed. The ultimate theme of the play is personal priorities. Walter placed the highest priority on his career. As a result, he had a nervous breakdown, was a poor parent, and had a failed marriage. Victor placed the highest priority on his family. First, he cared for his father which meant accepting a less challenging job as a police officer. However, Victor has a successful marriage and wonderful family. Miller's work gives readers a unique perspective on life in America. This is certainly a great work which maintains his high writing standard.

In Arthur Miller's 1968 play THE PRICE, two brothers, Victor and Walter Franz, meet in their late father's house to dispose of his property. In the process, they confront old grudges, relieve guilt over past wrongs, and learn the difference between material success and spiritual fulfillment - all major themes in Miller's output as a whole. Symbolism, a technique seen in such previous Miller plays as ALL MY SONS and DEATH OF A SALESMAN, is very important in THE PRICE, as well: different objects in the Franz home represent different ideas. What is unusual for Miller is the inclusion of a comic relief character: the ancient dealer Gregory Solomon, who comes to set a price on the furniture. Wise Solomon's appearances provide highly amusing commentary on the essential conflict between the brothers. THE PRICE is a fascinating gem of a play that only seems more so with repeated readings.

Miller's play surrounds the moral development of two brothers: one a dutiful policeman (Victor), the other a successful yet selfish surgeon (Walter). Their most recent encounter takes place during the sale of family furniture and heirlooms -- post a long and silent gap in their relationship catalyzed by an angry family breakup that completely separated the brothers. During their encounter, Arthur Miller poignantly brings out each brother's personal ethics, and what moral debts each feels the other owes. The 'furniture' and it's price to be sold, which is their central concern (in addition to dealings with the only other two characters in the play - an appraiser (Solomon) and Victor's wife (Esther)) , is merely a bargaining object between the two - a prop - with which each may discover more fully the other's thoughts and ways of being, and somehow, at the end of the day, find some sort of salvation in each other. Miller's play does have room for updating the "Say! What a swell..." type of older american-english diction for flow. This may be especially encouraging to those who may find some of the colloquialisms inappropriate. The reader must keep in mind that this is not a novel, and really should not be read like one, word for word. This is more a basic screenplay type, where improvisation by actors who truly understand the characters - and Miller's intent - will ultimately bring the true and dramatic color to a wonderful and thought-provoking story.