"I have this unconventional approach to illness," the doctor explains at one point. "I believe we get sick in twos and threes and fours, not alone as individuals." Se nota que es una obra tardía de Miller: por fin hace decir a uno de sus protagonistas que es socialista. Desde John Proctor lo sabíamos, pero que el Dr. Hyman lo diga deja en claro el contexto histórico de producción de esta obra.Todos los tópicos que estaban más o menos ocultos en sus obras de los '40-'60 se manifiestan: la responsabilidad moral (Sylvia hacia los judíos de Europa; Hyman hacia sus pacientes; Phillip hacia Sylvia y los judíos de Nueva York, etc.); la sexualidad reprimida, etc.La recurrencia de la explicación psicoanalítica está bastante datada, sobre todo considerando que es una obra de 1994. Lo que Miller hace mediante el uso de la mirada psicoanalítica para explicar la parálisis de Sylvia como proceso de identificación de los judíos de Europa está clarísimo. La crítica que Miller pone en labios de Sylvia es, justamente, el punto central de toda su obra: la responsabilidad moral. Sylvia, paralizada y a los gritos se pregunta "por qué no hicieron nada". Sigue, a los gritos: mientras en las calles de Alemania ridiculizan a los judíos, rompen sus negocios, golpean a mujeres y niños, ¿dónde estaba Roosevelt? es la indignación y el miedo la que hace que Sylvia no camine. Eso y la frustración sexual de Phillip, su marido, un auténtico "self-hating jew", que está incluso más paralizado que ella por el miedo, aunque él sí puede caminar.La figura del cristal es, tal vez, una metáfora moral: son los cristales rotos de los judíos de Alemania, pero también es el quiebre emocional y sexual de la pareja Gellburg. Philip ha vivido en un error, mirándose en el espejo (what is wrong with a jewish face, le dice Sylvia), mientras que Sylvia y el Dr. Hyman prefieren el cristal. La no-hipocresía (sobre todo con uno mismo), la transparencia. El espejo tiene un fondo opaco, no deja ver que hay del otro lado, no establece ninguna relación con el mundo, a diferencia del cristal.
Phillip and Sylvia Gellburg, a Jewish couple living in New York, Sylvia suddenly becomes partially paralysed after reading about the events of Kristallnacht in the newspaper. Dr. Hyman believes that it’s psychosomatic. Throughout the play, Dr. Hyman learns more about the problems that Sylvia is having in her personal life, particularly in her marriage. After an argument with his boss, Philip suffers a heart attack and is dying at his home. Phillip and Sylvia confront each other about their feelings. Before Phillip dies, his final words are "Sylvia, forgive me!". And Sylvia is cured of her paralysis!
What do You think about Broken Glass (1995)?
Broken Glass is connected to the "Crystal Night" the name that's been given to the night of 9-10 November 1938. In almost all large German cities and some smaller ones that night, store windows of Jewish shops were broken, Jewish houses and apartments were destroyed, and synagogues were demolished and set on fire. Many Jews were arrested, some were beaten, and some were even killed. It's a story about a Jewish couple Sylvia and Phillip in New York. Sylvia is somehow affected by what's happening on the other side of the Atlantic and is paralyzed in her legs or at least that is what we and her doctor Hyman initially believes.As the story unfolds it's of course connected to how "good" people can be affected to turn into monsters, but much more so connected to personal guilt and the feeling that you have when you are on one hand proud of belonging and on the other hand shameful that you do belong. Like Phillip who is somehow ashamed that he is Jewish as he points out to people his name is not Goldberg it’s Gellburg, but at the same time he’s proud when he points out that he is the only Jew working at the Wall Street Bank and that his son Jerome is the only Jew at West Point (United States Military Academy at West Point).It's also a story about love and forgiveness and it’s only when you look yourself in the mirror and like what you see that you can love and forgive. It's only when you look yourself in the mirror and ask "What am I doing?" that you can start a change...In the end when Phillip realizes this and as his life goes away Sylvia's life is set free.
—Patrik Hallberg
