IOSR Journal Of Humanities And Social Science (IOSR-JHSS) Volume 8, Issue 5 (Mar. - Apr. 2013), PP 73-93 e-ISSN: 2279-0837, p-ISSN: 2279-0845. www.Iosrjournals.Org www.iosrjournals.org 73 | Page “Just try to see it human, see it human”: A Humanistic Psychological Reading to the Machiavellian Businessman in Arthur Miller‟s All My Sons Maysoon Taher Muhi 1&2 , Assoc. Prof. Tengku Sepora 3 1 (English Department, College of Education for Women/ University of Baghdad, Iraq) 2 (School of Language, Literacies, and Translation / Universiti Sains Malaysia, Malaysia) 3 (School of Language, Literacies, and Translation / Universiti Sains Malaysia, Malaysia) Abstract: This paper argues that Miller’s all My Sons(1947) shows how the cultural factors represented by politics, economics and social powers create characters who have certain Machiavellian features that can be explained by modern psychological theories. Instead of endeavoring to achieve their self-realization or actualization, these modern Machiavellian characters have lost their way and their human potentiality and become self-alienated. Arthur Miller’s All My Sons (1947) has insightfully captured the disastrous effects of capitalism and cultural factors on his character. Miller’s play demonstrates the influence of the modern increasing needs and the different strategies of coping with anxieties caused by the competitive capitalist society. The villainy of his businessman is seen more pity than contempt. The characters are defeated as society is defeated by the competitive spirit which brings out the worst in men and by the commercialism which perverts or hampered the traditional values. By applying a psychological approach of Abraham Maslow and Karen Horney’s theories, this study aims to explore how Miller depicts the psychological sources of Machiavellian personality, the dynamics of inner conflict and the strategies that arise when character’s bargain is threatened. This study applies Machiavellian personality theory that concentrates on the sense of Machiavellianism in modern time. Keywords: All My Sons, Arthur Miller, Horney, Machiavellian, Maslow I. Introduction Machiavellianism is not a distinctly modern phenomenon. Its roots go back to the fifteenth century. Machiavellianism becomes a well-known theme at the Elizabethan time as Machiavellian character was related to power, control and devilish tactics to achieve the kings or princes ambitions However, the researcher wants to approach a particular form of Machiavellianism that is the modern one and has largely shaped modernism. In the modern time, the capitalism has distorted the American Dream and produced the Machiavellian orientation that pervades modern life. Caught between personal needs and public issues, represented by economics, sociology and politics, the modern man applies certain means to survive, but ironically instead of helping him to achieve self-actualization, they intensify his anxiety and self-alienation. The twentieth century dramatists, like Arthur Miller, the researcher believes, express and recognize how capitalism has rotten man‟s spirituality, making a pity modern monster that needs our sympathy and empathy. However, for the last forty years or so, Machiavellian or Machiavellianism as a term has become a focus study of many psychologists, politicians, sociologists, economists, and educationists who all claim that Machiavellianism has a significant role in the formation of personality and behavior. This importance of Machiavellianism is greatly popularized in the late 1960s with the publication of social psychologists Richard Christie and Florance L. Geis book Studies in Machiavellianism. Many of Christie and Geis‟s insights and thoughts to study the psychology of human nature are derivative of the work, The Prince written by the Italian politician Niccolò di Bernardo dei Machiavelli (1469-1527). In their study, Christie and Geis consider Machiavelli not as “an historical figure,” rather as “the sources of ideas about those who manipulate others” [1]. The Machiavellian impact in producing distinctive traits in individuals (leaders and politicians) during the twentieth century has been studied largely by some prominent political and philosophical writers like Leo Strauss and Quentin Skinner. Yet, none really gave Machiavellian a serious and sustained attention to describe the psychology of human nature of a common man until Christie and Geis in the late 1960s. However, psychologists and sociologists have advanced a theory that Machiavellianism has an existence in all worlds from the old time to the recent time, yet its personality traits are intensified when there is a turmoil and chaos. It is a truism to mention that in the industrial societies after the World War II, which have become more complex and depersonalized, common man has been suffering from the feelings of alienation related to the past security of major belief systems, to his established social institutions, and even to himself as a