Role of Illusions in the Dynamics of Relationships in All My Sons

‘All My Sons' by Arthur Miller is a play that is woven around many deceptions, illusions and misleading beliefs. The poignancy of the tragedies that occur in the play gets manifold because of these illusionary factors. Every major character in the play is under some kind of an illusion: Joe Keller is under the illusion that everyone in the neighbourhood still respects him, Kate Keller is under the illusion that her son Larry will come back, Chris believes that his father is innocent, Annie is under the notion that she will be accepted as Chris's wife by Joe and Kate, and George feels Annie will return back with him and not marry Chris. These illusions affect/govern the relationships between different characters. My paper will talk about the dynamics of the relationships because of these illusions and how these could have been different, if characters could have been transparent and stopped deceiving themselves.