Show where the tension and conflicts are in the play, explain how they are brought about, and refer to atleast two scenes.

Authors Avatar
Show where the tension and conflicts are in the play, explain how they are brought about, and refer to atleast two scenes. The play "A View from the Bridge" by Arthur Miller tells us of the moral dilemmas that a proud Italian longshoreman faces with the arrival of his wife's cousins from Italy, who come to stay in America and earn money as illegal immigrants. Throughout the play there are scenes where a lot of tension and atmosphere are created, these scenes eventually depict the fate of the characters and in particular the fate of Eddie Carbone. In answering the set question, the relationships between the characters, moods and tones and explanations of character motives will be discussed and analysed. The characters' personalities often contribute to how scenes create suspense and tension. An example of this is in Act 1, the first scene Catherine tells Eddie about her new job, she tries to explain how the job will benefit her and Beatrice encourages her enthusiasm but Eddie's reaction demonstrates how he has power over Catherine and Beatrice. They are both nervous and extremely anxious to see what his reaction would be like. Eddie says "What job? She's going to finish school." He automatically thinks as if he was Catherine's father. Catherine fears Eddie, therefore worries about bringing shame to him or disappointing him. Catherine and Beatrice clearly plead and plead with him for permission for Catherine to take the job. That scene establishes the type of character Eddie is. Quite stubborn, proud and a man of power who needs respect. This helps the audience to predict what may happen in later scenes. One of the most important scenes in the play, is where Catherine and Rodolpho dance to paper 'Paper Doll'. This scene has a phenomenal amount of tension it, part of the reason for this is because of Eddie's feelings, the anger that has built up
Join now!
inside Eddie. The events leading up to that scene foretells what the atmosphere will be like. One scene that where it is clear to see Eddie has little or no patience or tolerance with Rodolpho is where Catherine and Rodolpho return home late after watching a movie at the cinemas together. Eddie tries to subtly tell Beatrice he thinks Rodolpho is gay, assuming that she should already have picked it up. "He keeps his head turned away" here, Eddie refuses to look at Beatrice which shows he is starting to get frustrated at the thought of Rodolpho, talking about him ...

This is a preview of the whole essay