Road is in the form of a social realism, which helps show the audience a real life prospect and to show how it really is. This is excellent in helping to show just how bad people's lives were effected by the high numbers of unemployement and the lack of identity people had. The impact of the play being a Social Realism and also a Promenade form is that it shows that life is just a cycle. And for the characters in Road especially they are not going to over come unemployment, nothing is going to change for the best and their identity will still be forgotten. A View from the Bridge takes the form of a tragedy. This is because the play deals with tragic events and shows the downfall of the main character, in this case Eddie.
Both of the plays have a specific character in which they talk directly to the audience, taking the role of the narrator and making the audience feel a lot closer to the other characters. Scullery is an example of a character who has witnessed a lot of things happen on the Road and is actually included himself as we find out he is homeless and has no money or materialist possesions of his own. Comparing this to A View from the Bridge, Alfieri is a lawyer. This can be argued that his identity is strong as he has such an important job in society yet he quotes, 'we're only thought of in connection with disasters, they'd rather not get too close'. Even though Alfieri is a lot better off his identity is still his downfall due to how people in society when this play was written have percieved him.
In Road, a prime example of a character who has no job, no money, and no identity is Molly. she lives in a house on her own which is described as 'a little room; sink, table and chair, cooker'. Cartwright chose to use the list technique to show how little Molly has of her own, due to having no money. 'On the table is a box full of old make-up'. Cartwright also uses the word 'old' a lot in the monologue about Molly. This leaves an impact on the audience feeling sorry for Molly because she is old and vunerable, and shows how hard the effects of unemployment and lack of identity can be. Everything is desribed as being 'old'. This can be said to be linked to society of this time, and that it's growing old with little hope of getting better. Compared to in A View from the Bridge, Catherine is young and her form of identity and feminism comes from her heels. These are what are giving her the identity she has and is slowly making her look like a young women. Miller used this to show that you can't stay young for long and that to be excepted in society and to earn a living you need to grow up and be independent however hard it may be.
Jim Cartwright also uses prostitution to link to the impact of unemployment and this can be argued as something that still happens today. On page 19 The Professor says ' I chose the three pounds thirty-two one'. This shows that the prostitue is only seen as money, cheap and tacky. And that she has no identity of her own, no name is mentioned. Cartwright uses this to show how harsh society was and if you lead yourself to prostitution you are in the gutter and that you loose all of your identity even your name. This can be linked to A View from the Bridge on page 35 Eddie says 'I give him my house to sleep! I take the blankets off my bed for him, and he takes his filthy hands on her like a goddam thief!'. This shows that Eddie too has lost part of his identity and his responsibilies as an adult. He thinks that Rodolpho is taking his position in looking after Catherine and also feels the effects of hierarchy. This can be argued that Eddie is indenial and is over protective of Catherine and doesn't want anyone else to have her so he uses his identity to cover her up which is why he doesn't like the fact that she wants to go to work and leave him behind.
The Professor in Road is also a key charactor who due to unemployment has lost his identity. 'I lost me wife, me family, half me stomach, everything. Now all I got left is this tape, and this box full of all me old records'. His identity is gone as he now doesn't have a job or even a family, and just like the prostitute he has no name as it's not mentioned in the play and he also says 'I'm not really a professor, I'm just a nosy bastard who wants to try everything'.
The structure of the two plays are quite different. The pace of Road is a lot slower, to some what make it uncomfortable for the audience to watch but to also show how it must have been like for the characters at that time. Cartwright also uses monologues to show the lack of identity some characters had for example Molly. These monologues also help dictate the pace of the play and in this case slow the play down dramictally. This to makes it uncomfortable for the audience to watch but also shows how unemployment and lack of identity had an impact on people's lives and on society. Comparing this to A View from the Bridge, the scenes and acts are a lot longer and much more drawn out. This can be linked to the identity of the characters and how it makes everything much harder to deal with and so the scenes are a lot longer and persistent. Also A View from the Bridge is structured often around Eddie.
by
claire_xo (student)
