‘A view from the bridge’ was his next play. It was first produced as a one-act play in 1955, but an extended and modified in 1956 and then was presented at the ‘Comedy Theatre’ in London.
Also in 1956 he divorced his first wife and married his second wife Marilyn Monroe, which in turn boosted his celebrity status. But this marriage was short lived and a divorce was settled in 1961.
Miller has continued to produce a number of successful plays and has written an autobiography ‘Timebends’ in 1987.
The play ‘A View from the bridge’ was thought up by Arthur Miller in the late 1940’s, when he became engrossed in the lives and work of ‘longshoremen’ in New York’s Brooklyn harbour, and where he had previously worked.
A lawyer friend of Miller’s told him a story he had heard of a ‘longshoreman’ who had informed the Immigration board on two of his own relatives who were staying with him, he did this to break up an engagement between one of them and his niece.
The story ended inevitably in tragedy with the man’s death.
Eddie is portrayed as an honest, hardworking man, however soon into the play his character changes,
and from the very few lines of the play the main character ‘Eddie’ is trying to protect his niece ‘Catherine’ from other men and save her for himself:
Catherine: But those guys look at all the girls, you know that.
Eddie: You ain’t all the girls.
This clearly shows that Catherine is very special to Eddie and he will do any thing to protect her.
The further on into the play you go the more it becomes apparent that Eddie is emotionally unstable and is not ready to deal with his inner emotions, he turns out quiet nasty and an overall angry person towards life:
I ain’t starting nothing, but I ain’t goanna stand around looking at that…
This aggression is directed at his wife Beatrice and a relative named Rodolpho who at this time has started dating his beloved niece.
The further on in the play Eddie starts to show his anger in other ways, mainly by insulting and talking about Rodolpho behind his back:
I mean if you closed the paper fast- you could blow him away.
He has turned from telling people he will vent his anger out on Rodolpho, to just, ‘slagging’ him off, this is a sign of Eddies emotions, (he is petrified that he will run off with Catherine).
But just a few minutes before Beatrice tries to tell Catherine, what she has noticed about Eddie’s sudden change in Emotions towards her:
Well you can’t do it. Or like you sit on the edge of the bathtub when he’s shavin in his underwear…
After this when the two illegal immigrants arrive at Eddies house Eddie is fine with both of them, he is chatty and helpful towards them:
Don’t thank me. Listen, what the hell, its no skin off me.
But the jovial atmosphere soon changes when he finds out that one of the illegal immigrants is seeing his beloved Catherine:
We never had no singers here… and all of a sudden there’s a singer in the house, y’know what I mean.
Even though this small comment towards, Marco isn’t very substantial it is his turning point in the play. He slowly becomes a malicious character. It is also the start of his downward spiral to his foreseeable death.
He soon starts telling other people about the way he feels about Marco and Rodolpho:
That’s a nice kid? He gives me the heeby-jeebies.
This is said to his wife Beatrice just after Rodolpho leaves the room. Obviously Eddie doesn’t like Rodolpho, but there are still some aspects of his personality that are still likable, but yet again this will take a turn for the worst.
In this case Eddie is talking to one of his closest friends, also his Lawyer Mr Alfieri. Eddie tells Alfieri that he is embarrassed by one of the immigrants, he says that the workers at the dock are calling the immigrant ‘nancy’ names, and Eddie things that is tarnishing his reputation:
They’re laughing at him on the piers. I’m ashamed. Paper Doll they call him. Blondie now…-but that ain’t what they’re laughing at.
Obviously Eddie is looking for an excuse to inflict revenge on Both Marco and Rodolfo.
Now we have skipped well into act two, and Eddie has found out that his darling niece is going to marry Rodolfo one of the illegal immigrants. Eddie is telling Rodolfo along with Marco to get out of his house; he is also commanding Catherine to stay with him and live under his roof and rules:
Pack it up. Go ahead. Get your stuff and get outer here…
Then he says to Catherine:
No, you ain’t going nowheres, he’s the one.
He is also becoming more aggressive towards his wife Beatrice as she becomes more and more aware of the situation is starting to doubt Eddie and starts taking Rodolpho’s side:
Don’t tell me okay, okay, I’m telling you the truth. A wife is supposed to believe the husband. If I tell you that guy ain’t right don’t tell me he is right.
Beatrice has now crossed the line and Eddie is starting to dislike her as have all the other characters in the play apart from on ‘Alfieri’.
On the day of Catherine’s wedding Eddie tells Beatrice that he does not think that the wedding is not ‘right’, but he also tells he that she can’t go, and if she does go she will not be aloud back into his house:
Didn’t you hear what I told you? You walk out that door- to that wedding you ain’t coming back here, Beatrice.
Beatrice is very shocked by Eddies response to Catherine’s wedding, and as a result does not go to the wedding, because of her fear that she won’t be aloud back into Eddies life and home.
After the wedding a fight breaks out between Eddie and Marco because Marco is being sent back to Scilly, Marco accuses Eddie of ‘killing his children’.
Eddie pulls out a knife and tries to stab Marco with it, but Marco turns the blade and plunges it into Eddie’s chest.
Eddies dieing words were:
My B.!
These are a reminder that it could never work out between Eddie and Catherine, and that Beatrice was his ‘soul’ mate.
The death of Eddie was inevitable with all these emotionally fraught relationships being touched by him, mainly through his stubbornness to let his beloved niece go out into the world.
