A View from the Bridge

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A View from the Bridge

In 1947 Arthur Miller was carrying out the research on the lives and work of longshoremen. He was told on interesting story during this time about longshoremen’s who had ratted to the Immigration Bureau on two brothers, his own relatives, who were living illegally in is very home, in order to break an engagement between on of them and his niece. It is not surprising that eight years later in 1955 the play ‘’A View from the Bridge’’ is produced. However, it is the development of the relationship between the longshoremen, Eddie and his niece, Catherine, which in my first act is going to be my focus.

In this paragraph my focus will be on the social context of the play which outlines the story, discusses performance and examines the characters in detail.

Eddie has promised Catherine’s mother on her deathbed, that he will stand up as a father for Catherine and also be responsible for her, this may support the reason Catherine and Eddie living together. Catherine’s performance doesn’t make her ‘’Eddie’s baby’’ anymore, when Catherine runs her hand over the skirt and this is not what a child does. Catherine’s action shows that she is no more a child and Eddie needs to realize that she is becoming a woman. Eddie’s reaction is pleased and also and also shy when Catherine greats him. At this moment, Arthur Miller wants us to think that Eddie has some weird feelings for Catherine and therefore when he sees her, he is shy about the way she talks with him. Catherine is seeking from Eddie the opinion about the skirt when she says ‘’I just got it. You like it?’’. Catherine is also seeking Eddie’s approval about the job, would he let her go to work, or he wouldn’t. In my opinion, this is unnatural, because usually she is seventeen years old and at this age she is almost an adult, and she is not Eddie’s baby anymore. Eddie should now start to trust her and treat her like an adult.

She obviously loves him like a father and wants him to be happy. Eddie is fond of her too, but he has concerns. On page 9, line 31, Eddie seems to be strangely nervous about letting Catherine to go to work, this might be because she will spend more time out, also Eddie is secretly scared that more men is going to look at her and communicate with her.

The stage directions tell us that he is so worried and somehow sickened of this talk (page 10, line 38) and although Eddie knows that neighbourhood where Catherine want to work, he still doesn’t like it. The problem might be that she could find new friends or even a boyfriend. Eddie also puts everything in his mind seriously, as he says ‘’and then you’ll move away’’ (Page 11, line 33). By saying this, Eddie seem to think that when Catherine will find a job she will leave the house and he is more scared if Catherine is not going to visit him and Beatrice often.

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It is Beatrice, who alerts us to the idea that perhaps Eddie is over possessive and taking his responsibility to protect Catherine a little too far. On page 11, lines 5-7 Beatrice uses rhetorical question ‘’She’s seventeen years old, you gonna keep her in the house all her life?’’ this question supposed to help Eddie think that she is saying the truth and he has to finally realize that at some point, now or later Catherine will need to find a job and work. After Beatrice gave Eddie an offensive remark, Eddie feels that he has been treated with contemptuous ...

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