A view from the Bridge analysis. Final Scene of Act 1

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Final Scene of Act 1

While everything that Eddie says is seemingly harmless, we can see from the stage directions that Eddie is not happy.

This is shown clearly during his speech on page 40, with him 'unconsciously twisting the newspaper into a tight roll', which shows his uneasiness about his subject matter - Rodolfo. When the newspaper rolling, and the speech, reaches its climax and it 'tears in two', it seems as though Eddie has finally snapped. The newspaper tearing in two could also symbolise the fact that Eddie himself is torn about the situation.

Near the beginning of the scene, 'Eddie freezes' when Catherine tries to get Rodolfo to dance with her, which makes it obvious to everyone that Eddie is not okay with that. The fact that Miller chooses to use the word 'freezes' instead of just 'stops' helps to emphasise how shocked Eddie is about the situation. Rodolfo makes it clear in his next line that he is trying to be respectful towards Eddie but Catherine's insistence means they end up dancing anyway, much to Eddie's disgust. Catherine deliberately forces Rodolfo to dance out of deliberate defiance against Eddie. While she is