A View From The Bridge By Arthur Miller. Arthur Miller creates dramatic tension in the last scene of act one

consequently Beatrice re-enforces Catherine’s resentment of Eddie and shows defiance by saying “Go ahead, dance, Rodolfo”. At this point in the play the audience are made aware of both Catherine and Beatrice’s defiance towards Eddie and also their resent for Eddie’s opinion. Arthur Miller has used this situation to create a tenser atmosphere on stage because the play is set in a household where culture and tradition are very important and one of the vital aspects of this particular culture is the respect a woman should have for a man. The fight set up by Eddie is used to make the audience feel more edgy by showing how Eddie’s hostility towards Rodolfo and struggle for manliness and power inevitably leads towards violence. Miller has left the audience on the edge by showing them that the characters on stage do not realise Eddie’s ulterior motive which is only to hurt Rodolfo. Arthur Miller has made it obvious Eddie only wants to hurt Rodolfo, Miller doe this by composing Eddie’s script and stage directions deviously. This is done by making Eddie begin by only talking about boxing and taking Marco and Rodolfo to the ‘bouts’. After talking about taking Marco and Rodolfo to the boxing matches the stage directions show Eddie as ‘weirdly elated’ Eddie’s stage directions also show he is ‘rubbing his fists into his palms’ the audience are expected infer from these two stage directions that a malevolent idea involving Rodolfo has jus entered Eddie’s head. Eddie then leads onto the next stage of his plan but so as not to make his intentions obvious Eddie first asks Marco “You ever do any boxing?” When Marco says no straight away Eddie asks Rodolfo “Betcha you have done some, heh?” But when Rodolfo says no Eddie jumps at the opportunity and offers to teach him. This shows that Eddie’s original objective was to ‘teach’ Rodolfo to fight. More tension is created because the audience are shown that the other characters on stage do not know Eddie’s real intent, we know this because when Beatrice hears Eddie’s offer to ‘teach’ Rodolfo she naively says “Go ahead, Rodolfo. He’s a good boxer, he could teach you”. Miller uses this to create dramatic tension by showing that Eddie respects strong men who can fight and believes that they have dominance. Furthermore Arthur Miller uses vivid stage directions and sudden movements to contribute to the drama. For example Miller has used intense stage directions to show Eddie’s frustration these intense stage directions are used to show how Eddie is sub-consciously twisting and eventually rips the newspaper in his hands. These stage directions show Eddie’s intolerance of Rodolfo and help to create a more dramatic atmosphere on stage. The stage directions also show how Eddie is beginning to show direct hostility towards other characters. The implications of characters’ words are also used by Miller to heighten tension on stage. For example when Marco is having a conversation with Beatrice about his wife Eddie interrupts and says to Beatrice “I betcha there’s plenty surprises sometimes when those guys get back there, heh?” By ‘surprises’ Eddie probably means children from other men. By this comment Eddie is implying that Marco’s wife is going be unfaithful to him when he is away. This witty remark from Eddie creates dramatic tension because Eddie is questioning Marco’s ability to keep his woman in a society and time where it is very embarrassing to have a wife who is unfaithful. This has a dramatic impact because it shows how Eddie begins to show unfriendliness towards Marco and tries to belittle him in front of Beatrice to show that he has the power and control of the household. Finally, the conflict between the central male characters adds a threatening feel to the atmosphere. This happens in several places throughout the course of the script. Firstly Eddie get very hostile when Rodolfo tries to correct him, this is because Eddie believes knowledge amongst other things is where the power lies. Eddie lashes out when Rodolfo corrects him about the colour of a lemon. Arthur Miller uses this to show how something as insignificant as a lemon can create conflict between the Eddie and the other characters. This show how hostile and small-minded Eddie is. Another example of Eddie’s pettiness is when Rodolfo refers to how strict his town is when Eddie is talking with Marco and immediately when Rodolfo talks the stage directions show how Eddie’s mood changes from calm to aggressive. We know Eddie’s mood changes because he goes from ‘laughing’ to ‘pacing up and down’ when Rodolfo speaks to him. Miller uses this to create tension by showing how unpredictable Eddie can be when Rodolfo is involved. Another example of hostility between the male characters is when Marco first challenges Eddie’s word because he does not agree with him. This happens when Eddie is ‘telling off’ Rodolfo for coming home too late and says he came to America to “fool around” and Eddie then brings Marco into the discussion by saying to him “But I understood, Marco, that you was both comin to make a living for your family”, This is when Marco shows oppositions and says “I beg your pardon, Eddie”, This creates a huge dramatic impact because it is the first time Marco has spoken against Eddie and shows Marco is becoming less tolerant of Eddie. Arthur Miller uses this to create dramatic tension by showing that Eddie is losing power because people are turning against him. This creates tension because it shows that everyone is against him so things can now only go downhill for him. After this Miller uses the fight set up by Eddie to be used as the last straw of Marco’s patience for Eddie. Arthur Miller has used almost the whole of the script from when Marco and Rodolfo arrive to build up tension until the last scene of act one where the tension is finally broken. The tension is broken when Marco, in a show of brute force and strength gains dominance over Eddie in a short highly dramatic moment. This moment is almost straight after the fight scene set up by Eddie. Marco challenges Eddie to lift a chair from the bottom by one leg. Eddie attempts, ‘grasps the leg, raises the chair one inch, but it leans over to the floor’. Then ‘He tries again, and again fails’. After Marco has seen Eddie fail, he then attempts to lift the chair. At this point we know tension is brewing because Catherine and Rodolfo stop dancing as the watch supposedly in shock as Marco lifts the chair over Eddies head ‘like a weapon’. The tension slowly begins to disintegrate as Marco changes ‘a glare of warning’ into ‘a smile of triumph’. We now know Marco has the power because as he stares into Eddies eyes Eddies grin disappears because he knows he has been beaten. Arthur Miller created a dramatic atmosphere by building up tension until the end of act one where as a result of a complete power shift the tension disappears.