"A View from the Bridge" by Arthur Miller.

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“A View from the Bridge”

by Arthur Miller

                 The main subject I had to look at when writing this essay is the dramatic importance of the story. I had to look at the dramatic techniques used by the writer to pick up and to uphold the audience’s attention. These techniques include lighting, actions, movement, music and stage directions. These things together help the writer to be able to communicate with the audience, to create different atmospheres and feelings in the audience to make the play more enjoyable. The end of Act I. is a decisive moment for the play; this part contains loads of tension, which, again, is another dramatic technique. I am going to be focusing mainly on this part of the story.

        “A View from the Bridge” is about Bronx, about immigrants and human nature. Eddie, a hard working man, his wife Beatrice and Eddie’s niece Catherine live together in peace and tranquillity. Their family migrated to America years ago. Catherine is 17, she is starting to explore the world, she is getting more interested in men. Eddie obviously doesn’t like this. When Beatrice’s cousins, Marco and Rodolpho arrive from Italy hoping to take a part of the “America Dream” and to earn good money, the story changes drastically. As Rodolpho, the young, always happy, singing dancing blond haired and quite immature Italian falls in love with Catherine, problems start to occur. Eddie thinks Rodolpho is not good enough for his Catherine, and tries to separate them, but without any luck. As Rodolpho and Catherine gets closer and closer to each other, the girl gets further and further away from them. This leads the events happening at the end of Act I., which plays a very important part in the story. I think so because before this point, Eddie and Marco seemed to get on well, but in this scene, Marco shows solidarity towards his brother, and threatens Eddie. These events later on lead to a tragic ending.

        In Act I., the following characters are present: Eddie, Beatrice, Catherine, Marco and Rodolpho. They are chatting, and Eddie behaves very aggressively, he treats the Italians in an off-hand manner, he criticises and teases them. He is also making fun out of Rodolpho, he criticises his ability for cooking, singing and making dresses. His words suggest to the audience that he might think that Rodolpho is slightly or fully homosexual. His reason to believe this is because, as we later on find out, he thinks Rodolpho only goes out with Catherine to get himself a green card. Eddie tells Rodolpho that he will teach him how to box, he says “Well, come on, I’ll teach you”. This is just another reason for him to needle Rodolpho; he clearly wants to hurt him in one-way or another. He also wants to highlight his own masculinity and Rudolph’s femininity. Rodolpho and Catherine dance, clearly showing no sign that they care about Eddie’s offensive behaviour. This irritates Eddie even more. Rodolpho, in a way orders Catherine, he says “Dance, Catherine. Come.” which might also show that he is starting to feel that Catherine “belongs,, to him as well. This is another reason for Eddie to be angry with him, and to enrage him. Catherine tries to protect Rodolpho all the time. When Eddie criticises Rodolpho because of his cooking skills, she instantly says “They get some high pay them guys. The head chefs in all the big hotels are men. You read about them.”. She plays an important part in this scene, as she is between two sides, the two men, Eddie and Rodolpho. She wants to protect her lover, but at the same time, she doesn’t want to hurt Eddie. But her behaviour (dancing with Rodolpho) suggests that she feels better with Rodolpho, she is starting to rebel against Eddie’s authority. Beatrice doesn’t have a very important role in this scene, apart from one thing. She is the only person who always tries to divert the conversation so that it doesn’t lead to an argument. She always changes subject not letting Eddie to continue with his quarrel, and badgering. Marco shows solidarity towards his brother, his behaviour suggests that none should mess with him or his brother otherwise there’ll be consequences. As a clear sign of protection, just after the “boxing lesson,, (where Eddie knock Rodolpho to the floor) he challenges Eddie, and lifts a chair above Eddie’s head with “(...a stained tension gripping his eyes and jaw, his neck stiff, the chair raised like a weapon over Eddie’s head – and he transforms what might appear like a glare of warning into a smile of triumph...)”. It’s no surprise that afterwards, Eddie doesn’t look down on him any more, as his “(...grin vanishes as he absorbs his [Marco’s] look.”). These stage directions really help us to visualise the situation and it has an entertaining effect on the audience.

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        This scene is set in Eddie and Beatrice’s living room. As Eddie “teaches,, Rodolpho how to box, he basically K.O.s him to the floor representing his superiority. Than, as I’ve already said, Catherine and Rodolpho start to dance again, and Marco challenges Eddie to lift a chair by one of its les. Eddie cannot do it. Then Marco kneels down and lifts the chair above the grinning Eddie’s head, and literally washes the smile off his face. This is the first part in the play when Eddie is defeated. This creates tension and makes the audience want to find what ...

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