A view from the bridge - how does arthur miller create tension

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A view from the bridge

Act 1

Introduction:

A view from the bridge was written by Arthur Miller in the 1950’s.The play was first published in 1955 but not released until 1957.

This play takes place between 1940-1950 in Brooklyn 'Red Hook', a dirty place dominated mostly by illegal immigrants from Italy. It is a poor, nefarious place where crime is rife and gangsters and the Mafia are well known.

This is the time when many illegal immigrants were moving to America from Eastern Europe for employment and to earn more. The play is about an Italian family, the Carbones and centres around Eddie Carbone in particular. He lives in a small apartment with his wife Beatrice and her niece Catherine who they both treat as a daughter. Tension in 'A view from the Bridge' is defined as the anticipation and suspense of the audience and the conflict between characters. Tension in the Carbone household is present right from the beginning of the play and even though the narrator, lawyer and family friend Alfieri has subconsciously warned the audience of an ill-fated ending, they are still unaware of any existing tension.

All of act 1 is about Arthur miller creating tension and suspense between the characters.

Stage setting:

Stage setting is very important in a play. Good stage setting can help to add suspense and can give the audience a sense of tension.

The main acting area is the living room and the dinning room of eddies apartment. It is a worker’s flat, clean, sparse and homely. At the right there is a forestage and a desk. This is Alfieri’s law office. There is also a telephone booth.

Alfieri gives us a broader outlook on our setting. He says, "this is Red Hook … this is the slum that faces the bay on the seaward side of Brooklyn Bridge. This is the gullet of New York swallowing the tonnage of the world". We're in a hard core neighbourhood, where people work everyday on the waterfront. People don't have a lot of creature comforts here. They have their families and they have work, hard work.

It's important to note that the characters in the play don't see this as a bad thing. To Eddie, it's a duty. He finds honour in his life as a longshoreman. To Marco and Rodolfo, the Italian immigrants, America as a whole represents work. It's a place of opportunity, where they can make enough money to be the men they want to be.

Alfieri:

Alfieri is the narrator as well as the playing the role of a lawyer in the play. We see the play from his point of view.

He is the symbolic bridge between American law and tribal laws. Alfieri attempts to unite the American laws with Italian cultural practices and negotiate a place in between the two. Alfieri, an Italian-American, is true to his ethnic identity. He is a well-educated man who studies and respects American law, but is still loyal to Italian customs.

Alfieri, as being a lawyer has seen cases as such and has a good idea of what is going to happen to Eddie. He repeatedly tells Eddie that he should not interfere, but let Catherine go, “and bless her”, that the only legal question is how the brothers entered the country. “But I don’t think you want to do anything about that”. Alfieri admittedly cannot help Eddie, but must powerlessly watch the tragic events unfold before him. Alfieri tells us about how he is so disturbed, that he consults a wise old woman, who tells him to pray for Eddie.

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Alfieri was born in Italy and came to America to study law. He shows that he wants good of Eddie, Marco and Rodolpho. He bails out Marco and Rodolpho. As Eddie betrays everyone, Alfieri reads his mind and repeatedly warns him “you won’t have a friend in the world… put it out of your mind”. We see that Alfieri wants to help Eddie’s family but also respects the law.

“His eyes were like tunnels; my first thought was that he had committed a crime, but soon I saw it was only a passion that had moved into his body, like ...

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