'A view from the bridge' Is this play about 1950's Italian Americans a good choice for 2002 pupils?

‘A view from the bridge’

Is this play about 1950’s Italian Americans a good choice for 2002 pupils?

For a play to be a good choice for 2002 pupils it must be sufficiently complex to enable the student to express an array of ideas and possibilities in relation to the piece. It must have strong characters that come across in a realistic manner so that both the aspect of what the Author intended a reader to see, feel and understand and the aspect of the hidden motivations behind these manipulations can be examined. A piece chosen for this purpose should have more layers than are apparent when first viewed in order that analysis may take place and a student will be able to clearly show the product of this analysis. I believe that Miller has created a piece of this standard because in reading the play I was torn between sympathising with his characters and watching with a disconnected intrigue. As well as this, for a pupil in 2002 to be interested enough in the play to break down the issues, and understand it well enough, it must be relevant to not only the events in their lives but the way in which they view the world.

The action in ‘A view from the bridge’ is based around a previously content, ethnically Italian family in New York who are thrown into turmoil when their daughter, almost unwittingly, shifts the roles within the family. Catherine is seventeen years old at the beginning of the play but is still essentially a child unaware of her affect on others, however Catherine is growing up and branching out from her tight knit family group. She is faced with betraying Eddie her father by pushing him away to illustrate her status as an adult or remaining a child; she is scared of this new power she has over herself and others. Her mother Beatrice may seem uncaring because she is also growing apart from Catherine. However she, unlike Eddie, understands that this separation is inevitable and must be accepted. This situation is shown in a conversation between Catherine and Beatrice:

CATHERINE ‘He (Eddie) thinks I’m a baby’

BEATRICE ‘Because you think you’re a baby. I told you fifty times already, you can’t act the way you act. You still walk around in front of him in your slip.’

This is a preview of the whole essay

CATHERINE ‘He (Eddie) thinks I’m a baby’

BEATRICE ‘Because you think you’re a baby. I told you fifty times already, you can’t act the way you act. You still walk around in front of him in your slip.’

Parts of the 1950s setting of this play are somewhat similar to current day society; norms, like fashion, go in circles and the revolution in female behaviour of the fifties, after the masculine way many women were expected to behave in wartime, is similar to the current status after the unisex attitudes of the eighties. Catherine is realising that she can dress in short skirts and high heels and wants to experience the new possibilities she has become aware of. This causes conflict when Eddie expresses his distaste for Catherine’s new clothes: ‘I think it’s too short, ain’t it?’. Every modern teenager is faced with these same loyalty problems and differences in opinion when growing up and away from the adults previously the centre of their lives. Relating to the characters in drama can give an insight not otherwise possible to gain and seeing the events through Catherine’s eyes is useful for a pupil studying the play.

Because of the proximity in time scale to the current day of Miller’s work, and therefore the similarity in human personality, it is not only Catherine’s view which can be accessed but that of all of the characters. The underlying elements of the human character remain unchanged for millennia. Over decades the way people behave may be different, for the circumstances they are experiencing and the upbringing they were given are different, but their primitive qualities and flaws remain extremely similar. For example a reader could relate to Eddie’s stubborn nature, Rodolpho’s ambition or Marco’s selflessness, all basic human traits.

The language used in this play is typical to Brooklyn during the period the play is based, Mike, one of the less central characters, shows this: ‘well he ain’t exackly funny, but he’s always like makin’ remarks like, y’know?’. This casual style of speech is very similar to the way in which young people in Britain speak today, though the accent is different. Language and the way people speak is often class related, and in identifying with the way a character speaks the reader believes that they relate to the characters position in society and as a result understands more about them.

Though the play is based in 1950’s New York and the language is fitting to this, the underlying format of the play is based around that of a Greek tragedy. At the beginning all seems well but the problems have already started before the play begins. Eddie, our Tragic Hero, is a good character with a fatal flaw- his inability to adapt, which brings about his downfall at the end of the play. The fact that he is killed by a man who represents everything that he used to be true to exposes the almost judicial nature of his murder. The death of Eddie resolves the problems he and those around him have caused during the last few months of his life and brings closure to the play. This plot reflects those of Greek tragedies such as Oedipus the King. In this work before the action begins the two deeds that are the problems (incest and murder) have already occurred though the reader is not aware of this until much later. Oedipus is the tragic hero; his arrogance brings about his downfall, though rather than death he faces blindness. After the suicide of his wife (who is also his mother) and his attack on his own eyes the problems in the play, though not resolved, are lessened.

Though ‘A view from the bridge’ does not share the Greek style of unity of time and place Alfieri’s comments on the play act in the same way as those of the chorus in Oedipus; though these speeches do not necessarily create action they certainly deepen the understanding of previous events- a good quality in both of these pieces.

This ancient style is brought up to date, and therefore made easier to relate to, by the setting- in modern rather than ancient history. This gives the reader easy access to the mind set of the characters, whilst providing basis for comparison to other texts. This means that students are able to respond on both a logical and sympathetic level, an array of ideas and viewpoints can be expressed making it a good G.C.S.E piece. For example early in the play Eddie says in response to Catherine’s new hairstyle: ‘You look like one of them girls that went to college’. On an emotional level this appears as praise, but when it is thought through it is seen as an attempt at control by Eddie; in saying this he is suggesting that she is entirely aware that she has not gone to college, and because she has not he still has power over her. A student is able to explore both of these angles on the action.

Many things about this play are current but many things are so ancient that they are of importance to us all, mirroring this the atmosphere of the play is one of both nostalgia and prediction. The sentiment is one of human emotionally guided values in bitter conflict with the prescribed values of the law; and on a deeper level basic human innate behaviour versus the civilised, rationalised order of modern society. Arthur Miller’s play is rich with symbols of this - Eddie: Rodolpho, Childhood: Adulthood, Honour: Law, Italian: American, and in the center of all of these, Ancient: Modern. All of these issue clashes represent each other intensifying the antagonistic atmosphere of the action.

The eclectic though harmonic style in which Miller writes- collecting all that has come before and realigning it, gives a clue to his view on the conflict that is the body of the play. Alfieri, who though he is a figure of the law is essentially Miller’s mouthpiece (- the view from the bridge), exposes this view in his soliloquy which closes the play: ‘Most of the time now we settle for half and I like it better’. Miller’s last words are ones which identify the way we live now- not entirely instinctive or entirely rational but a compromise between the two. This balance is similar to that of the human ego (our sense of self) and its birthplace from the struggle between the id- our base animal desires, and the super-ego– our sense of morality. Such fundamental issues run through the history of culture and are vital to the identity of society today; this makes them a prominent feature in the lives of people of any age, status or era.

This play has a relevance and profoundness which is not weakened by its historic setting, making it an interesting and workable choice for 2002 pupils.

Kirstie McHale 10.1.A (word count 1,510)