A View from the Brige - How is it evident from the beginning of the play that it will end in tragedy?
Mohammed khalifa A View from the Brige How is it evident from the beginning of the play that it will end in tragedy? A tragedy within a play script is drama with an unhappy ending but not necessarily death. Without any reference to the play, a tragedy can be a sad event, calamity, serious accident or crime. A View from the Bridge is a tragedy because Eddie has both a serious accident and commits a crime of betrayal. Through certain aspects of the play, it’s setting and the background; the idea of a tragic ending becomes increasingly evident. The first aspect of the play to be seen is the setting, both on stage and in society. The stage contains only a few props vital to the plot of the play. They create the impression of attempting of avoiding confrontations with the law with the presence of Alfieri's office and a fire escape. There is also a phone box, which hints towards a tragic event from the arrival of illegal immigrants. The play is set in an American society when the immigration law has recently changed. The set portrays the life of most Italian immigrants with temporary or seasonal jobs and little money. The homes are simple tenement buildings with sparse amounts of furniture inside. With the "American Dream" not being lived by these legal citizens the idea of isolation between Italian cultures and the US is evident. The majority of people going to the theatre would be Middle class and well paid so watching a play about poorer Italians creates tension and suggests an unhappy outcome. The play begins with Alfieri's first speech setting the scene and introducing us to the plot. Despite saying very little about the story itself, he stresses the importance of justice in the community suggesting a betrayal against this Sicilian ‘law’. When describing the setting he gives examples of crimes previously committed, resulting in death, but not directly relating it to the story he narrates. We can see that all he says is relevant to the play, immediately knowing it is likely to end in tragedy. The following line is taken from Alfieri's first speech: "I am a lawyer. In this neighbourhood to meet a lawyer or a priest on the street is unlucky. We're only connected with disasters and they'd rather not get too close." Alfieri, by saying he is connected with disasters, creates the scene for the play being a tragedy on only the 6th line. He mentions that to meet him on the street
is unlucky, which is where he is standing. Later on he says that he is inclined to notice the ruins in things suggesting that the reason for the play ending the way it does is because there is something more deeply underlying wrong that only he notices - another clue to the characters' fate. Perhaps the most significant line, though, in his speech is: "…Powerless as I, and watched it run it's bloody course." Until now, we have not known what kind of tragedy the play will be but this line gives us only one answer. Although it still isn't ...
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is unlucky, which is where he is standing. Later on he says that he is inclined to notice the ruins in things suggesting that the reason for the play ending the way it does is because there is something more deeply underlying wrong that only he notices - another clue to the characters' fate. Perhaps the most significant line, though, in his speech is: "…Powerless as I, and watched it run it's bloody course." Until now, we have not known what kind of tragedy the play will be but this line gives us only one answer. Although it still isn't said, Alfieri's words so show us that justice is something very important to the Sicilians and when somebody, especially family, goes against this justice, Death is probably the result. Several lines at the beginning show the Sicilian ‘rules’ and way of life: “The less you trust, the less you be sorry” “I don’t care what the question is. You - don’t – know – nothin’.’” He also says he is powerless as if the character's destiny is already mapped out and is a path they must inevitably take. This idea continues throughout his other lines during the play. An example of where Eddie Carbone's destiny seems inevitable could be: "I remember him now as he walked through my doorway - His eyes were like tunnels" After Alfieri's introduction to the play the first person we see is Eddie. The reader may also associate him with Alfieri's previous description of the "bloody course" which is to follow and connect him with the tragedy. Throughout his lines, Alfieri fixates only on Eddie. We know already that Alfieri is narrating a tragedy from what he has just portrayed of the plot but this is something that tells us who is at the centre and cause of the event. As the play and the plot develop we begin to see Eddie as the unstoppable tragic hero with his stubborn ways and love for Catherine as his fatal flaw. This presents the most likely character destined for tragedy and is shown when Alfieri talks about Eddie after he has left the office on page 35: "…like a dark figure walking down a hall toward a certain door…I knew where he was going to end." On Alfieri's third appearance between the scenes he builds the suspense when saying: "Now as the weeks passed, there was a future, there was a trouble that would not go away." The suspense increases each time Alfieri appears and each time he talks in the past tense about only Eddie we begin to sense that a tragic event is nearing. Alfieri is looking back in perspective and narrates the play in the past tense. This indicates that the play is a tragedy in that the characters may no longer live where the play is situated or have died. The audience shares Alfieri's feelings for the events, seen as flashbacks, making the sense of tragedy more evident. As the play progresses there are many times when the audience know far more about the consequences of the characters actions than they do, along with Alfieri. He sees the story as events that were destined to happen and could not be prevented and knows the path that the family, especially Eddie, will follow. The following definition is taken from a dictionary: "…(Tragic irony) language having a meaning or implication for those who understand different from the ostensible one, or different from that which the speaker is conscious of…" Tragedies are often predictable for the audience or readers through the setting, events and build up of suspense at each scene closer to the end. There is tragic irony in A View from the Bridge in that, despite being obvious to the audience what will happen in the future, the characters still don't see the events on the way, heightens the sense of tragedy until it is almost obvious what each will do next. For example, the audience knows that for Eddie to fight Marco at the end would be tragic but also realise that because of his Sicilian way of life he will anyway. The stage directions throughout A View from the Bridge often say more that the script itself about the characters and also build suspense and a feeling of a tragedy approaching, like Alfieri, but in a different way. Not only do they describe the positions of the characters on the set; they help us identify their feelings. Even before the cousins arrive we can see that the relationship between Eddie and Catherine is not how it should be. The situation is a tragedy waiting to happen and the arrival of Rodolfo and Marco is the trigger for this to begin. Eddie's hidden emotions must be shown at some point and the stage directions demonstrate this in a way that the reader knows almost exactly why it will happen and the consequences. An example of this could be: "Eddie is standing facing the two seated women. First Beatrice smiles, then Catherine, for a powerful emotion is on him, a childish one and a knowing fear, and the tears show in his eyes - and they are shy before the avowal." Miller's stage directions here are describing more than just the expressions of the characters, they are showing Eddie's shyness in confrontations and his inability to express his feelings in serious situations. This also aids the evidence that the play will end in tragedy because we know he will continue to bottle up his jealousy and possessiveness over Catherine until something makes him release them. An imperfect situation cannot have a perfect ending so when this happens we know it is likely to cause him to be angry and do things he may regret. One point in the play when the stage directions portray and image in Eddie's mind better that his actions or lines could is on page 49. The stage directions read: "A phone booth begins to glow on the opposite side of the stage; a faint, lonely blue. Eddie stands up, jaws clenched." The line shows the phone as an image in Eddie's mind, leaving the audience knowing what will happen next. A few lines later the stage directions say: " Eddie is gone. The phone is glowing in light now" The phone has changed from a dream to reality without any words or gestures by the characters. The stage directions are a major theme taking us inside the minds of the characters and helping us predict the ending of the tragedy. They emphasise the inevitability of their destiny and put thoughts across as to what will happen next to the audience. Irony also plays a part in the sense of tragedy when the cousins arrive. Eddie is already having trouble with Catherine growing up and getting a new job, wearing clothes that flaunt her new figure without any love interests from Rodolfo entering on the scene. His feeling for Catherine confuse him and the cousins' moving in could be described as "…an ill-timed or perverse arrival of an event or circumstance due to the feigned good will but actual malice of fate…" At first it appears that all has worked out for the best with Beatrice finally meeting her cousins, Marco sending money home to his poor wife and Rodolfo realising his dream living in New York. When Catherine and Rodolfo fall in love Eddie cannot handle his possessive ways over Catherine which eventually cause worse consequences than if the cousins had not stayed at all. At the end of act one there is an important exchange between Marco and Eddie. This is the first time the audience sees that the tragedy will revolve around these two characters. Eddie is challenging and mocking Rodolfo in a way that only Marco notices. In turn he then protects his younger brother and shows Eddie that he knows what his intentions are and that he refuses to accept them. This is an example of when events take a turn with very few words spoken about the characters feelings. Marco simply lifts a chair awkwardly above his head and holds it there which Eddie is unable to do to show him that in order to all live in one house as family, respect must be shown to everyone, including his brother Rodolfo. With his challenge to Eddie we see a new side of Marco that brings another moment of dramatic tension during the play. It provides hints with Miller ending the act on a definite note that a tragedy will occur in the next act, also revealing the characters that will be at the centre of the action. In conclusion there are clues within A View from the Bridge everywhere from the very beginning that tell the reader and audience that the play is a tragedy. There are few moments in the play when the script suggests otherwise with Alfieri and the character's lines building suspense, tension and a sense of their real feelings left unspoken. Arthur MillerArthur Miller's first success came in 1947 with All My Sons for which he won the New York Drama Critics Circle award. Although it lacked the originality of some of his later works, this family drama, which told the story of a factory owner who caused the death of several American pilots during World War I by selling defective parts to the government, dealt with issues of guilt and dishonesty that Miller would revisit and expand upon in some of his more memorable plays.His next play, Death of a Salesman, stunned audiences with its brilliance and was quickly earmarked as a classic of the modern theatre. It also sparked heated debates over the true nature of tragedy. Some critics criticized Miller for infusing the play with a deep sense of pity for the commonplace salesman Willy Loman. They insisted that Willy was a "little man" and therefore not worthy of the pathos reserved for such tragic heroes as Oedipus and Medea. Miller, however, argued that the tragic feeling is invoked whenever we are in the presence of a character, any character, who is ready to sacrifice his life, if need be, to secure one thing--his sense of personal dignity. And the "little" salesman was determined to do just that, no matter what the cost.Arthur Miller was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1949 for Death of a Salesman. He has come to be considered one of the greatest dramatists in the history of the American Theatre, and his plays, a fusion of naturalistic and expressionistic techniques, continue to be widely produced.
