Discuss the importance of stage directions in A View from the bridge and what they reveal to the audience about the character of Eddie Carbone.

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Rio Poulton

20th July 2009

Discuss the importance of stage directions in ‘A View from the bridge’ and what they reveal to the audience about the character of Eddie Carbone.

 ‘A view from the bridge’ has very important stage directions as in any sort of drama. They tell the character what to do and can also tell the audience the emotion of the character too. If the play did not have any stage directions the play would be motionless and the audience would not understand what is going on. The stage directions are very detailed and very prescriptive. The play was written in the 1950’s and the fact that the stage directions are very detailed means that the play, even in another 50 years time, it will be performed exactly how Miller wanted them to and will look and be performed how it was the first time it was performed. That is one of the reasons why Miller made his stage directions so detailed so that when it was performed over and over again it would look the same as he intended it to be. Also as the stage directions are so clear the actors will find it a lot easier to understand and perform what they are supposed to perform. This gives us a better understanding of how Miller wanted it to be performed as the stage directions are so specific.

       Eddie Carbone, the protagonist of the play, follows the rules of the Sicilian code of conduct very strongly. People who follow the Sicilian Code of conduct believe that men should be in charge of the house, they are the people in the house who lay down the rules and are very protective of members of the family but they are also the ones who provide for the people in their family. Whereas women on the other hand are seen more as housewives, they are the members of the house that cook, clean, make sure that the men are happy and obey by what ever the man says. Women do the domestic chores around the house. The Sicilian Code of conduct also means that you do not trust the law and you take it into your own hands if anything goes wrong. The family come first and then community, they are the most important things to someone who follows the Sicilian Code of Conduct. They are also very content with what they have, this means that they do not fight for the best and that they are happy with what they have got. Throughout the play, Eddie’s feelings are not revealed in words, the audience learn about Eddie’s feelings by his actions on stage. The audience learn that Eddie is nervous as the stage direction is “strangely nervous”, this is shown to us on page 18. As these are the stage directions, this would mean that he would have to act this feeling out and the audience can see he is nervous by the way his body language and facial expression.

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       Eddie Carbone’s home is a “workers flat, clean, sparse, homely”. A worker’s flat indicates that it’s not very glamorous and that he comes from a working class background and that it doesn’t matter what he has in the house as family comes first. The word “clean” suggests that he takes care in his appearance of his home and what his home looks like. It could also suggest that he has a wife, because in the Sicilian code a women’s job would be to keep the household clean. The “sparse” could again suggest that the people aren’t wealthy ...

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