english miller

Choose two/three scenes from the play and through close reference to the dialogue and stage action. Show how Miller achieves dramatic tension/effects.

The play “A View from the Bridge” was written by Arthur Miller in 1956. The play was set in the late 1940s in the communities of dockworkers and longshoremen of the New York’s Brooklyn harbour. The storyline of “A view from the bridge” is a family called the Carbones, which have let Italian immigrants to live in their household. Eddie Carbone (the head of the household) and Beatrice Carbone (Eddie’s wife) are responsible for look after their niece Catherine. The Italian immigrants, Rodolfo and Marco go to America to achieve the American dream and start a better life. Catherine and Rodolfo fall in love; unfortunately Eddie is unhappy about this affair. This then leads to a tragic ending.

I have chosen three scenes to show how Miller achieves dramatic tension in Act 1, the first is in when Eddie goes to Alfieri to seek advice on what has happened after the immigrants have settled in. Eddie thinks that Rodolfo is unnatural and different from other men. He feels that Rodolfo is trying to seduce Catherine so he can become a permanent citizen. Even though Eddie goes to Alfieri he does not listen to the guidance and the warning Alfieri gives. The other scene I have chosen is in Act 2. In this scene Catherine and Rodolfo are seen to be exiting the bedroom, by Eddie, who is drunk. This causes Eddie to be enraged by what he sees and the knowledge of what has happened before. Eddie tries to prove his love for Catherine and the type of man Rodolfo is supposedly meant to be. The final scene I have chosen is when Eddie goes back to Alfieri to discuss the event that has just taken place. Alfieri warns Eddie and not to do anything that he will regret. Unfortunately once again Eddie doesn’t listen and goes ahead and does the inevitable. I have chase these scenes in the play as they all cleverly link together and create tension not just in each key moment but when linked together they create a dramatic tragedy.

This is a preview of the whole essay

Miller has created much tension in the scene when Eddie goes to Alfieri in act 1. Firstly Miller uses Alfieri to enforce the dramatic scene by, telling the audience what he feels Eddie has done. “His eyes like tunnels; my first thought was that he had committed a crime”. This creates the thought of Eddie doing something terrifying which the audience doesn’t know of. The use of simile emphasises the drama within the moment. It also shows that Eddie is one minded and is not prepared to change his way of thinking towards Rodolfo. Throughout the scene Eddie will interrupt Alfieri whenever he tries to give advice. Then finally Eddie to listen Alfieri “well, they entered illegally. Oh Jesus, no, I wouldn’t do nothin’ about that, I mean-”. Here without a thought Eddie decides that it is unacceptable to tell on the immigrants. “Oh Jesus” is used in Eddies speech as it emphasises that this is undesirable as it not in their culture to do such a thing. However this does cause the audience to suspect something may happen further along in the play involving this event. It has cropped up in the play once before when speaking to Beatrice and Catherine. Towards the end of this scene we realise that Eddie has feelings towards Catherine. He has too much love for Catherine and he is warned by Alfieri about this. “He’s stealing her from me!” “(Furiously) what’re you talking about, marry me! I don’t know what the hell you talking about (pause)”. This demonstrates how Miller uses the scene to convey the true relationship between Eddie and his niece. Furthermore the use of the stage direction “(furiously)” suggests that Eddie is being more defensive and stressed about the situation. The author empathises this by using dialect. Another point is in both dialogues exclamation marks have been use suggesting Eddie is shouting.

Dramatic tension is built up in Act 2, as Eddie then comes into the apartment after he has been drinking. Miller has cleverly used dramatic irony to raise the tension towards the critical moment. “he mounts the stairs. He enters the apartmment, looks around, takes out a bottle from one pocket, puts it on the table. Then another bottle from another pocket, and a third from an inside pocket”. This is then comparable to the following outrageous actions of the uncle towards his niece. “He reaches out……to…….each waiting for the others mood”. The stage directions are effectively short to create more build up to the sudden moment. Here you can see Eddie is uncontrollable over his behaviour and is trying to show his feelings for his niece. Many people may interrupt this is different ways, and the audience’s impression of Eddie are completely changed from sympathy to one of disgust. In addition to this all the sentence length are short and snappy. This shows there is direct speech to one another, only important phrases are said or used. Also many of the sentences are finished with an exclamation mark. This provides the information to the reader that the characters are shouting. Additionally this links to the key moment made before, about Eddie having too much love for his niece.

The final scene is the outcome of the previous dramatic moments. This scene has been created very skilfully by the play write. Alfieri has the begging speech and creates a sense of darkness and betrayal. “But I will never forget how dark…….to…….. had really happened”. Also the phrase “his eyes like tunnels” has already been used before in the play creates the sense that Eddie has not changed in the way of his thinking. He is still determined after what he has done to make sure Rodolfo and Catherine do not get married to one another. Alfieri also tells Eddie what he has done is unnatural and is also directly warning him not to do anything stupid. “When the law…….to…… put it out of your mind! Eddie!” the pauses and the stage direction slowly build up and increase the tension. The sentence length in much longer and complex, however with many more pauses to create time to think and respond. As the readers take in this information Eddie then suddenly deceives the culture and the society he lives in. He calls the immigration bureau.

There are many ways Miller has created dramatic tension/effect. Also it is used throughout the text of the play. Without this Miller wouldn’t have been able to achieve the suspense and the drama in the play, to make the story line interesting.

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