Examine the ideas of manliness, hostility and aggression in the play, 'A View From the Bridge'. How are these ideas connected?
Examine the ideas of manliness, hostility and aggression in the play, 'A View From the Bridge'. How are these ideas connected?
Today hostility is viewed upon as wrong, when "A View From the Bridge" was written, hostility made up part of the day-to-day running of people in this era. Today women are treated as equals and any discrimination is taken incredibly seriously, in the time the play written, women had very few rights and were constantly stereotyped and abused.
Manliness, hostility and aggression play an important role in the play, 'A View From the Bridge'. Each character has a different view on what it means to be manly and what manliness is. Eddie, the main character around which the play revolves, has a very specific view of what manliness exactly is. When other character's views clash with his own ideals, he reacts, violently in most cases. Another character, Marco, demonstrates masculine characteristics and makes Eddie feel threatened, these connect the ideas of manliness, hostility and aggression. I will look at this particular area, and others later in the essay.
The play, itself, is set in the Red Hook, slum area of Brooklyn, New York during the 1950s. It focuses around the immigration of Italian people, searching for the American Dream, however many if these 'dreams' were shattered with the tragedy and poverty that befell the people of that area. The area of Red Hook is also renowned for its infamous gangsters such as Al Capone, John Torrio and Frankie Yale.
Another character in the play, Alfieri, plays a similar part to a chorus, similar to ones in Greek plays, narrating the play and commenting on events; he also plays a part in the play as a lawyer and a family friend. He is essential to the structure of the play as he opens and closes it and at other times moves the action quickly forward.
In the beginning of the play, Alfieri sets the scene; he seems to set an ominous presence on the play, 'In Calabria perhaps or on the cliff at Syracuse, another lawyer, ...
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Another character in the play, Alfieri, plays a similar part to a chorus, similar to ones in Greek plays, narrating the play and commenting on events; he also plays a part in the play as a lawyer and a family friend. He is essential to the structure of the play as he opens and closes it and at other times moves the action quickly forward.
In the beginning of the play, Alfieri sets the scene; he seems to set an ominous presence on the play, 'In Calabria perhaps or on the cliff at Syracuse, another lawyer, quite differently dressed, heard the same complaint and sat there as powerless as I, and watched it run its bloody course.'
Eddie sees many things to be manly as well as many things to be effeminate. He considers the following things manly such as strength, 'Come on, kid, put sump'm behind it, you cant hurt me.' and Authority, 'Just get outta here and don't lay a finger on her unless you wanna go out feet first.' He also thinks protection is manly, 'This guy ain't right Beatrice.' However his avoidance of his personal feelings also fall into Eddies version of masculinity, 'I don't know, B. I don't want talk about it.'
He considers the things like singing to be effeminate. After Rodolpho sings Paper Doll, Eddie tells him 'Because we never had no singers here' this could be viewed in different ways. It could be either seen as he is simply trying to stop them getting noticed or that he doesn't like him singing, however later in the stage directions it says: 'Eddie is downstage, watching as she pours a spoonful of sugar into his cup, his faced puffed with trouble, and the room dies.' He also thinks that Rodolpho is effeminate in the way that he acts. 'He just ain't right, ya' know what I mean?'
Rodolpho can be seen in many ways to be unmanly or effeminate, he sings, makes dresses for Catherine, wishes to become an actor/dancer/singer, wishes to visit Broadway 'I want to visit Broadway and see the lights Eddie.'
Marco is very masculine in some ways. He is strong 'Marco is face to face with Eddie, a strained tension gripping his eyes and jaw, his neck stiff, the chair raised like a weapon over Eddie's head,' He is quiet, unlike Eddie, 'He never speaks.'
There is a link between the three traits, aggression, hostility and manliness. Eddie will get aggressive if people don't conform to his way of thinking, and this will also include hostility and not always to the intended people. Eddie himself struggles with expressing himself in any other way than violence because he is not very educated; this causes internal frustration and causes him to lash out with violence. In contrast with Eddy, Alfiari (the chorus like character, who is similar to that of Henry V's, who speeds up the play) who is educated and a man of the law, reserved and careful. In the final scene, the fight between Eddie and Marco involves hostility and aggression due to manliness, as Eddie wants his "respect" and he wants "his name back". Another trait of manliness: honour. However Eddie betrays Marco and Rodolpho by tipping off the Immigration Bureau, 'I want to report something. Illegal immigrants. Two of them.'
In this play women don't play any particular part, accept for objects of affection, arguing points and stereotypical "slaves". They are also victims of male aggression and hostility, Beatrice also believes that the female characters are also responsible for the tragedy that befalls the male characters, "Whatever happened we all done it, and don't you forget it, Catherine." Women in this era, were forced into these roles, they had few rights and were treated poorly.
I believe that the play is well written and it was a success. The author had spent a number of years in these conditions and knew what it felt like for these people. The characters in the play were well formed and each person was totally independent from the others. However at the end of the play, just before Marco stabs Eddie, there is little suspension, leaving much to be desired for the ending. The play does also relate to many of today's issues. People are still quite homophobic (however homosexuals are becoming more and more integrated into today's society) and due to large amounts of immigrants coming into the country people of Britain are becoming more xenophobic towards those societies. Much in the same way as the era Eddie lived in.