Examine the Manliness, Hostility and Aggression in ‘A View from the Bridge’. How are these ideas connected?
In ‘A view from the bridge’, manliness, hostility and aggression is very important because this is what the whole story line revolves around. Eddie, the protagonist, has a very particular view of what it means to be a man and when other men don’t conform to what Eddie defines as manly it leads to conflict, this is evident with Rodolpho. Conflict also results when Eddie feels threatened by men that demonstrate conventionally ‘masculine’ characteristics, namely Marco. Hostility,
aggression and masculinity are the main themes which influence the
mood of the play and the way they are associated with each other allow
an increase in tension in the minds of the reader.
During the play Eddie displays conflict where a man isn’t being masculine enough and also when a man shows too strong masculine characteristics. From these moments of conflict it is evident what Eddie actually means by “manly”. Eddie is the play’s main character who has very distinct views on what
a man should be like. He feels it is necessary for a man to be
aggressive and to use violence in order to state his authority and
power. This is evident when he asks Catherine “What’s the high heels
for, Garbo?” Eddie asks this in a very sarcastic manor, however, he is
fully aware that he wants things his own way. He perhaps also thinks that a man would always look at a pretty woman in a sexual way rather than just another person; this is shown when he says there are “bad men” at Catherine’s workplace. Other criteria that Eddie thinks what a proper man should be are: Physically Strong, have respect, Works hard and is dominating. Eddie also shows hostility towards Rodolpho alot during the play, he is found to call Rodolpho a lot of names, ‘Blondie’, ‘Paper Doll’ and ‘Son of a Bitch’.
