Extended Study on ‘A View From The Bridge – Arthur Miller’
Extended Study on 'A View From The Bridge - Arthur Miller'
* Stage Portrait
"The street and house-front of a tenement building. The front is skeletal entirely. The main acting area is the living-room-dining-room of Eddie's apartment. It is a worker's flat, clean, sparse, homely. There is a rocker down front; a round dining-table at centre, with chairs; and a portable phonograph.
At the back are a bedroom door and an opening to the kitchen; none of these interiors is seen.
At the right, forestage, a desk. This is Mr Alfieri's law office.
There is also a telephone booth. This is not used until the last scenes, so it may not be covered or left in view.
A stairway leads up to the apartment, and then farther up to the next storey, which is not seen.
Ramps, representing the street, run upstage and off to the right and left."
Arthur Miller, born in 1915, wrote this play in 1955. It is set in Brooklyn, New York, in the late 1940's. Its main focus is on an Italian-American family, and the issues they face. It has a strong pedigree with an American immigrant story base. The 'view from the bridge' is in a way the audience sitting on the fence watching the merging of this American culture dissolving the passions and identities of its inhabitants.
* Character's
He introduces us to the following characters:
o Alfieri is used as the narrator of the play. He guides the audience along with background information, and towards the unfolding events with an unbiased overview. He helps to give us a balanced opinion of each of the characters.
o Eddie is the writer's symbol. He is the main focus, the protagonist, to each of the characters (his relationship with Beatrice falls apart, his true feelings for Catherine are revealed, jealousy of Rodolpho and Marco's rival).
o Beatrice seems to be the link to all of the important characters (the wife of Eddie, aunt of Catherine, and cousin to the immigrants Rodolpho and Marco). She keeps the peace between them, and shows deep emotion for each of them.
o Catherine, otherwise referred to as Katie, is a young adult of 17. She realizes the need for her to act like she's a lady and to find her own life, take charge and do what she wants to do.
o Rodolpho is the life of the play, loving life and having a big personality. He finds another problem, besides Eddie's opposition to him, because of his talents to sing, cook and sew that leads others to think he is a homosexual.
o Marco plays the antagonist that in the end kills Eddie. His quiet character ...
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o Catherine, otherwise referred to as Katie, is a young adult of 17. She realizes the need for her to act like she's a lady and to find her own life, take charge and do what she wants to do.
o Rodolpho is the life of the play, loving life and having a big personality. He finds another problem, besides Eddie's opposition to him, because of his talents to sing, cook and sew that leads others to think he is a homosexual.
o Marco plays the antagonist that in the end kills Eddie. His quiet character suspiciously passes through the play pre-occupied with other thoughts. He tries to keep the peace within the families, but in the end he challenges Eddie's authority.
Miller's use of language for the character's has an effect on how we see progress of the characters psychologically; whether they develop a sense of doom, love, jealousy or betrayal. Marco talks about his family back in Italy, "the older one is sick in his chest. My wife - she feeds them from her own mouth. I tell you the truth ... they eat the sunshine", giving us a sense of his background, personality and his opinions. Catherine really demonstrates how naïve she is through her speech. She states, "I don't understand ... Please, tell me ... Well I forgot," and they are all examples of how her character is innocent and young in mind, and doesn't understand things going on around her that she should be able to comprehend.
Stage directions make an even greater impact on the performance. Each character has their own style, and way of carrying themselves, which adds to the believability and realism of the stage show. A particularly good impression of this is in Act Two where the Immigration Officers come to take away the illegal immigrants, otherwise known as Beatrice's cousins. We can really see the emotions of the character's flooding out, "CATHERINE stands motionless, uncomprehending ... staring at him in a realized horror." This can raise the tension in the audience, absorbing them into the world that the act creates. It also has more of an impact; for instance, Miller could have written, "MARCO walks freely to EDDIE and spits," but instead he wrote, "MARCO suddenly breaks free from the group and dashes into the room and faces EDDIE ... MARCO spits into EDDIE's face."
* Stage
This is basically how I imagine the stage to be set up according to the description at the beginning of Act One. It is quite spaced out, giving the audience a larger area to watch, to keep their attention for longer. What is put on the stage and the size of each area is important to create the realism of the drama. Miller's use of props in the play is very specific and limited, as I mentioned before. Arthur Miller very effectively describes and includes only essential play details. This gives those performing a chance to add individual characteristics through extra props.
The layout describes only the indispensable parts and props of the stage. Throughout the play, one by one, we see the relevance of each bit to the plot:
o "Now CATHERINE gets up and puts a record on the phonograph - Paper Doll." This is where the phonograph in their apartment plays an important role, as Catherine uses it to challenge Eddie's authority by dancing with Rodolpho, or Rodolpho with Catherine.
o The main story of how the personalities of these characters clash or merge happen at the dining table. It is the place where they discuss "oranges are orange" and "lemons are green." Eddie implies that Rodolpho is hiding his sexuality, trying to be someone he's not; by saying that "they paint the oranges to make them look orange."
o The rocking chair comes into focus especially when Eddie is distressed, contemplating or when he's going crazy over his unhealthy obsession with Catherine, possibly symbolizing his feelings or attitude at the time. "EDDIE is alone in the rocker, rocking back and forth in little surges," explains Eddie's emotions.
So, although these objects are mentioned only once or twice, they play a big part in setting the atmosphere and emphasizing details rather than having them said, also being effective as they are few.
The lights show the change of scenes, especially on Alfieri, when events unfold. "The lights have gone down, leaving him in a glow, while behind the dull prayers of the people and keening of the women continue," not only brings the focus off the drama's climax, but keeps the solemn mood of sorrow in the background. They also highlight important parts of the play, "A phone booth beings to glow on the opposite side of the stage; a faint, lonely blue." It shows different places or areas of the stage. But it could have been used even more to explain certain times of the day, or feelings and emotions of specific characters.
*
Issues
The play feels like a formulaic tale that's been constructed around ideas, rather than a story of flesh-and-blood people. For instance, the storyline blanks out any other things outside this main story like:
o The Carbone's childless marriage
o Katie's birth father
o Eddie's side of the family.
Miller covers some taboo issues and irony that make it more interesting and intriguing, as they were at that time viewed as wrong to have seen in a theatrical production:
o At times, Eddie was so convinced that Rodolpho was a homosexual and that he was unsuitable for Catherine that he practically stated it several times, "that guy ain't right" and in the scene where "RODOLPHO flies at him in attack. EDDIE pins his arms, laughing, and suddenly kisses him ... he laughs mockingly at RODOLPHO."
o The end sequence where Eddie battles with Marco is an imperative part of the play where the knife that ends Eddie's life seems to represent his self-destructive nature, where his feelings drove him to such drastic actions that it eventually led to death. From the time when Marco faces up to Eddie's authority by lifting up the chair by the bottom of one of the it's legs, and "MARCO is face to face with EDDIE ... he transforms what might appear like a glare of warning into a smile of triumph, and EDDIE's grin vanishes as he absorbs his look." Marco proved his strength, and that he's not afraid of Eddie, warning him to 'back off'. This could possibly have symbolized the fight at the end of the dramatic piece.
o Earlier mentioned was Beatrice's link to all of the characters. But in the end, ironically she's left with no one (as Eddie was killed, Catherine gets married to Rodolpho, and Marco is likely taken to court or sent back to Italy for the crime he had committed).
o Catherine's close relationship with Eddie shown at the beginning of the play is torn down gradually. It disintegrates from her being vulnerable as she was 'almost in tears' when he disapproved of her, to her realizing her opportunity to become a lady and to defend herself, especially against Eddie.
o Even after Alfieri warns Eddie that, "Put it out of your mind," Eddie carries out his plan to betray Marco and Rodolpho, even going against the rules set by the community. He follows in the footsteps of Vinny Bolzano, in spite of his discussion with Catherine and Beatrice at the beginning about how that incident was disgraceful.
It does bring up real life occurrences, which some can probably relate to. I find that the extremes reached by it make it more of a successful play. It keeps tension, feelings and apprehension on the audience. We see how effectively Arthur Miller presents his plays.
Together, the issues brought out in this play make us question our morals and opinions in our judgement of others. But then what qualifies one set of values above another?
