How does ‘A View from the Bridge’ show manliness, hostility and aggression?
In the play ‘A View from the Bridge’ Eddie Carbone play’s the protagonist. Eddie has a very particular view of what it means to be a man and in this sense is the main example of manliness, hostility and aggression in the play. Manliness, hostility and aggression are a big part of existence and of living in the play. Arthur Miller creates this by using the characters against each other, always challenging each one then the other.
Throughout the play the audience are reminded of Eddies manliness and what he believes to be manly. The audience are fed an idea of what Eddie presumes to be manliness right from the start of the play. Catherine has just told Eddie that she has got a job as a stenographer, but Eddie thinks that she should stay at school. Catherine then uses the argument that she’ll be earning $50 a week. Eddie reacts angrily to this “look did I ask you for money” and then claims, “I supported you this long I can support you a little more” this gives the indication that Eddie believes that a man should be supporting the family and should go out of his way to make sure his niece doesn’t need to go to work. Eddie then gives his views of manliness by judging Rodolfo’s way of living in an argument with Beatrice about Rodolfo’s friendliness with Catherine. Beatrice thinks he is a nice boy but Eddie doesn’t like him because “he sings on the ships, didja know that” he then goes on to say that the other men think the same way as him because “they’re callin’ him…paper doll, they’re callin’ him Canary. He’s like a weird” Beatrice then argues with Eddie that he is adjusting to American life but Eddie begins to compare him to his brother Marco “why don’t his brother sing Marco goes around like a man; nobody kids Marco”. This is showing that Marco is what he views as a man and Rodolfo isn’t. Later Eddie talks to Alfieri, his lawyer, about what he can do to stop Rodolfo seeing/marrying Catherine. He tells Alfieri “the guy ain’t right” he claims that the fact that Rodolfo “…is a blond guy” and “…if you close the paper fist - you could blow him over” This is saying that to be manly a man should not only act like a man but must look like a man. This is backed up when he says that Rodolfo sings like a woman “…sometime he hits a note…I mean – high” and “…if you came in the house…you wouldn’t be lookin’ for a him you be lookin’ for her” Eddie keeps on complaining about how Rodolfo makes dresses and a man shouldn’t be making dresses he should be buying them “he takes the dress…cuts it up; one-two-three he makes a new dress”. In Act two Eddie shows again what it means to be a man. He fights Rodolfo and pins his arm. Catherine is watching and he is trying to show her that Rodolfo isn’t a man because he can’t break Eddies grip. He then tells Alfieri about it and explains why Rodolfo isn’t a man “I’m tellin’ you I know – he ain’t right. Somebody that don’t want to break your grip can break it…he didn’t give me the right kind of fight… Mr Alfieri the guy ain’t right”. This is showing that Eddie believes that a man should be strong and if he wants to protect his woman he should fight for her.
