Eddie has a very particular view of what it means to be a man. When other characters do not conform to his ideas of manliness it leads to conflict as is the case with Rodolpho. Conflict also results when Marco, does demonstrate conventional masculine characteristics in such a way to make Eddie feel threatened and intimidated.
This method used by Arthur Miller to build feelings and create atmosphere in the beginning of the play through the ideas of importance of Manliness, Hostility and Aggression. These expressions and feelings are all linked in a triangular form as one leads to the other and vice versa. Through this method he has set out and paved the way for the tensions. We sense jealousy, envy and abit of hate from Eddie, as if he feels that soon he will be forgotten or not paid any attention to from his family.
There is establishment of atmosphere in the play of which traditional Sicilian law contradicts constitutional law. Alfieri introduces his thoughts of two types of justice – traditional Sicilian community justice and the constitutional law. Its ideological, a conflict between Alfieri and Eddie. There are two types of law in Red Hook, the written law, (Alfieri) and the unwritten law (Eddies) which is lead by the community of Red Hook. The community of Red hook wants to police themselves without outside interference. Community Justice is swifter and more brutal.
We cans see this when Alfieri tells Marco, “Only God makes justice”, trying to prevent Marco from taking the law into his own hands. However, really he is powerless to change what he knows is inevitable. Even though he can explain the law to Eddie and Marco, he knows deep down that they will do what their code of honour requires.
Other examples of cultural and constitutional law being conveyed can be widely seen such as "To promise not to kill is not dishonourable." and "If he obeys the law, he lives. That's all." which back constitutional law. Examples backing cultural law can be seen in the play. "I want my respect." Eddie says.
"The law is only a word for what has right to happen." which is an example that backs both laws
These steps have been carefully placed throughout the timeline of the play specifically in the first act for the purpose of engage the audience. There is also the approach that Arthur Miller has taken to present the characters by their use of language; actions; attitudes and social status. This is to give an insight into the characters and lets the audience see them from all angles. Examples of this are;
"Katie, I promised your mother on her deathbed. I'm responsible for you. You're a baby, you don't understand these things."
This is showing the overprotective and caring side of Eddie.
"My wife has warned me, so have my friends; they tell me the people in this neighbourhood lack elegance, glamour."
This indicates that Alfieri thinks that he won't get anywhere from helping out the people of his neighbourhood.
"…she's no baby no more…she's seventeen years old, you gonna keep her in the house all her life?"
This is showing Beatrice being straight forward and firm when replying to Eddie.
"And he says to me that I'm the best student in the whole class-"
This is showing Catherine's confidence.
Eddie is constantly self-interested, wanting to promote and protect his innocence. Eddie creates a fictional fantasy world where his absurd decisions make sense – where calling the Immigration Bureau in the middle of an Italian community that prides itself on protecting illegal immigrants has no repercussions. In Eddie's world, he imagines protecting Catherine from marriage or any male relationship and wants her for himself. While Eddie wavers and switches between communal and state laws and cultures, his motivation does not change.
Eddie constantly looks out for himself at the expense of the others and is ruled by personal love and guilt. Eddie does not realize his feeling for Catherine because he has constructed an imagined world where he can suppress his urges. This suppression is what devastates Eddie. Because he has no outlet for his feelings – even in his own conscious mind – Eddie transfers his energy to a hatred of Marco and Rodolpho and causes him to act irrationally. Eddie's final need to secure or retrieve his good name from Marco is a result of Eddie's failure to protect Catherine from Marco. Eddie fails in his life, but seeks redemption and victory in death. By avenging Marco, Eddie believes he will regain his pride in the community- another wholly self-interested act. Eddie escaped restraint because he escaped all thoughts of other people or the community at large. Eddie's “wholeness” is a whole interest in him. Eddie's tragic flaw is the bubble, the constructed world he exists within, but is unable to escape or recognize.
The dram builds up when Eddie finds out about Catherine's new job as it shows his protective side and shows the other ill-fated emotions of his character. This is important as it starts the chronological chain of emotions which lead to the general outline of Eddies declining fortune, which soon leads to his death and this is something that Arthur Miller tries to show to the audience. Although throughout the play, Beatrice has utmost respect for Eddie, Eddie doesn't want to seem to see it this way. During an argument Eddie tells Beatrice ' I want my respect', then a little while after says ' I don't like the way you talk to me, Beatrice'. He doesn't want to admit to himself that he knows Beatrice is only looking out for Catherine's best interests (going to work, going out with Rodolpho). He just sees Beatrice against him, therefore she is losing respect. In the Italian community, a wife should do as her husband says and what Eddie says, is correct. Things like this drive him further in his want for Catherine; he is acting on Instinct, not thinking rationally.
Arthur Miller has done well with using the protagonist and his test of circumstances to determine the tragic flaw and confirm the tragic genre of this play.
After Eddie, Alfieri is probably the most important role in the play. He is, of course, in some of the action, as Eddie consults him. This is essential, as it explains how he has come to know the story. Arthur Miller has said that he wanted to make this play a modern equivalent of classical Greek tragedy. In ancient plays, an essential part was that of the chorus: a group of figures who would watch the action, comment on it, and address the audience directly.
The similarities between 'A view from the bridge' and a Greek tragedy can be traced in different forms. From a Greek chorus, the similarity there is with Alfieri, who predicts the tragic end and talks about himself. With the protagonist, the similarity is with Eddie and his tragic flaws; liking Catherine and telling on Marco and Rodolpho. For the action the similarity is with the fact that the setting takes place in one place – the house.
In 'A View from the Bridge,' Alfieri is the equivalent of the chorus. He introduces the action as a retelling of events already in the (recent) past. By giving details of place, date or time, he enables the action to move swiftly from one episode to another, without the characters having to give this information. This is often skilfully mixed with brief comment:
“He was as good a man as he had to be...he brought home his pay, and he lived. And towards ten o clock of that night, after they had eaten, the cousins came.” Because much of this is fact, we believe the part which is opinion.
Alfieri as the chorus/narrator need never leave the stage. Stage directions refer not to exit and entrances but to the light going down or coming up on Alfieri at his desk, as we switch from the extended bouts of action (flashbacks to Alfieri) to the interludes which allow him to comment, to move forward in time, and give brief indications of circumstantial detail. The events depicted are immediate, passionate and confused. But the audience has an ambiguous view. In the extended episodes of action we may forget, as Marco lifts the chair, or as Eddie kisses Rodolpho, that Alfieri is narrating. What we see is theatrical and exciting: we are involved as spectators. But at the end of the episode, as the light goes up on Alfieri, we are challenged to make a judgment. If Eddie, as we see him, appeals to our hearts, Alfieri makes sure we also judge with out heads.
We can see that Arthur Miller has been successful in producing a play that can be considered as a Modern Greek tragedy with the role of Alfieri and the similarities his role has with that in Greek tragedies.
We also trust a lawyer to be a good judge of character and rational, because he is professionally detached. Alfieri is not quite detached; however his connection with Eddie is slight: “I had represented his father in an accident case some years before, and I was acquainted with the family in a casual way.” But in the next interlude, Alfieri tells us how he is so disturbed, that he consults a wise old woman, who tells him to pray for Eddie.
When Alfieri couldn't do anything for Eddie, Eddie calls the immigration Bureau. Eddie commits the injustice, which he was so against at the start of the play. Eddie is on his last legs and when the officers came for the cousins, Marco knew, using the Italian instinct, he knew that Eddie had called the Bureau. Marco therefore made a large show, telling everyone in the street what Eddie had done. By this time, Catherine hated Eddie, but Beatrice still stood by his side, the gesture of a true wife.
By this time, the climax has been reached and Marco insults Eddie, and accuses him of killing his children. Catherine goes with Rodolpho to Alfieri to get Marco bail. Catherine still wants Eddie to come to her wedding, but Eddie's pride prevents it and prevents Beatrice from going. Marco after a surge of anger finds Eddie and Eddie tries to stab Marco, but Marco turns the knife and Eddie dies. As all the events fall into place, Eddie's last words were, 'my B!' This shows that he was caring and he finally told Beatrice in two words how much she meant to him, the Eddie way.
The stage directions throughout the opening scene often say more that the script itself about the characters and also build suspense and a feeling of a tragedy approaching, like Alfieri, but in a different way. Not only do they describe the positions of the characters on the set; they help us identify their feelings. Even before the cousins arrive we can see that the relationship between Eddie and Catherine is not how it should be. The situation is a tragedy waiting to happen and the arrival of Rodolpho and Marco is the trigger for this to begin. Eddie's hidden emotions must be shown at some point and the stage directions demonstrate this in a way that the reader knows almost exactly why it will happen and the consequence. An example of this could be:
“Eddie is standing facing the two seated women. First Beatrice smiles, then Catherine smiles, for a powerful emotion is on him, a childish one and knowing fear, and the tears show in his eyes”.
Miller's stage directions here are describing more than just the expressions of the characters; they are showing Eddie's shyness in confrontations and his inability to express his feelings in serious situations. This also aids the evidence that the play will end in tragedy because we know he will continue to bottle up his jealousy and assurance over Catherine until something makes him release them. An imperfect situation cannot have a perfect ending so when this happens we know it is likely to cause him to be angry and do things he may regret.
The device of depicting Italian and Sicilian immigrants enables Miller to make them more or less articulate in English. Only Alfieri is a properly articulate, educated speaker of American English: for this reason he can explain Eddie's actions to us, but not to Eddie, who does not really speak his language. Eddie uses a naturalistic Brooklyn slang (“quicker” for “more quickly”, “stole” for “stolen” and so on). His speech is simple, but at the start of the play is more colourful, as he tells Catherine she is “walkin' way” and as he calls her “Madonna”. Catherine's speech is more often in grammatically standard forms, but not always. Her meekness is shown in the frequency which her speeches begin with “yeah”, agreeing with, or qualifying, Eddie's comments. Rodolpho speaks with unnatural exactness. The words are all English but the phrases are not idiomatic. He recalls vivid details of his life in Sicily, and he is given to poetic comparisons, as when he likens Catherine to “a little bird” that has not been allowed to fly. Marco has to think before she can speak in whole phrases or sentences; this means he says little, which, on stage, reinforces two ideas: that Marco is thoughtful and that he is a man of action rather than words.
In my opinion Arthur Miller has used various and distinctive devices to establish character and atmosphere with his view of Realism. He has been successful throughout the whole establishment of the structures within the play. We know he was successful in producing an excellent standard of a play to his target audience making it appealing and eye-catching to them.
The first scene of Act One was very important and substantial to the play as it was a major stepping stone and contributor to the rest of the play being able to take place. Many feelings and tensions were born in the first scene which later grew up to produce an impact on the play.
I think and strongly feel that the first scene makes it apparent that the play will end in tragedy. It hints and gives away the rest of the play while only giving the readers the early years of the emotions in the first scene. Arthur Miller has used the methods and techniques available wisely.
A strongly written play.
