How does Arthur Miller present family loyalty and conflict in A View from the Bridge?

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A View from The Bridge                                Page  of

How does Arthur Miller present family loyalty and conflict in A View from the Bridge?

A View from the bridge is a play comprised of many complicated and intertwined relationships in 1940’s New York. As the main male characters are Italian, they have ancient moral values pertaining to loyalty and trust; not just within the home environment but within the wider community as well.

Eddie Carbone, and his wife Beatrice, are the two homeowners who accepted Beatrice’s niece and immigrant cousins into their home. It is suggested that Beatrice and Eddie have been together for a considerable time and are, at the moment, not very happy with each other:

“Beatrice: What do you want from me? They’re moved out, what do you want now?

 Eddie: I want my respect!

 Beatrice: So I moved them out, what more do you want? You got your house now, you got your respect.

 Eddie: I don’t like the way you talk to me Beatrice.”

There is an obvious loyalty to Eddie from Beatrice as they are married, but they clearly have different opinions on “The Submarines”, as this is the cause of the argument. Eddie expects Beatrice to accept his decision and not question his authority; as it was uncommon in those days for a wife to have their own opinion, let alone question her husband.

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If we look at the relationship between Beatrice and Catherine, we can see that even though they are loyal to each other like mother-daughter, Beatrice dislikes the closeness of Eddie and Catherine’s relationship:

“But if you act like a baby and he be treatin’ you like a baby. Like when he comes home sometimes you throw yourself at him like when you was twelve years old.”

As we can see, Beatrice disapproves of the actions of Catherine towards Eddie, regarding them as immature. There is also a possibility that Beatrice is jealous of Catherine:

“Beatrice:        You still ...

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