Following Alfieri’s narration, we are introduced to the Carbone family. Eddie arrives home and is greeted with ‘Hi, Eddie!’ from his niece Catherine. At this point, we as the audience assume they are friends, especially after Catherine’s acknowledgement causes Eddie to be ‘pleased and therefore shy about it’. Later we learn they are family members, ‘Oh, if your mother was alive to see you now!’, Eddie adopts a parental role here, heightening the potential for trouble within this family unit, with roles appearing perverted and distorted. Eddie is presented as having a higher status in the family than Catherine, representing a typical Italian family, that is very patriarchal, with male pride and masculinity being the forefront of the home. Eddie’s disapproval of her outfit results in Catherine being ‘almost in tears’. This suggests Catherine thinks a lot of Eddie’s opinion, and also that she is completely unaware of his incestuous attraction towards her. Eddie’s attraction for Catherine is his fatal flaw, and it is his high status in the home that will be lost.
After the discussion between Eddie and Catherine, ‘BEATRICE enters, wiping her hands with a towel’. This action, however small, shows us as the audience that Beatrice is the home-maker here, suggesting a stable family home to begin with. It tells the audience that Beatrice plays a domestic role in the apartment, whereas Eddie goes out to work each day. These clearly defined roles suggest order, which is worrying for the audience as in a tragedy, it is the normal order of things that is upset by the actions of the tragic hero, namely, Eddie.
Following the family confabulation, Beatrice and Eddie show signs in their dialogue that their marriage is not entirely stable. Unequal dynamics are apparent in the marriage, they have disagreements and neither of the two are fulfilling their roles correctly in the others’ eyes. ‘She hurries out. There is a slight pause, and EDDIE turns to BEATRICE, who has been avoiding his gaze’, this suggests that Beatrice is perhaps scared of Eddie when he is angry. Eddie then asks Beatrice ‘Why are you mad at me lately?’, which is Miller’s way of suggesting that they have not been on good terms for a while. The audience senses the building tension in the room, which is worsened by Beatrice’s short, curt replies such as, ‘Who’s mad?’ ‘I’m not mad’ ‘You’re the one is mad’ as she carries out various domestic roles, ‘She gets up, clearing the dishes’. We are witnessing the beginning of the breakdown of a marriage in the home, rocking the stable set up and allowing more ground for tragedy to take place.
The balance in the home is even further upset by the arrival of the male cousins, Marco and Rodolfo, ‘Marco and Rodolfo enter, removing their caps’. They are quickly welcomed into the home by Beatrice, ‘touching her chest with her hand’, ‘I’ll get you coffee’, perhaps suggesting that she is glad to have new people in the home, it gives some relief from the previous tension between her and Eddie. Catherine flirts with Rodolfo, ‘He’s a real blond!’, and even goes over Eddie’s authority following Rodolfo’s singing, where Eddie says ‘Hey, kid-hey, wait a minute-’ following which Catherine interrupts with ‘Leave him finish, it’s beautiful!’. The implications of this are that Catherine is beginning to be more outspoken with Eddie, and even in this small moment, she has chosen Rodolfo over Eddie, perhaps foreshadowing what is to come. Eddie’s position of alpha male in the home has been jeopardised from the arrival of the cousins, ‘his face is puffed with trouble’, Miller is emphasising the fragility of the family unit, and just how easily it can begin to breakdown.
‘When am I gonna be a wife again, Eddie?’. The family roles are shown to be further upset following a very personal argument between Eddie and Catherine. Eddie has been metaphorically removed from Catherine here, he is slowly becoming isolated within his own family. Tension is raised within the audience, as we can sense that the family is breaking down, perhaps irreversibly.
At the beginning of Act Two, family disorder truly begins to become apparent. Eddie’s drunken entrance interrupts a romantic moment between Rodolfo and Catherine, ‘In a moment EDDIE appears. He is unsteady, drunk’. The unsteadiness can represent the instability of the home, and the audience gets the impression that something dramatic is going to happen to interrupt the romantic moment. It could also be Miller’s way of showing how Eddie is always the cause of all troubles, he ruins happy moments between others. This supports Miller’s idea of there being potential for tragedy in the domestic home and that the protagonist's actions, as a result of his flaw, affects all around him. Furthermore, Eddie enters the apartment from the outside, which could represent how he has been pushed away from the family. ‘RODOLFO appears in the bedroom doorway. EDDIE sees him and his arm jerks slightly in shock. RODOLFO nods to him testingly’. These actions on stage show how the family roles have been reversed. Rodolfo has a strong stance, as if he is defying the man of the house (Eddie) from being in his position of dominance in the family. It is now clear to the audience that the simple family roles they once had, have now been disrupted. ‘Pack it up. Go ahead. Get your stuff and get outta here’; these directions from Eddie result in Catherine choosing Rodolfo over Eddie, ‘CATHERINE turns instantly and walks towards the bedroom’. Her decisive actions show how her alliance is now with Rodolfo, again showing how Eddie is rapidly losing authority and his status in the home, and also how the respect Eddie had at the beginning of the play has been lost. ‘EDDIE grabs her arm’, this movement represents how Eddie can’t let go of Catherine and let her grow up. The reason for this is the flaw in his character; his attraction to Catherine. This is another example of “tragedy and the common man”, the protagonist's life is beginning to fall apart and he is losing those close to him. It also shows how Eddie has lost his status in the family, at the beginning of the play, Catherine wouldn’t have dared to stand up to him or even turn her back on what he wants. This emphasises Miller’s idea of the family being a very unstable thing, little actions and events can easily upset the balance of the home.
Following this is a dramatic outburst from Catherine in which she shows how she is finally growing up and letting go, ‘Her sobs of pity and love for him break her composure’. This evokes emotion in the audience and allows them to empathise both with Eddie and Catherine. Miller’s technique of forcing the audience to feel sorry for Eddie conveys the essence of tragedy, as Eddie is ultimately a victim of his own mind; it is the flaw in him that is rapidly causing his downfall. ‘He reaches out suddenly, draws her to him, and as she strives to free herself he kisses her on the mouth’, Eddie gets so worked up and upset by the situation, that his true feelings finally become exposed. This dramatic climax puts a halt to everything on stage, cutting through Catherine’s outburst. It confirms the suspicions the audience has had all along about Eddie’s feelings for Catherine, and this unexpected event will raise the tension in the audience dramatically. This one desperate act by Eddie truly symbolises the breakdown of the family unit and continues his downfall; there is no going back now. ‘He goes out of the apartment’, Eddie then leaves, as if he has lost his territory completely.
During Eddie’s conversation with Alfieri, ‘A phone booth begins to glow on the opposite side of the stage; a faint, lonely blue’. This relates back to the beginning of the play, where we are told that ‘This is not used until the last scenes..’. The appearance of the phone booth now is somewhat ominous, showing how the outside world is going to become involved in this family dishevelment. It also suggests that the family breakdown is soon going to reach a climax; a desperate act will take place that may change lives. The telephone booth is a ‘lonely blue’, which could represent how Eddie will be lonely after doing what he wants to do. ‘Eddie has at the same time appeared beside the phone’, tension in the audience is high, as we are willing Eddie not to betray his family even more, but we are powerless to do so.
After Eddie’s betrayal of the cousins, ‘Beatrice is taking down Christmas decorations and putting them in a box’. This highlights how the typical family we knew at the beginning is now no more. The action can represent the end of childhood for Catherine, she is now being forced to grow up; and also the total breakdown of the family unit. It is as if the once happy Carbone family has now been put away into a box.
A View from the Bridge presents the family as an unstable unit that can easily succumb to change. The change here is caused by the protagonist, Eddie, whose faults lie both in liking his niece Catherine, and his ability to ‘allow himself to be purely known’. Eddie stood up for what he believed in and didn’t make compromises, which in turn led to his downfall. His family was affected directly here, the balance of things was upset. Miller explored how tragedy is not just an event that occurs in kingdoms and important dwellings, but how it can easily take place within a normal Italian immigrant family. “tragedy and the common man” also accounts for “tragedy and the common family” and the audience are shown how there is great potential for tragedy within the domestic home.