Arthur Miller based this book mostly on his own life experiences. His parents were immigrants to the United States, and Miller himself worked at New York’s Brooklyn Harbour with lots of poor Italian immigrant workers. He would watch each day several immigrant workers be exploited and humiliated. These workers had no rights and would never dare to stand up for themselves, as in return their bosses would grass them up to the Immigration. Their owner would look after them for as long as they were needed and would then leave them to fend for themselves.
Miller wrote in his autobiography about a friend that had a dream, Miller interpreted this dream as an indication that the man fancied his niece. People refused to accept that there was any truth in this. However you can see that this is what Miller has partially based his play on. During this time Miller head the story of a longshoreman who had betrayed tow of his own relative because he wasn’t happy about the relationship between one of the immigrants and the mans niece. Along with the story of his friend having a dream of being with his niece, he merged the two stories and ended up with the main plot of ‘A View from the Bridge’.
The obsession of Eddie for his niece Catherine is clear from the opening of the play and its development builds up and creates tension and conflict. Shortly after the play has started Eddie returns home from work greeted by Catherine, who to Eddie is dressed very improperly. Eddie says “Catherine, I don’t want to be a pest, but I’m tellin’ you you’re walkin’ wavy.” By Eddie saying this, we can see that he is caring for Catherine, he concerned of what people may think about her, and worried that men might get the wrong impression of her and try to get off with her. However it can also come over that he is being so concerned because he doesn’t want anyone to have her, because he wants to be with her.
The audience throughout the play sees tension, and it starts at the beginning of the play at the same point as mentioned above. Eddie doesn’t just show his concern for Catherine but he also gives her a hard time to show her how bothered about the situation he is. He talks at this point, very passively towards Catherine. No long later, the tension is seen even more when the discussion between Eddie, Catherine and now Beatrice moves on to the subject of her cousins coming to stay. Eddie tells Beatrice that they are coming the same day and Beatrice suddenly goes into panic mode. “I didn’t even buy a new table cloth; I was going to wash the walls –“ says Beatrice, and just before this the stage directions for Beatrice read “she seems half in fear, half in unutterable joy” and another reads ”astounded and afraid.“ These directions and what she says shows how the tension is rising because she is getting into such a manic.
Round about this time, it is easy to see that Eddie is controlling the atmosphere. The tension here is also merged with the earlier news that Catherine has got a job, this sends the tension levels sore high. Eddie is very against Catherine having the job, he makes out that his main reason is that the job is in a very ‘ruff’ area, and is located on docks. To the audience, his attitude for not wanting her to have a job is because he doesn’t want to see that she is growing up and soon will be moving out and on to bigger and better things. Eddie doesn’t want this to happen because he wants to be as close to Catherine as possible and by her having this job, it wouldn’t be long before she was moving away.
After the drama over Catherine’s job and the cousins arriving, the tension is left settled up until the point when the cousins do arrive. Its Rodolpho who sparks of the main tension at this part of the play when he starts up a romantic relationship with Catherine and obviously Eddie wasn’t at all happy. It was when this happens that the audience is definite of Eddie’s feelings for Catherine. As a guardian of Catherine you would have thought that he would have been proud of the fact that she had been given the chance of a good start for a job. Then you would have thought that he would have been happy that she was starting to have a relationship.
Eddie isn’t really being protective, he’s being very possessive and practically controlling her life. From this point on in the play the tension just seems to rise and rise and this is mainly between Eddie and Marco, and at some parts it does involve poor Catherine. You have to feel sorry for Catherine, because she is growing into a mature adult who can tackle the world on her own, she doesn’t need Eddie looking over her like an angel or holding her hand to cross the street. Catherine must feel at times that she is alone, she doesn’t really have much of a life outside the house because Eddie is so overprotecting of her. I think that as the play progresses, Catherine’s rate of tension must grow and grow, as she has to put up with Eddie being so controlling and his bitterness with both Rodolpho and Marco.
The tension so far in the play was mostly between Rodolpho and Eddie, but as we reach the end of Act 1, Scene 1, we see the tension spread further. It spreads between Eddie and now Marco who has now had enough of Eddie’s smart remarks and doesn’t try to hide it. Just before the end of Act 1, Scene 1, tension starts to arise once again. It first starts with Rodolpho who starts dancing around like he does with Catherine, Eddie at this point isn't very happy as he is still convinced that Rodolpho is only interested in Catherine so he can get his papers. But shortly after, Eddie offers Rodolpho some boxing training, and after hesitation and cheers from Beatrice and Catherine he decides to take Eddie up on his offer. Eddie is using this opportunity to possibly try and knock some sense into him that Catherine may be a free agent for she isn't really desperate for scum!
It is now at this point that Marco is starting to get angry with Eddie over his bad attitude towards Rodolpho and himself. He tries to beat Eddie at his own game, Eddie had just practically showed off his boxing skills, well Marco is going to do just that to Eddie. “Can you life this chair?” Says Marco, and in reply, Eddie isn't really sure what he's on about. Once Marco has defined what he asking Eddie can he do, Eddie thinks he can do it no problem, but he can’t. Marco shows Eddie how it is done, and as the curtain drops to end Act 1, Scene 1, Eddie and Marco share an evil look. Marco looks Eddie in the eyes as if he is going to practically hurt him.
Up to this point, the tension building up in the play isn’t really at boiling level, or in other words as if its all about to blow up. But this really does change when Eddie has had enough of Rodolpho acting gay. Eddie, with advice from Alfieri, decides to inform the immigration office of Rodolpho and Marco because of them entering the country illegally. It is a few days until the immigration go round to the Carbonates residents, but between this time, Eddie seemed to have a change of heart with Rodolpho and with a word from his wife Beatrice, he realises that if he isn’t careful he will loose Catherine forever.
But it is when the Immigration arrives at the Carbonates that tension levels reach to the moon and back. Eddie, who is starting to act like a decent guardian to Catherine, insists on Rodolpho and Marco trying to escape through the back. At this point I think it is clear to say that Marco is suspecting Eddie of informing the authorities, but it comes over to the audience that you wouldn’t really have thought that it was Eddie because he was so insisting on Rodolpho and Marco trying to escape. I wouldn’t have really have suspected Eddie if I hadn’t of already known that it was him.
When Rodolpho and Marco are caught just seconds later, Marco is not definite that it was Eddie who grassed them up and starts to throw all kinds of abuse to Eddie like who just practically ignores him! It is now that the tension levels have reached a record breaking high, but that record is broken just a few Brooklyn days later when Marco is released and confronts Eddie. Eddie is very confident and doesn’t feel any fear of Marco, Eddie is advised by Beatrice, Catherine and Rodolpho that Marco will seriously kill him and that he should just stay away.
However, Eddie couldn’t let himself look like a wus towards Marco and so decides to confront him outside. Unknown to the watching audience, Eddie is actually armed, but not dangerous! As Marco tries to seriously harm Eddie, Eddie pulls out his pen knife and the audience a watching have come to their own conclusion that Marco is going to be given the stab, but unsuspectedly tension levels are breaking more world-wide records and Marco decides to take his personal law into his own hands and kills Eddie.
THE CURTAIN FALLS
