As the play progresses, a catalyst (something that speeds up a reaction) is drawn in, by the name of Rodolpho, one of Beatrice’s cousins and an illegal immigrant. Catherine cannot resist Rodolpho’s good looks and romantic charms and falls in love with him. This draws out Eddie’s love for Catherine into the ‘open’ and demonstrates how emotionally unstable and irrational he is. His jealousy of Rodolpho leads him to accuse him of homosexuality, feminism and of being interested in Catherine only because he wants to achieve full American citizenship. This is when the other characters realise the true nature of Eddie’s feelings, but they are still oblivious to it.
One of Eddie’s qualities that lead him to his own tragic downfall at the end of the play is that he acts purely out of emotion instead of rational thought. For example, when Alfieri warns him about the consequences of betraying his own relatives, he simply ignores him and out of rage, he calls the Immigration authorities. This is also due to self-interest. He is fully aware of the fact that betraying his relatives could lead to his own death but when his ‘relationship’ with Catherine is threatened by Rodolpho, he is prepared to break this code of honour. When Marco accuses Eddie of betrayal, Eddie instead tries to rally support against Marco’s ‘lies’.
In the end though, Eddie realises that his own name is at stake, and when he finds out that he has lost respect even amongst his dearest ones, he has no choice but to face Marco in mortal combat. In the end, he gains some dignity by the way he dies – he kills himself. This is metaphorically important because Eddie ‘killed himself’ when he betrayed his own relatives. In any case, as Alfieri says, Eddie ‘allowed himself to be wholly known’.
This play also interests the audience because they feel a part of Red Hook. This is because one of our only few links to the play on the stage is through the narrator, in this case Alfieri. Alfieri is the second most important character in the play after Eddie. He is not only the narrator, but also a commentator and sometimes a character in the play itself. It is interesting to note though that even though Alfieri can predict certain events happening and can also warn some of the characters about these events, but he cannot actually prevent them from happening. It is him who attempts to place the events of the play in context to those that occurred throughout Italian history and also explain this intricate relationship to the audience. Alfieri’s role in this play is as a God like figure who oversees the action and remains objective throughout the play. Arthur Miller intended Alfieri not to be a full ‘flesh and blood’ character, but more as a ‘chorus’ that we see in Greek plays. He creates smooth transitions between two different time frames by simply giving the date and time of the new time frame. This saves the hassle of the actors acting out the passage in time. Finally, Alfieri’s most important role is to leave the audience with universal concepts to think about – a catharsis – that the events in the play are a part of everyday life. This is shown when Alfieri talks about ‘settling for half’ at the beginning of the play, because quite often the search for absolute justice leads to unacceptable consequences.
Another important character in this play is Rodolpho. As I said, he is the catalyst in Eddie and Catherine’s relationship. Before his arrival, both Eddie and Catherine are quite happy to be in each other’s company, often in intimate moments where Catherine is wearing nothing but her slip in front of Eddie while he is shaving. When Rodolpho arrives, Catherine’s attention moves from Eddie to Rodolpho. They fall in love with each other and this inflates Eddie’s emotions and he becomes jealous of Rodolpho. He wants to be in his place, and this is hinted at at the beginning of Act 2, where Eddie comes home drunk. When he finds that Rodolpho has been in the bedroom with Catherine when they were home alone, he ‘intentionally’ kisses Catherine on the lips. When he sees what he has done, to show Catherine that he didn’t ‘mean to’, he grabs Rodolpho and kisses him on the lips as well. This is also partially due to the fact that he is drunk, and partially due to the fact that he is trying to suggest to Rodolpho and Catherine that Rodolpho is homosexual.
Rodolpho’s command of the English language is notable, particularly when he is alone with Catherine in the house, and he refers to Catherine as a trapped bird. His use of words and poetic images show a lightness of touch that betrays an intelligent mind at work. He is a man of many talents – which are sneered at by Eddie by him accusing Rodolpho of feminism – Rodolpho can cook, dance, sing and make clothes. Rodolpho’s physical appearance also makes Eddie accuse him of homosexuality – he is blond with light skin. Rodolpho is also very thoughtful and sensitive. When Marco spits in Eddie’s face, Rodolpho can see what is going to happen and apologises to Eddie on Marco’s behalf and for his own behaviour. He tries to persuade Marco not to harm Eddie, and when that fails, he tries to warn Eddie that Marco is coming. But all this is of no prevail because Eddie fights Marco to the death. Rodolpho is an extreme opposite to Eddie, and he gives the audience a chance to see how ‘different’ Eddie really is.
Marco also is an important character in a sense that he is the one who is involved in the penultimate scene with Eddie. He is a man of few words, but of actions. This is significantly shown to the audience at the end of Act 1, when he challenges Eddie to a chair-lifting competition. This is after Eddie punches Rodolpho in the face while trying to ‘teach’ him to box. Marco is angered by this but does not utter a word in front of Eddie. This shows Marco’s superiority over Eddie in a mental sense. When Eddie fails to lift the chair, Marco shows Eddie how to do it, and stands holding the chair over Eddie’s head. This is also metaphorically important because it portrays a weapon the Marco might use to harm Eddie.
Marco is a strong-willed man who has a sense of right and wrong and an even stronger sense of justice. He argues with Alfieri that all law cannot be written in a book and likes to take justice into his own hands. This is because he comes from Italy – where during the period after the War, there was severe poverty, and people used to settle disputes amongst themselves. Marco’s intention to punish Eddie is not a selfish one – he feels that it is his duty to do so and takes the law into his own hands. He is the antagonist – Eddie’s opponent in the play. When Eddie dies on his own knife, Arthur Miller does not allow Marco to express sorrow or regret over his death.
Even though the characters of a play make the play progress, it is the set properties, and lighting and sound techniques that add the real drama to the play. In A View From The Bridge, Arthur Miller employs various techniques to add suspense and drama. First of all, the stage itself has all the buildings that are involved in the play in a skeletal fashion. This allows the play to progress without people having to move props on and off the stage, and it allows us to see the entire locality throughout the play.
Eddie’s home itself tells the audience about his low-class job. He owns a simple two-bedroom flat with few home comforts. This tells the audience that he has an ordinary life in an ordinary world – ‘a bit like ours’. Most of the items in Eddie’s house are of metaphoric importance in play though. Eddie’s rocking chair demonstrates how Eddie’s emotions rock backwards and forwards. His pocketknife is important because it is a symbol of his own demise. The phonograph plays the music of Paper Doll, which Rodolpho and Catherine dance to. It shows Rodolpho’s talents, but they are interpreted by Eddie in a different way. It also helps to develop the story.
The phone box outside Alfieri’s office is also important because that is where Eddie makes the critical phone call to the Immigration authorities. This is also where the lighting techniques are displayed. When Eddie is in Alfieri’s office, Alfieri tells him not to go and harm Marco. But as Eddie’s emotions take over, the phone box begins to glow, showing Eddie’s thought patterns to the audience. As Eddie’s emotions become stronger and stronger, the phone box glows brighter and brighter, as Eddie’s thought’s shift towards that ‘vital’ phone call. Lighting techniques are also used to progress the play, as one episode finishes, the spotlight concentrates on Alfieri, then the whole stage brightens up again as time has passed. Some of the sounds in the play are also important, such as the knock on the door of the Immigration authority agents. Eddie and his family can only hear them inside the house, but the audience can both hear and see them. The song of Paper Doll is also important because it reveals Rodolpho’s true talents and Eddie’s true thoughts.
Finally, the Vinny Bolzano story is of great importance and is prophetically symbolic because it is a parallel to Eddie’s life – both end with the same result because of the same act, an act of treachery. When Eddie dies, there is a sign thought of what could have been, with Eddie dying in Beatrice’s arms, crying out B, my B, instead of my Catherine. This is when Eddie realises all his mistakes, in the dying seconds of his life – too late and it leaves the audience with something to think about.
