A View From A Bridge - analysis of act i scene 5.

By Finn Alexander 10AB

Nicolas Cage: EDDIE CARBONE

I have chosen Nicolas cage because he is strong but not very strong and he has a good American accent.

This scene is probably the most important scene of the play as there is so much action and it is the first real time you see any conflict between the characters. The scene starts when the characters have just finished their dinner and they start talking about Italy and what is like there, but it is a short lived conversation as Rodolpho and Eddie soon have a full fledged argument. After the argument Eddie offers Marco and Rodolpho some tickets to watch boxing and then offers to teach Rodolpho how to box but it looks more like Eddie is questioning Rodolpho about his sexuality. Even though Marco was on Eddie ‘s side (“You come home early now.”) before the boxing he catches on to Eddie’s scheme of making Rodolpho look weak and shows his supremacy over Eddie in strength by lifting a chair with one hand when Eddie could not, this is to stop Eddie making Rodolpho look like a fool.

The five characters in this scene are: Eddie, Marco, Rodolpho, Beatrice and Catherine. Eddie has the most active part in the scene with fighting arguing and just talking about Italy. He starts off the scene by talking to Marco about Marco’s jobs (“They pay all right on them boats?”) and other things in Italy such as oranges and lemons (“I heard they paint oranges to make them look orange”). He then starts arguing with Rodolpho about Catherine and how late she has been staying out recently (“she was never out on the street till twelve o’clock at night”). He then tries to make Rodolpho look bad by teaching him how to box and stunning Rodolpho briefly (“he feints with his left and lands with his right. It mildly staggers Rodolpho”.). The scenes end and as Marco lifts the chair Eddie starts to look worried as Marco looks triumphant (“Marco is face to face with Eddie, a strained tension gripping his eyes and jaw, his neck stiff, the chair raised like a weapon over Eddie’s head-and he transforms what might appear like a glare of warning into a smile of triumph, and Eddie’s grin vanishes as he absorbs the look”).

Marco seems to be a quiet but strong figure in a household and has quite a lot to do. Marco begins the scene talking about his wife and kids (Beatrice: “Your wife is gettin’ the money alright, Marco?” Marco: “Oh, yes. She bought medicine for my boy.”), jobs and Italy in general, he is also reading a letter from his wife (“He has been reading a letter.”). He then watches as Eddie and Rodolpho argue and box and then stands as Rodolpho staggers (“Marco rises.”). Originally Marco tries to calm it down subtly, (“No, Beatrice if he does wrong ...

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Rodolpho begins the scene by trying and failing to enter the conversation about Italy (“Once we went to Yugoslavia.”), but just ends up aggravating Eddie and getting himself into a large argument with Eddie (Rodolpho: “It’s more strict in our town. It’s not so free.” Eddie: “It ain’t so free here either, Rodolpho, like you think.”). He then gets taught to fight by Eddie and gets his own back by dancing with Catherine (“Dance Catherine come”), while earlier he knew there was tension and did not want to dance incase he would aggravate Eddie (Catherine: “you wanna dance, Rodolpho?” Rodolpho: “No I-I’m tired”).

Beatrice: right from the beginning you can tell that Beatrice is on the side of Catherine and Rodolpho (“Go ahead, dance, Rodolpho.”), but she starts off the scene by joining in the conversation about Italy and Marco’s life and family. She always seems to be the peacemaker (“That’s enough, Eddie; he did pretty good, though.”) although she is on the side of Rodolpho and Catherine (“ She watches them dance; Eddie turns his head away.”). She then looks on as Marco lifts the chair when Eddie could not (“Beatrice and Eddie watch him.”).

Finally Catherine: she is probably the most important character in this scene, not so much for her lines but for the reason that she is the subject that the other characters are arguing about (“I have respect for her, Eddie. I do anything wrong?”). At the beginning of the scene she tries to get Rodolpho and Eddie talking (“They went to Africa once. On a fishing boat [Eddie glances at her.] Its true Eddie.”), but it just makes Eddie talk to Marco. She then is called upon to back up Rodolpho by Beatrice but seems to be shy (Beatrice: “Well, you said the movie ended late, didn’t you?” Catherine: “Yeah.”). She end s the scene by dancing with Rodolpho (“Rodolpho takes her in his arms. They dance.”) and then watches the ‘fight’ for supremacy (“Rodolpho and Catherine have stopped dancing as Marco raises the chair over his head.”).

Since the beginning of the United States of America, it has been known as a unified country and as a country of with no hereditary class barrier, yet the American world has changed since the 1800’s. Until 1880 anyone who had enough money to get there could get into America. Even though the government put restrictions on the amount of immigrants allowed to enter the country, 23.5 million new immigrants entered America from 1880 –1920, most of these immigrants where Irish, Italian or Jewish from Eastern Europe. In 1920 almost 70% of New York people were immigrants or children of immigrants. This resulted in large ghettos of ethnic communities all over New York. Even though America was meant to be the land where every one had equal rights, many people were racist. The government tried to change their people instead of accepting them: ‘Cultural Assimilation’. They were forced to learn English and change from their own ways to the customs of America. In 1950 the ‘Displaced Persons Commission’ enforced a huge intelligence investigation into immigrants in America. Their purpose was to try and get rid of all illegal immigrants in American society, this leads on to the question that Arthur Miller brings up in the play about loyalty and what it means to be an American and as this play was written in the 1950s this whole story is relevant to what was happening at that time in America.

Immigrants were also thought to be members of fascist or communist parties in 1940, by 1950 anti-communism was so intense that members of the government such as senator Joe McCarthy and Richard Nixon took advantage of peoples strong feelings and gained power from their exploits. McCarthy had so much power that he was able to accuse anybody and get him or her sent to prison or even executed. This resulted in a witch-hunt, because anyone could be accused on the slightest excuse what so ever. Many famous people where accused of being a communist, even the author of this play, Arthur Miller, was accused but he was one of the lucky ones by getting off scot free (probably because he married Marilyn Monroe). Other famous people included many movie directors and scriptwriters who were some of the early victims, they were given the nickname ‘The Hollywood Ten’. All this anti-communism resulted in thousands losing their jobs and losing any chance of getting another one and was one of the great injustices of the twentieth century.