A View From The Bridge

is idealistic. She wants Catherine to mature into an adult and move away and for her and Eddie to

carry on living a normal life (this shows that she has a conventional expectation for the time for

members of her sex and class).

Rodolfo’s emphasis on coming to America is noticeably different that Marco’s. After being asking

how long Rodolfo is going to stay, he replies ‘forever! I want to be an American…when I am rich I

want to buy a motorcycle!’ This shows that Rodolfo is not interested in earning money for his

family but in making a better life for himself. This would make Eddie suspicious of Rodolfo from the

start, knowing that the two immigrant’s reasons for coming to America were slightly different. On the

other hand, Marco is not shown to be as outgoing in his actions than Rodolfo, he’s more sedate and

polite to their hosts. Also, the courteous and well-mannered atmosphere between Marco and Eddie

makes the end outcome and their hatred of each other more tragic.

The story is set right from the beginning with a strong sense of community. The Carbone’s living

room is placed in the centre of the stage with Alfieri’s desk and the telephone box to the sides. Miller

was trying to create a sense of unity in the Carbone family and in the characters that are included.

He was focusing our attention on the theme of family at the heart of the community.

 I see this room (in the beginning) as being a place of security and a sanctuary with Eddie being at

the centre and in charge. We can relate this to being like a royal hierarchy, almost like a feudal

system with Eddie almost as the king in his own right and with the other characters as being his

servants. This is emphasised with the conventional expectation of the time (the man of the household i.e. Eddie being the head of it). He gained this place because of the respect that

everyone in the area had for him.

I think that just like a castle can be broken into and destroyed, Eddie’s home and the people that

are close to him can be destroyed too (Alfieri’s opening speech talks about the ‘bloody business’

that will happen).

        

The tragedy becomes apparent when this sense of unity is slowly ripped apart at the seams with

Eddie in the centre and suffering the most. We see how Catherine’s maturity, combined with the

visitor’s arrival, and the prejudice that Eddie subconsciously builds up for Rodolfo and Marco is

gradually displayed in a physical state as Eddie’s life is destroyed. Because Eddie isn’t an

intellectual, he can’t articulate and put his feelings into words very easily (when Eddie says to Alfieri

‘will you listen to me a minute’ and then repeats himself two more times, he also has problems

expressing his opinion on Rodolfo’s sexuality) so he expresses them physically.

With Catherine’s change from a ‘baby’ into a young adult, her physical appearance makes Eddie

uncomfortable. Eddie tells Catherine that she gives him ‘the willies’, he’s basically trying to tell

Catherine not to grow up, but he can’t see that it’s inevitable and that the actions he eventually

takes are fated and there’s nothing he can do to stop it.

When Catherine tells Eddie about her new job, he’s obviously astounded and ‘turns to Catherine

and then to Beatrice again’ as if he’s saying ‘you are joking aren’t you!’. Eddie’s self denial is

enforced when Beatrice confronts him saying that Catherine isn’t a ‘baby no more’. Turning away as

if he doesn’t want to hear it; Eddie’s almost ashamed that Beatrice has to tell him what’s true which

outlines Eddie’s stubborn nature. Maybe this nature is linked with Eddie’s eventual downfall.

Rodolfo’s rendition of ‘Paper Doll’ has some significance as some of the lyrics say ‘it’s tough to love

a doll that’s not your own’ it is quite obvious that Rodolfo is singing this song with Catherine in mind.

Eddie butts in while Rodolfo is still singing; Catherine is enchanted by Rodolfo’s singing and tells

Eddie to ‘let him finish’. Even though Eddie’s reason for stopping the singing was not to arouse

suspicion (‘you don’t want to be picked up, do ya?), he was probably getting jealous of Catherine’s

attention towards Rodolfo. Eddie had always been the man of the house and the figure to look up to,

Rodolfo has come and Catherine is already interested in him.

Eddie also has a problem with Rodolfo’s appearance and the way he expresses himself. He doesn’t

like Rodolfo’s blonde hair and the way that he sings on ship; his assumption is that Rodolfo is gay.

There is also a martial problem with Eddie and Beatrice, on very few occasions has Eddie ever

complemented or made Beatrice feel special (Beatrice asked Eddie when she’s ‘gonna be a wife

again’; this outlines the sexual problems of their marriage). With the arrival of Rodolfo, Catherine’s

attention and affection is devoted to Rodolfo and not to Eddie. Ironically, Eddie’s attention and

affection towards Beatrice is then taken away and ‘used’ for Catherine instead. A competition then

arises with Eddie and Rodolfo vying for Catherine’s attention while Beatrice is still trying to be the

wife of Eddie.    

With the boiling hate and aggression inside Eddie that has currently been verbal, it changes to a

physical nature when Eddie instigates a boxing lesson. Although his stated intentions are to be

teaching, the boxing ‘lesson’ was really a chance to discard the feelings Eddie had built up for

Rodolfo. Finally he hits Rodolfo with a blow that ‘mildly staggers’ him. Marco gets up, (Marco and

Rodolfo share a strong relationship) he sees that Eddie is only bullying Rodolfo to vent his anger.

Marco’s lifting of the chair is more symbolic than anything else. He lifts the chair over Eddie’s head

‘like a weapon’ to show that Eddie isn’t the strongest and his role as ‘king’ could be jeopardised.

Believing that the message has gone through to Eddie, he lowers the chair. Miller put this in at the

end of act one because it is a significant scene; a turning point in the mood of the play and it leaves

the audience with a feeling of tension.

The heart-rending scenario is that Eddie is trying to keep the family (unity) together but ironically is

splitting it apart because of hamartia on his part. The flaw of Eddie’s character is that he hates

change, once he has things where he wants them and everything in its place; he cannot accept that

they won’t stay the same forever.    

With this feeling that Eddie is almost an outsider, he looks to find a way to exert these feelings to

make himself feel better. So, already drunk from a shipment of whisky he arrives home to find

Rodolfo leading Catherine into a bedroom. At first he asks Rodolfo to ‘get outa here’ but

eventually turns violent and ‘suddenly kisses’ Rodolfo and then Catherine, he doesn’t know what his

actions symbolise and so he goes to Alfieri for help.

Alfieri plays the Greek Chorus, who would have been both in the play’s action and out of it, looking

in. Alfieri shows this larger picture when he talked about the ‘bloody business’ and later about the

trouble ‘that would not go away’.

I see Alfieri as almost being an Agony aunt for Eddie; the fact that Alfieri is not directly involved in

the play and his status as a lawyer gives Eddie the confidence that his views are not biased in any

way. It seems that Eddie has tried all other means of splitting up Catherine, Rodolfo and their

upcoming wedding so he resorts to the law. When Eddie is feeling in some way demoralised coming

to Alfieri gives him support. The role of the Greek chorus (except for commenting, summarising and

predicting the events of the play) was to give the protagonist (Eddie) advice on his problems, but

failing to act on his advice; (like when Alfieri told Eddie to ‘let it go’ but Eddie’s mind wouldn’t let him)

the protagonist makes a wrong and life-changing decision which is exactly what happens in the

play.

Eddie’s life changing decision was eventually to call the immigration office and report Rodolfo and

Marco. Even after Alfieri told Eddie that he wouldn’t have a friend ‘in the world’ and that all those

who understand him would ‘despise’ him, he still walked off towards the phone box. The phone

box’s role in the play has only just become apparent. We can tell that Eddie is having problems with

the report because when asked personal details he simply replies with ‘just around the

neighbourhood’. But, even after Eddie did this, his discovery was that he made the wrong decision

(which was made even worse when to more new boarders were present).

All that Eddie had gained in his life as a respected parent and worker was stripped away when the

immigration officers come and Marco spits in Eddie’s face. Filled with rage Eddie cries ‘I’ll kill you

for…you son of a bitch!’. But even when the procession is outside Marco points a finger and shouts

‘I accuse that one!’ with the whole neighbourhood watching. Enraged with the previous events

Eddie’s ‘mission’ is to get his ‘name back’. By the end he has no respect from anyone, not even his

own wife. And in a final attempt to gain some respect back, he tells the neighbourhood how Marco

used his name like a ‘dirty rag’. Being the stronger of the two, Marco ended Eddie’s suffering and

torment by killing him with the knife in Eddie’s own hand.

There is an element of catharsis that is triggered by the sorrow and respect that the audience feel

towards Eddie at the end. The audience should admire and sympathise with Eddie because as

Alfieri said how Eddie let himself be ‘wholly known’ we have seen Eddie’s true colours and although

they are superficially powered by his hatred for Marco, it is really powered by the overwhelming love

that he has for Catherine. Eddie is also human, the audience know that Eddie made a crucial

mistake but although not directly, they all have the same common thread for feeling emotions. They

know that everyone could make the same mistakes. This is how Eddie is now considered to be the

goodie or tragic hero’ of the play.

A View From The Bridge can be wholly considered a tragedy. Through a series of events that only

occurred because of Eddie’s subconscious problems or flaw. The jigsaw that was the Brooklyn

community had pieces torn away from it that finally resulted in the death of one  (originally) perfectly

good and well natured person. Alfieri backs up this tragic change with how people ‘settle for half’

now because Eddie’s expectation for a hundred percent happiness resulted in his downfall.