Eddies character is revealed to be possessive, selfish and jealous. Eddie I being very selfish and self-centred, he is trying to break up Catherine and Rodolpho’s relationship because he is jealous and has a developing passion for Catherine. Eddie doe’s not want Catherine to leave him, he doesn’t want her to grow up, move away and get married to Rodolpho. Eddie now starts to lose some of his respect.
Catherine’s character is revealed to be a mature adult that can make her own decisions. She is growing up whether Eddie likes it or not. She has found her first love, Rodolpho, and wants to move on in life. She has just got a new job, so she is dropping out of school to get out and work. These are the sorts of things that Eddie is getting all worked up about. But Catherine has to grow up some time or other. Catherine is now starting to talk back to Eddie she is no longer afraid and wants to speak her mind.
This scene changes the situation in a big way. Eddie is beginning to reveal his passion for Catherine, he is obviously jealous and wants to keep her at home. He confronts Catherine about Rodolpho’s in-accurate plans and there is a big conflict between Catherine and Eddie, which ends in tears for Catherine. But she is still very much in love with Rodolpho. Both Eddie and Catherine’s character have changed in a big way and emotions are starting to change between them.
In the second scene Catherine and Beatrice are sat down and are talking about the argument between Eddie and Catherine and the way that she acts. Beatrice is telling Catherine to grow up, stop acting like she is twelve years old. Sometimes when Eddie comes home from work Catherine runs up to him and hugs him like a child, she also sits in the bathroom with Eddie when he is shaving in his underwear. Catherine is not sure whether she wants to marry Rodolpho or not but it is heading to marriage. Eddie is the person who is holding her back. She has the idea that if he is so against it then it seems the wrong thing to do. Beatrice wants totally the opposite thing to Eddie. She wants her to get out, get married, move away and get a new life. Beatrice is trying to persuade Catherine to grow up and stand up to Eddie. It is her life and she should be able to do as she wishes. Beatrice says,” It means you got to be your own self more. You still think you’re a little girl, honey. But nobody else can make up your mind for you any more, you understand? You got to give him to understand that he can’t give you orders no more.” This really tells Catherine what to do with her life to make her happier and save the family. Catherine eventually agrees to this and says that she will give it a try.
Beatrice’ character is revealed to be a mature, responsible carer for Catherine; she has become a mentor and a guide for Catherine. Beatrice is revealed to be the understanding and caring parent that Catherine needs in her life. Catherine needs Beatrice to guide her through her life and to tell her to grow up and move on and away from Eddie.
In this scene, Catherine’s character is revealed to be a person who is beginning to move further and further away from her childhood, Catherine is beginning to move away from Eddie, who she has cared for and looked up to her whole life. Catherine is now going to turn over a new leaf and start to be a little more independent; she is also looking to take a big step in her life, which is marriage.
The situation now is Catherine has had a talk with Beatrice about the way that her life is going and she wants to change to better herself. This means she has to stand up to Eddie and move on from her childhood ways. Eddie is furious about Catherine heading to marriage and wants Beatrice to sort her out. But Beatrice wants the opposite to Eddie. Now that these events have happened there is going to be a lot of tension between the family and Eddie will be getting more and more jealous as the days go by and will lead to the destruction of himself.
The main themes in this play are love, jealousy, anger, tension passion and independence. The ways that these themes are developed are Catherine meets the illegal immigrant, Rodolpho and immediately falls in love with him, a bit like love at first sight. There love grows as they get to know each other more and even start to think about marriage. Eddie is jealous of them because he thinks that Rodolpho is a better man than him. He sings and dances and does not like this. Eddie also thinks that he is gay and doesn’t want Catherine to get involved with him. But deep down inside Eddie has a developing passion for Catherine and later on in the play he even tries to kiss her. But Catherine is all against it and gets very angry with him. This creates a huge amount of tension between Catherine and Eddie. Also one time Eddie was teaching Rodolpho how to fight and deliberately punched him hard in the face. This made Marco angry and he proved that he was stronger than Eddie by lifting a chair by the bottom of one leg above his head. Eddie could not do this. This now created a lot of tension between Eddie and Marco and they get into a brawl nearer the end of the play. This leads to the death of Eddie. Catherine has grown more independent throughout the play and has gone from childhood to adulthood.
The consequences of these two scenes are the family falling apart, the end of Eddie and Catherine’s relationship, the end of Eddies respect and the end of his life. Because of Eddie’s jealousy and passion for Catherine themes have developed and led to the destruction of him. This is a tragic play. Beatrice has been trying to change Catherine and get her to move away for the better. She is trying to protect her from Eddie.
In conclusion I have analysed the two scenes in pages 26-31 and given my views on the characters and themes involved in the play. I have enjoyed this play, A View From the Bridge, and the storyline that Arthur Miller has produced. This play is a tragedy play and I have enjoyed the way that Arthur Miller has made the story build up tension between the characters and then waited until the end to create a final showdown between the two characters, Marco and Eddie, which ends in death for Eddie.
Ben Parrott
