That basically explains the main points within the play, however the main themes within the play are “The Relationship between Eddie and Catherine” which we see change gradually throughout the play, “Manliness” which Eddie believes Rodolpho doesn’t have any of and, “Justice and the Law” which we see is many times an issue within the storyline due to the Illegal happenings, and the main personsthis is related to, is Eddie and the Lawyer Alfieri.
Eddie Carbone's life in Red Hook is not happy one and, as we quickly learn, it is not without difficulty, even tragedy. Whatever Eddie does, he does for more than one reason and the non-conscious reasons for his behavior are what ultimately destroy him.
Unfulfilled as a longshoreman and a person, Eddie's philosophy of life when we first meet him can be summarised in the advice he gives his niece Catherine after she announces that she's quitting school to take a job as a stenographer in a "big plumbing company." After being persuaded to allow her to take the job Eddie warns her to "trust no one" and has come to believe that "most people ain't people." How Eddie gets to this point in his life and how his understanding of life and humanity motivate him are at the heart of Arthur Miller's relevant and challenging play.
Catherine's leaving the structure and safety of school worries Eddie not only because of the location of her new job and the safety of the neighborhood, but also because he is really afraid, more than he is aware of, that he will lose Catherine, and he feels the same when Rodolpho enters the picture. Eddie's obsession with his niece has somehow enabled him to cope with his life but also prevented him from taking responsibility about his feelings for his wife Beatrice and addressing the difficulties in their marriage. The fear of Catherine's loss is heightened when Beatrice's cousins Rodolpho and Marco come to live with the Carbones. Entering the country illegally, these two need a safe place to live and hide from the Immigration authorities and The Carbones are the only ones who can offer them a home.
Rodolpho's arrival in the household is the means for Eddie's unraveling. Catherine and Rodolpho begin to spend considerable time together and their affection for each other is more than Eddie can handle. Though he is still unaware of his inappropriate love for Catherine, everyone else sees the problem and urges Eddie to let Catherine go and "become her own person." Eddie tries to demean Rodolpho by insulting him, implying that Rodolpho is gay. When Eddie complains to Beatrice about how self-centered Rodolpho is, she reminds him that he "never liked any of [Catherine's] boyfriends."
Eddie being the main character in the play is faced with many different scenarios and we see many different sides of him within the play but the main words that would explain Eddie would be Forceful, Obsessive, Warm, Protective, Irrational, Self interested, and maybe even Insecure. Eddie is a man who has few interests outside the family and, in the end, no interests, apart from himself and his relationship with Catherine. Eddie’s reaction to Rodolpho demonstrates how emotionally unstable and irrational he is. His jealousy of the young handsome man drives him to accuse Rodolpho of being homosexual, effeminate and he also accuses him that he is only interested in Catherine because she could be his passport to achieving full American Citizenship. In the end Eddie realises that his honorable name is at risk. He has betrayed his name and he has lost the respect of all those who know him and therefore he has no option but to face Marco in mortal combat. Perhaps in the end, he gains some dignity in the way he dies, however I don’t think so, another way out for Eddie would have been committing suicide, which it would have come to if Marco had not come before Eddie. In any case, as Alfieri says “he allowed himself to be wholly known.”
The main words that describe Beatrice are Loving, Caring, Mediator, Assertive, and she represents Sanity and Reason. It is she who attempts to warn Eddie that his relationship with Catherine is not within acceptable bounds. Beatrice also warns Catherine that she is contributing to Eddie’s infatuation, however she says it in a subtle way. Beatrice is the thread of reason that runs throughout the play. She is always able to rise above any situation created by Eddie she always try to create sanity in their lives even if it is at a terrible loss, as she did when Eddie didn’t want her to go to Catherine’s wedding and she accepted this. She is the one who is always attempting to pull Eddie back from the edge of darkness, and when he does fall over the edge as he did when he rang the immigration bureau she is the one who is always on his side and their to comfort him.
The words that describe Catherine the most are lively, and innocent. Initially she is very much influenced by Eddie however she soon gains her independence thanks to Beatrice who encourages her to do so. Until now Catherine's security has been bound to her relationship with Eddie and Beatrice, she is genuinely unaware that there is anything improper in her relationship with Eddie and is horrified when Beatrice suggest that there might be more to the bond than she realises. Eddie heavily influenced her and for this reason she had doubts about Rodolpho however these doubts went once she got to know Rodolpho and he told her otherwise. She takes sides against Eddie after he betrays Marco and Rodolpho; this is the point in the play where she shows strength of character that has not been evident before. This strength was soon to vanish however when in the final moments of the play she murmurs her heartfelt regret for her part in Eddie’s tragic end.
The words that describe Marco most are Focused, strong, responsible and hardworking; the good thing about Marco is he has a strong sense of Justice and he cares very much about his family. When Marco enters he is seen as the stronger of the two brothers, he is aware of his obligations to the Carbones and therefore he asks his brother to behave in a manner that will not upset Eddie. Marco has a strong sense of responsibility and that is exactly why he is in America so he will be able to carry on supporting his family. He gives the impression that he thinks before he acts however, he has a strong sense of right and wrong and an even stronger sense of justice. When Marco sees Eddie inflicting pain upon his younger brother Marco is quick to show that he is there to protect his brother, when his mind is made up he is totally focused, he employs tunnel vision. Marco’s intension to punish Eddie was not a selfish one, he feels that it is his duty to do so. If the law will not help him then he will take the law into his own hands. Marco is the character who Arthur Miller tells us least about, Marco is the antagonist in the play and the Sicilian avenging angel that Alfieri hints at in his comment to the audience.
The words that describe Rodolpho most are attractive, humorous, intelligent, talented, thoughtful, and sensitive. Rodolpho makes an immediate impact when he enters and everything starts to change from this point onward. The ladies in the play find Rodolpho a nice young attractive man, and his lively sense of humour endears the audience. Rodolpho is a man of many talents, which Eddie sneers at; he can cook, sing, and make clothes. Rodolpho more than any other character has a love of life in all its forms and he has a tendency to influence other characters with his cheerfulness. However his work mates like Eddie don’t think of him as much of a man and they laugh at him secretly and pretend their laughing at his jokes however they are not.
Another important character is Alfieri, who is the Narrator, Commentator, and he oversees the action happening within the play he is very objective and sympathetic. He is sometimes a character in the play itself, he can sense the terrible events that are about to happen but is powerless to prevent them. It is he who attempts to place the events of the drama in context and explain to the audience that conflicts such as those related in the play occur throughout Italian and Sicilian history. Alfieri talks about “settling for half” and about liking that better because quite often, the search for absolute justice results in unacceptable consequences. He realises that the law is limited and cannot deal with every human problem fully. Alfieri’s role is to oversee the action and remain objective throughout. The audience can see, at the end of the play, that Alfieri does have sympathy towards Eddie and even some admiration for him because he was a man “who allowed himself to be wholly known” and, there we have Alfieri’s most important role. He offers the audience universal concepts to think about as they leave the theatre, and they say a good play is one that leaves you thinking for days and this play by Miller certainly does, thanks to all the characters involved they each play their important parts within the play.
Now that I have introduced the play and the characters, well tried to at least! I think it’s about time I go on to answer the main question.
The question is At the end of A View From The Bridge, is the audience likely to feel that justice has been done?
In order to answer this question we must take all factors into consideration, for example the problem with immigration and illegal immigrants at the time, and the vital fact that Eddie was secretly harboring feelings for Catherine. Well… an audience is made up of individuals which each have different views, thoughts, opinions, and ideas about the play and life in genral therefore some members of the audience would have felt that justice was done and others would disagree.
Marco and Rodolpho’s view of justice would be from a poor persons perspective as you can see from the play, they have had a poor and hard upbringing they have obviously not been bought up in a world of righteousness and justice otherwise they would be in Italy with jobs and nice houses, but instead Marco is forced to come to America to support his family.
Eddie’s view of justice might be different to Marco’s even though he is poor, as he has been bought up in the American Justice system where they have lawyers and agencies such as the immigration bureau, and if they had these sorts of agencies in Italy, then they would not be able to immigrate illegally in the first place.
Alfieri’s view of justice would be very accurate and true, for two reasons one being that he knows how the Italian Justice system is and the other being he knows how the American justice system is and another key point that would make Alfieri’s view of justice true would be the fact that he is a lawyer he has a better knowledge and understanding of what is true and fair.
Factors that may influence the way the audience think of justice in the play are the impressions that the characters give to the audience, because at the end of the day first impressions are everything and so the audiences views and feelings of the characters are based on the impression given to them, and the way the audience feels about that character will affect their views on whether justice has been served for example if the character has built up a good first impression and justice has not gone the way the character would have liked then the audience will think that justice has not been served solely on the impression the character has built with the audience and vice versa, EG ~ When Eddie was killed the audience will feel justice has been done as the impression given off is not a good one with all of Eddie’s lying and deceit.
So now I have told you about the important characters view of justice I think it’s about time I told you about my view of justice, my view of justice has not got to do with legal doings, its got to do with morals and I know many people would think this view is wrong but in my heart this is how my view of justice really is, for example if somebody had been killing people for fun, and in the same case the same person was killed by the police, as one of the officers was related to the murderers victim and out of anger decided to shoot him rather than put him in jail. I know the public and the law would see this as wrong however in my heart I would feel that justice has been done, do you understand? Well this view of mine helped me in deciding whether justice had been done in “A View From The Bridge”. I felt that Marco had done justice by killing Eddie as he ruined Marco’s families life, however I felt that injustice was done to Marco as he had to go back to Italy and to a certain extent injustice was done to Catherine and Beatrice as they lost their family member and injustice occurred again when the two illegal immigrants found along with Marco and Rodolpho were sent back. Injustice occurs when someone who is totally innocent has something done wrong to him or her and justice occurs when a bad person has wrong done to him or her.
I think that the audience would react like I would, as I asked many people who read the play and their views of justice about the play was similar to mine however I cannot speak for everyone, their maybe many people out there who feel differently and therefore this question is very difficult to answer but I think that Arthur Miller wrote the play in such a way that he allowed justice to be done but equally allowed injustice to be done as this would make it more interesting and realistic unlike the average book, play, or programme where they always have a hero doing right to everything bad or wrong, he was very ahead of his time and it makes it more fun and interesting, you go away thinking about it.
So I conclude in saying that no I don’t think that at the end of “A View From The Bridge” the audience feels that total justice or injustice has been done. In real life it is always good to have a difference of opinion, as this can help to keep a balance in the justice system. What one person may call just another would not and again the same for the play. It is good to make people think and make up there own conclusions.
Viral Mehta
