Before the trial of strength between Eddie and Marco, Miller takes the opportunity to raise anxiety and tension among the audience. When Eddie visits Alfieri for the first time to seek advice, the audience witnesses the first signs of Eddie’s downfall. He struggles to explain to Alfieri why Rodolpho ‘ain’t right’ (Eddie believes Rodolpho to be homosexual because he has certain feminine characteristics such as blond hair, he can sing and cook.) Alfieri recognises what is beginning to happen to Eddie but is ‘powerless to stop it’. Alfieri recognises that Eddie is becoming uncontrollable, from a ‘passion that has moved into his body, like a stranger’,- this passion is for his niece Catherine and is so controversial and strong, it could only lead to a fateful climax; for a father figure should not love a daughter in this way. When Alfieri explains to him that he can only inform immigration, he is horrified at first because he believes ‘you can quicker get back a million dollars that was stole than a word that you gave away’, but ironically chooses this form of action later in the play. This helps the change in Eddie seem even more dramatic at the end when he calls immigration about Rodolpho and Marco: he is completely transformed in the grip of this consuming madness.
It is also through the relationships between the characters that dramatic tension arises. During the duologues earlier in the play, various relationship problems are revealed to the audience. During the conversation when Eddie and Beatrice are talking about Rodolpho and Marco, the subject of their marriage arises. Here we learn that it has not been running smoothly for three months when Beatrice says ‘when am I gonna be a wife again, Eddie?’ This is not helping Eddie to control himself as he no longer has support from his wife to control his feelings. The audience are witnessing Eddie’s downfall, which is driving him away from his marriage and this rapidly increases the dramatic effect of the ending when Eddie’s last words are ‘My B.!’ This just shows that really, he did still love his wife and this irony has a big impact on the audience.
Tension is also rising between Eddie and Catherine, which prepares the audience for their huge argument at the end of the play, when Catherine refers to Eddie as a ‘rat’. We can see that Eddie is driving Catherine to begin to hate him, which is completely opposite to the situation at the beginning of the play, when she would do anything to keep him happy. Eddie is trying as much as possible to turn Catherine against Rodolpho and he becomes violent in his words against him, calling him a ‘hit and run guy’ and even insults Catherine; here the audience can sense he is out of control, as he previously treated Catherine as a daughter, and acted protectively towards her.
At the beginning of the scene leading to the trial of strength between Eddie and Marco, the characters begin to discuss the difference in culture.
Catherine mentions that she finds it funny to think that oranges and lemons grow on trees. Here the stage directions are important in creating tension because they specifically state that Eddie makes his comment ‘to Marco’. This shows the audience that Eddie is trying to ignore Rodolpho and exclude him from all conversation; a line later Rodolpho says ‘lemons are green’, trying to include himself in the conversation and break the uncomfortable barrier around him. Eddie sees this as Rodolpho trying to make him look stupid and we can see that the tension is almost at its peak at this point. Eddie quickly snaps back with an intimidating remark. The stage directions clearly show him ‘resenting his instruction’. The audience is once again prepared for the climax of the act.
As well as this, the conflict in cultures has already raised tension earlier in the play, when Rodolpho makes a remark that girls are perhaps ‘freer’ in America than in Italy. This makes Eddie angry and raises another reason for him to dislike Rodolpho and think that he only wants to marry Catherine to become a legal American citizen. This gives the audience another chance to see the tension rising between the relationships of the characters.
Stage directions help us to understand about the hidden symbolisms of the characters actions, which rapidly raise the tension as it builds towards the climax at the end of the play. They describe a power struggle, in apparently harmless acts and words. At one point during this scene, for example, Eddie ‘rises, paces up and down’ This is after the first time Rodolpho has spoken since the lemon incident. These stage directions, among others, are the key to understanding the characters. They help the audience to see the agitation in Eddie in the presence of Rodolpho. They emphasise Eddie’s reaction to an apparently harmless remark. At this point of the play we clearly see how Eddie is beginning an obsession which will eventually bring about his death.
Symbolism is also one of the key devices which helps create tension in this scene. Tension is built, not just on what is said, but the hidden meaning behind the actions. The non-verbal language throughout the play adds dramatic impact and at the end of act one there is much of it. Another example is when Catherine asks Rodolpho to dance. By this she is showing Eddie that she and Marco will stand up for themselves now. This makes Eddie very angry, and he ‘turns his head away’; he cannot face seeing Catherine and Rodolpho dance together. He is obsessed with Catherine and possibly even jealous of Rodolpho. At first, he manages to control these feelings after Beatrice changes the subject. However, this new topic raises another concern for Eddie. He discovers that Rodolpho is also a cook. This is yet another reason for him to believe ‘the guy ain’t right’. He makes a speech about what he could do with his talents and during this speech his body language indicates quite the opposite to the friendly comments he makes. The stage directions say that ‘he has been unconsciously twisting it (a newspaper) into a tight roll…it suddenly tears in two’. We can see from this how he is filling with anger and this creates anticipation in the audience. This anticipation continues to rise as Eddie becomes ‘weirdly elated, rubbing his fists into his palms’. The audience knows that something is going to happen because of the strange way he is acting- he has had an idea, and it is not a pleasant idea. He is the villain, anticipating recognition for his assessment that Rodolpho is ‘like a weird’.
When Eddie is showing Rodolpho how to box, the audience can see that he is becoming mad and they can sense that Eddie is going to do something, which increases their anticipation. He hits Rodolpho quite hard and Beatrice puts a stop to it. Eddie however ‘rubs the back of his hand across his mouth’, thinking that he has achieved something. He is relishing the satisfaction, as if he has just eaten something. He loved hitting Rodolpho, which brings out his evil, animal side. Eddie makes out it was a still just a bit of fun and Rodolpho feels forced to go along with it. However, Marco feels the insults that have been directed at his brother, and challenges him to pick up the chair. Eddie ‘pulls his pants up over his belly’, a very masculine action. He wants to assert himself as the man of the house, the ‘breadwinner’. Eddie does not have the strength for this and is belittled when Marco lifts the chair with considerable ease. This is yet another action which will ultimately lead to Eddie’s downfall because he feels that Marco has taken his honour away from him, just as he took Rodolpho’s earlier. Through this the audience realises that the climax is on its way. Marco does not say anything but his body language shows the audience that this trial symbolises Marco’s family solidarity. He is standing up for his brother and is warning Eddie that he should not cross him. These actions show a power struggle, being described in apparently harmless acts and words.
Conflict in the play also adds tension. Eddie is known to start arguments with the other characters verbally and also physically- this is shown during the boxing match. The tense atmosphere during the boxing at the end of Act One leads on to the shock near the start of Act Two when Eddie kisses Catherine and Rodolpho to disrespect them and starts a fight; this also prepares us for the final scene.
This trial of strength makes the end of the play inevitable. It echoes the final scene because both dramatic scenes show Eddie and Marco standing up for what they believe in. The trial prepares the audience for this ending because it shows them how important family and honour are to these two men. They can now see the tension between Marco and Eddie. Both men would kill to protect the honour of their name. The audience now expect a confrontation in the next act which may lead to more serious consequences.
So in ‘A view from the bridge’, the characters each play a vital role and in turn contribute to the inevitable tragic ending expected from the very beginning. The end of Act One has been written to show the audience just how much tension there is hiding beneath the surface. The body language between the characters written in the stage directions, and the inventive link with Greek tragedy are certainly just two of the many clever aspects of this play which make it such a carefully crafted work of art. Just as Alfieri, whilst watching the play, the audience, and indeed myself as an onlooker, ‘could see every step coming, step after step, like a dark figure walking down a hall towards a certain door’.
