As Marco and his brother, Rodolfo enter into the play; Eddie’s conspicuous character is still respected, even more so as he takes them into his own home without any hesitation. ‘You’re welcome, Marco, we got plenty of room here’. (Page 16) At this point, Eddie is perceived by the audience as a hospitable man of great motive and gains more respect – an aspect in which Eddie relies on the most and a fundamental convention in the works of tragedy. However, like all tragedies, this soon deteriorates more and more throughout the duration of the play. When Eddie, Marco and Rodolfo have a conversation, Eddie seems to only talk to Marco and ignores Rodolfo. ‘(he is coming more and more to address Marco only)’.(Page 18) This particular stage direction that Arthur Miller uses, shows that Eddie dislikes Rodolfo even before knowing about the relationship between him and Catherine. Eddie prefers to be distant and anti-social with Rodolfo, contraire to his relationship with Catherine and Eddie. When Eddie finds out about the relationship, Rodolfo is having with his ‘daughter’, he feels like he is stealing from her. ‘He’s stealing from me!’ (Page 35) ‘I worked like a dog twenty years so a punk could have her’ (page 34). When Eddie seeks advice, Alfieri prompts him critically. ‘She can’t marry you, can she?’ (Page 35) Eddie, left in a predicament replies by saying, ‘I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about!’ Arthur Miller uses the literary device of dramatic irony here to show Eddie’s bewildered state of mind. There is also a pause that Arthur Miller implements straight after to show that Eddie really does know and deep down knows that the implication that Alfieri is presenting before him is the unconditional truth. Eddie is clouded by his emotions and his masculine heritage and therefore previously, could not visually see the over protective animal he had become. We can see that Eddie finally knows now what his friend is trying to say to him, as his tone becomes lower and he stops his argument with Alfieri. ‘Well, thanks. Thanks very much. It just – it’s breakin’ my heart, y’know’. (Page 35) Eddie is now calmer and respects Alfieri.
Like all tragedies, there is a ‘tragic flaw’ in the main character; in this case, Eddie’s over protectiveness. He lives for respect and admiration, but when that’s gone and when he can’t get it back, he therefore has nothing to live for and so, discards his sense of morality and human values and reports Rodolfo to the immigration bureau. From this point, the motion of the play dramatically increases, fear arises and tension emerges. Eddie follows a somewhat similar trajectory of ‘Willy’ in Arthur Miller’s infamous play of a ‘Death Of A Salesman’ – he lives for his sons’ respect and admiration, but because he realises that they don’t respect him, it slowly eats him away until he decides to take his own life. Eddie too seeks respect and so when it is abruptly taken away from him, he decides to do something about it.
Arthur Miller uses Alfieri as a tool to effectively tell the audience the story and to show that even though he himself knew Eddie’s fortune and anticipated what his misconduct would lead to, he could not stop it and that nobody could. It was controlled by a supernatural force far greater than the ability of man – it was controlled by the uncompromising role of fate. ‘I knew, I knew then and there – I could have finished the whole story that afternoon.’ ‘I knew where he was going to end.’
Fate is a compulsory convention of a modern tragedy, perhaps the most important one. Fate decides our destiny and fate decides when our terminal existence will come to an end. Arthur Miller uses literary devices such as imagery also to help establish the fact that persuasion or guidance by man could not stop the tragedy and was inferior. ‘The phone is glowing in light now. Light is out on Alfieri. Eddie has at the same time appeared beside the phone.’ (Page 49) This is very important. Arthur Miller uses the phone box as a device to connote a sense of order and deliver suspense to the audience. It also connotes the fact that it was Eddie’s fate – it was a sign showing him that it was the only option and route to take and not even God himself could stop it. Eddie had to do what ever he had to in order to secure his personal sense of dignity and if that meant evading the ‘Italian code of conduct’, then that’s what he had to do. There is a typical convention of the main character producing a ‘tragic flaw, recognizing it, and going to extreme lengths to overcome and rectify it back to his image of rightful status. Regardless to how hard he tries, he fails in the process, and this play is no exception.
Arthur Miller uses conventions of a modern tragedy effectively in ‘A View From The Bridge’. His skills in writing and the psychological tricks he uses in his plays dare to be reckoned with. However, there is a highly important aspect in the writing of his plays that is important to distinguish between other plays of intense dramas. Unlike other plays, instead of creating a play that was uniformly depressing, he deviated from this standard perception, making plays that were optimistic in that the main character causes the tragedy for what they perceive to be the greater good. However, rather than being a flaw for Miller, it proved to be a beneficial and highly commended approach as he was selling a vast number of copies worldwide. Arthur Miller follows the stereotypical conventions of tragedy in ‘A View From The Bridge’, but also follows in the paths of his own too – an optimistic viewpoint over the whole play and excels in this immensely.
