For man to earn money is one of Eddie’s ideas of manliness. The fact that he worked on the piers and earned money to provide for his family is considered being manly by Eddie as he feels; he is the ‘Breadwinner.’
“But I think you could probably-Thirty, forty a week, over the whole twelve months of the year.” (Page 29)
This suggests Eddie shows that he proud to be the head of the house and family but would hate for his pride or ego to be destroyed.
Eddie would also consider manliness as being physically strong and to have the power to fight, Eddie thinks that if a man knows how to fight then they are able to look after their family and this will be recognised as a man, so he attempts to teach Rodolpho how to do boxing.
“Come on Rodolpho, I show you a couple a passes.” (Page 56)
This tells the audience automatically that when he feels he has no power against his family he tries to prove himself so that he would get recognised for his qualities of being a man. So therefore he proves his ‘manliness’ by showing Rodolpho a few passes of boxing, but really show that he is man but Rodolpho isn’t. He shows Rodolpho some boxing to make him and everyone understand that if you want to be a man you need to know how to fight. It was also as if Eddie had purposely asked Rodlopho to try a bit of boxing so that Eddie could hit him, but instead make it seem accidental. From this part the tension starts to build up between Eddie Rodolpho and Marco.
The final idea Eddie would consider as ‘manliness’ id for his name to be respected. He is very dominant over his name and doesn’t like to be seen as a bad person.
“I want my name!” (Page 82)
Eddie is extremely protective over his reputation in his neighbourhood as he would hate for anyone to make him out as a bad person or anything that would destroy his existent in his community.
Eddie is a forceful, energetic and obsessive character, but he is also a character who can show warmth and some generosity. It is obvious throughout the play that he has unnatural feelings for his niece Catherine as he lays down the rules for her not to expose herself. Eddie always comments on the clothes she wears as if they were inappropriate for anyone to see but him.
“where you goin’ all dressed up?” (Page 13)
Rodolphos ‘manliness’ is completely different to Eddie’s Standard of ‘manliness.’ Rodolphos ‘manliness’ doesn’t really measure up to Eddie’s as they both have very different qualities. Eddie has many different things that he considers to be manly, and feels that Rodolpho does not conform to his idea of masculinity because he can cook, sing and make dresses.
Rodolpho is a young man who is seemed to be attracted by Catherine. We know this because he explains his wonderful features, in a conversation with Beatrice.
“…he’s a good-lookin’ fella” (Page 34)
His sense of humour is not missed in this play, we can tell that he’s quite funny and is on the good side of a lot of people except Eddie. This is because Rodolpho is man of many talents, such as he can cook, sing and make dresses. When any of these are mentioned around Eddie he makes it sound as if as if Rodolpho isn’t a man but a homosexual. Eddie tries to humiliate Rodolpho informant of Catherine to make Rodolpho look bad because he isn’t a typical man so Eddie tries to insults him by being sarcastic. Eddie may come across as not liking Rodolpho as a person, but it is obvious that the only reason he doesn’t like him is because of his talents, he sneers at Rodolpho’s Talents as if he is jealous because he and Catherine have taken a shine to each other. He also feels quite envious of Rodolpho because Catherine doesn’t care about Rodlpho’s ‘manliness’ but only of the things that really matter such as the personality.
Rodolpho shows a romantic quality towards Catherine, as soon as he entered the play they had fallen in love with one another. Eddie feels Rodolpho’s doesn’t love Catherine, but is putting on an act to become an American citizen.
“Katie, he’s only bowin’ to his passport.” (Page 41)
Catherine thinks this is untrue and believes that he truly loves her, and that he’d never do anything like that. Rdodlpho’s and Catherine’s love is very powerful and is quite genuine.
“My heart dies to look at you.” (Page 61)
Rodlpho’s character is made known through his caring personality. He is thoughtful, sensitive and is an intelligent person who feels a sense of responsibility for those who he loves.
Rodolpho’s idea of ‘manliness’ is to provide for Catherine and support her through everything. He’d hate to see her suffering for him.
“How can I bring you from a rich country to suffer in a poor country?” (Page 60)
This implies that Rodolpho is worried for Catherine’s welfare if they lived in Italy. We can tell that he really wants to provide for her but feels he won’t be able to because of the lack of jobs that are offered in Italy. So he’d rather work hard in America to earn money so that he could support and provide for Catherine.
“We work hard, we’ll work all day all night___” (Page 29)
Rodolpho and his brother will do anything to get some money as they are desperate to provide their family back in Italy. They would rather work all night than do nothing at all for their family. This proves that they are very loyal to their families and when trouble strikes they always find a way through it.
Rodolpho’s and Eddie’s ‘manliness’ are very different. Between Eddie and Rodolpho, Rodolpho’s ‘manliness does not measure up to Eddie’s standard as he’ all about being relaxed and calm, whereas Eddie is mainly about being powerful and being able to fight. They are two very different characters which are shown and articulated in loads of different ways, but mainly through their ‘manliness.’
Marcos character is very powerful and he really shows his masculinity but you can see the clear difference between himself, Eddie and Rodolpho. Marco is a conventional man who thinks traditionally about how to support his wife and kids.
Marco is seen as the strongest of the two brothers as he likes to defend his family if any sort of remark is made. For example when Eddie comments about how his wife will be unfaithful during his time away.
“I mean, you know-they count the kids and there’s a couple extra than when they left?” (Page 52) Marco responds very quickly and results by saying “No-No…the women wait, Eddie-most most very few surprises.” (Page 52)
This suggests that Marco can get aggressive over remarks like this but strides past it as he has a strong sense of responsibility to his family. Marco has a duty to his family whilst he’s in America. He’s earning money for them so that they are able to eat as they are quite poor at the moment. Marco knows it was a risk arriving illegally to America but he thought about it and done what he thought was the best for his family. Marco shows he is responsible and always thinks before he acts.
Marco doesn’t really come across as the main character but more of an antagonist of the play. He hardly shows aggression unless he feels his family are getting exploited. Marco really feels the hurt when Eddie takes advantage of Rodolpho, so he’s raged with anger about their boxing match. Marco then challenges Eddie to lifting a chair as some sort of revenge, to show Eddie up.
“[Marco face to face with Eddie a strained tension gripping his eyes and jaw, his neck stiff, the chair raised like a weapon over Eddies head]” (Page 58)
Marco challenges Eddie to see is he is a man like he insulted Rodolpho of not being a man. This shows that Marco is very defensive over his brother Rodolpho, it symbolises Marcos impending judgement and punishment, anticipates the way in which Marco, rather that Rodolpho, is to become Eddie’s main opponent. This proves that they are a very protective family who all look out for each other.
Marco’s Ideas of ‘manliness’ is expresses very conventionally. Marco is a family man and came to America to earn money to support them.
“What can I do? The older one is sick in his chest. My wife-she feeds them from her own mouth. I tell you the truth, If I stay there they will never grow up. They eat the sunshine” (Page 29)
Marco really wants to support his family and feels America is his only option to do that. Marco has proven that he’d do anything for his family.
“Whatever there is, anything” (Page 28)
All the men in this play have different ideas of ‘manliness.’ Eddie is far more protective of Catherine than his own wife, he obviously loves Beatrice but not enough if she feels Eddie gives her less attention than Catherine. “When am I going to be a wife again Eddie?” (Page 36) She really feels unsettled around her husband and wishes he paid less attention to Catherine and more to her. Rodolpho is supportive; he’s come over with his brother to earn money and to be able to buy the things he’s always dreamed of. “When I am rich, and I will buy a motorcycle.” (Page 30) coming to America to earn money shows that it will change Rodolpho’s life, he will be able to buy anything that he’s always dreamed of. Marco is the most traditional man, he really shows that he is powerful and a family man, who will always support them. Marco acts very conventionally towards his family, this could be because he may have been brought up this way, to be respectful and always support the wife.
Hostility today is viewed upon as abuse, but in the time the play was written hostility was part of a day to day running of people’s lives. Hostility in the play is shown between Eddie and Rodolpho. When Rodolpho and Marco arrive Eddie feels quite insecure about his status in his household. Eddie tries hard to keep his status of being ‘the man of the house’ whilst Rodolpho and Marco are around. Eddie is very hostile towards Rodolpho because he thinks he is a homosexual. Marco knows Eddie feels this way about Rodolpho, but doesn’t quite understand why he’d feel this way about a member of his family. Marco is very unhappy about this and so this then creates the aggression in the play. From the arrival of Rodolpho and Marco, various conflicts between Himself and Eddie have resulted in which Marco demonstrating his masculinity over Eddie. This then makes Eddie feel quite threatened and anxious.
Eddie calls Rodolpho Danish rather than by his name to make fun of his appearance. “Now, watch out, here I come, Danish!” (Page 57) Eddie is mocking Rodolpho’s appearance because it’s not a typical man’s appearance. Eddie refers to Rodolpho as Danish because he has blue eyes and blonde hair, but in other words a homosexual. This is an example of where Marco feels the anger of Eddie exploiting his Brother. It is also an example of where the hostility is clearly shown between Rodolpho and Eddie, and so this is where aggression is used between Marco and Eddie. Marco then demonstrates later his ‘manliness’ to make Eddie nervous and regretful of his earlier actions towards Rodolpho.
In the play ‘a view from the Bridge’ the women are treated unfairly, and are constantly mocked by Eddie. The play also shows how Beatrice and Catherine are abused through verbal violence by eddies constant stereotyping.
The way Beatrice and Catherine are indentified id through their aggression, they are no the sort of characters who show their aggression a lot but only when the tension starts to build when Rodolpho falls in love with Catherine, which is what Eddie finds hard to deal with.
Beatrice is one of the very caring characters of the play, she is always there for everyone and this is one thing that Beatrice gets mocked for by her husband Eddie. He says to her “I’m just worried about you, that’s all I’m worried” (page 61) this suggests that Eddie has got tight grips on her and that she should stop being caring and nice to people. Beatrice is always in the middle of any arguments and ends up being the mediator, but at the same time she’s always trying to please her husband so he treats her the way she wants to be treated. Beatrice is always tied between her Husband and everyone else. This implies that Eddie has a lot of control over her and he has trained her well as being his wife. Eddie feels that he needs to mock Beatrice to feel a sense of power.
Catherine is a young lady who is growing up to be a woman. She has met the man of her dreams and wants to marry him, but there’s only one thing stopping her, Eddie. Eddie has brought up Catherine like a daughter but has experienced feelings for her that are unnatural which he and Catherine can’t quite understand. Eddie has looked after Catherine for so long that he has developed a possessiveness over her. He has become overprotective and is unable to let go of her after all the years he has taken care of her. When Catherine comes home and explains what she thinks is good news to Eddie and Beatrice, Eddie is furious over how she could take a job without his permission. “I should take the job at the end of the year…” (Page 18) she explains how much good it will be for her but he just keeps going on about how young she is and is only still a child. This shows that Eddie is not yet ready to let go of Catherine but if he doesn’t she will disown him and then he would probably never see her again. Eddie has shown that he is quite a controlling man and also that he has a caring side to him but it is expressed through his anger by him being very manipulative towards his wife Beatrice and nice Catherine.
I think that Eddie sees the ladies as being Stay at home wives that do the traditional lady things such as cooking and cleaning. The men and women do not share responsibility and the women are treated unfairly and sometimes come across as victims in the play.
Miller presents manliness, hostility and aggression through the acting and situations the characters are in. Miller also presented key themes through manliness, hostility and aggression throughout the play. Firstly he used dramatic irony to give the audience an insight into how the story is going to end, which creates frustration and tension.
Arthur Miller has purposely used the Key themes from when Marco and Rodolpho arrive to create hostility and aggression. He purposely done this so that the tension this created could be broken between the characters. Arthur miller has created a dramatic atmosphere by building up the hostility and aggression, which results into the tension building and then slowly disappearing as we get further into the play.
I think this play was really good. I found that it had a very interesting story behind all the hostility and aggression. I could see that there were many stories that were told within the play, which were all twisted up and told as one whole story. I think that ‘manliness’ was told in many different ways from the views of each character. To me the play as a whole all related back to one person in particular, Eddie Carbone. I thought that every theme that was told within the play always related back to him and practically all the hostility and aggression was created by Eddie and was given off like a force to other characters to create the tension.
