A View From The Bridge by Arthur Miller
'A View From The Bridge' is a play written and directed by Arthur Miller A writer that got interested in a lower part of Manhattan which is across the Brooklyn Bridge from the richer part of New York City where the play is set. Miller's play concentrates on a particular community full of Sicilian immigrants. This community has responsibilities towards one another, they look out for each other, but soon a character's betrayal casts a shadow on the rest of the community, the same character that is led by fate towards a destiny that cannot be escaped.
In the last part of the play, just before Rodolfo enters, Catherine, Eddie and Beatrice have been
…show more content…
This tells us that Eddie wants to face up to Marco, that he's not afraid of him, even though we found out that Marco is stronger than Eddie in the past scenes.
Just before Marco comes in, Beatrice plays an interesting role. Miller uses her character to make the tension, by her trying to get Eddie to calm down and to play the peacemaker, but the main role she plays in this scene is that what she tries to get out of Eddie. She comments on how Eddie wants something. Eddie yells that 'Marco's got my name', but Beatrice realises that Eddie wants something else. The tension breaks out when Beatrice yells to Eddie, 'you can never have her!' This is what Eddie really wanted, Catherine, to be his and not anyone else's, including Rodolfo, even though she id his niece. The way Eddie is 'shocked, horrified' and has his 'fists clenching', shows that he is angry with Beatrice for saying that. At this point, the audience are shocked and worried to how Eddie will react to this.
As Marco enters calling for Eddie, we can feel the tension mount up, because when Marco calls out for Eddie, all characters 'stand transfixed for an instant', as if they don't know how to react to this. But as the characters realise what is going on, Eddie 'emerges from the apartment' to get back his name and show the neighbourhood what a liar Marco is. The audience would start to worry when the two characters (Marco and
This also shows that he believes he should not acknowledge the national anthem, as it is not his own culture’s ‘corroboree’. The camera angle and Eddie’s dialogue is used in this episode to challenge the values of society by highlighting the characters’ beliefs.
"The American Dream is the largely unacknowledged screen in front of which all American writing plays itself out," Arthur Miller has said (Galvin). To many people Arthur Miller is known for his role against communist accusations and using his writing to portray what has happened during McCarthyism. From Miller’s struggles as a child to his first big break as a playwright to his fight against the government, he has still been able to maintain integrity in his writing and captivated many audiences over the years.
Eddie steals a purse from an elderly lady. Manny was given a second chance by the black man. “In that instant of trying to call out to Eddie everything changed. It was like I’d seen my own fate.” (210) Manny said this because he realized that he is on the completely wrong path in life. Manny realizes that Eddie is starting to pick up character traits like his father and Manny cannot turn out to be like his own dad. Manny knows that he does not want to throw away his life so he turns it around because he knows what the outcome will be if he does not change.
In my opinion no matter how much eddie tries to stay away from trouble it always ends up finding him. He gets all these opportunities and something bad happens every single time it seems like. I do not think eddie is the issue either it is all of what he is surrounded by that keeps messing him up and getting him off track, I think that he should continue working the jobs he has and move away from there to see how successful he can become then. Because if his own family is wanting
When Eddie and Beatrice are waiting for Rodolpho and Catherine to get home after a movie, Eddie goes down to the street and talks to them trying to figure out why Rodolpho had her out so late at night. When Rodolpho leaves, Eddie begins talking to Catherine and says that he is upset that Rodolpho did not to ask for permission to take her out. He goes on and says that Rodolpho does not respect Catherine and Eddie tries to split the couple apart with the idea that Rodolpho is only interested in Catherine to become a citizen. This is Eddie’s first attempt to split Catherine and Rodolpho apart. This is an unsettling thought because the audience does not suspect that Rodolpho’s feelings for Catherine are in any way fake. Eddie becomes very torn apart when she begins to date Rodolpho. He becomes convinced that something is not “right” with him and tries to intervene. When this plan does not work, he goes to a lawyer to try in hopes that the law can separate them. Of course, there is no law and Eddie becomes frustrated. When he gets drunk, he goes back to the house and tries to kick Rodolpho out of the house. He is jealous that Rodolpho is getting all of Catherine’s attention and the fact that he kisses her on the mouth leaves an uneasy feeling on the audience, adding onto Eddie’s unsightly protagonist image. When Catherine says that she is going to go with Rodolpho, Eddie becomes extremely angry and
Eddie is struggling to maintain dominance. In Eddie's view, he has just been monumentally disrespected. His power has been challenged. So, what does he do? He forces his niece to kiss him. Forcing himself on his niece, he symbolically asserts his power over her.
His second stop is where he meets his commanding officer of his world war II platoon. Eddie remembers being held captive along with his captain and four others. He also was the one responsible for coming up with a plan for them to escape. After they did that the captain told them to burn the place they were held captive but eddie ran back because he thought he saw a young girl, but a bullet was shot and hit him right in the knee. He learned the importance of sacrifice from the captain who then says that that it was him who shot eddie. He says that he had to sacrifice his knee in order to save his life. The captain then reveals that he died because he stepped on a landmine getting Eddie to safety, meaning he also made sacrifice.One his way out he advises Eddie to let go of his anger. The third stop is where he sees a vision of his father. He had flashbacks of the abuse he suffered from the hands of his father when he was drunk.then he meets Ruby who’s husband is the founder of Ruby Pier which was named after her. She offers him a new way to look at his father’s death. Eddie believed that his father died because he made a decision while drunk to jump into the freezing water and caught pneumonia, but really he was trying to save his friend mickey’s life. Mickey tried to kill himself after Eddie’s father caught him assaulting
The lesson that the Sargent had to teach Eddie was about sacrifice. “Sometimes when you sacrifice something precious you’re not really losing it, you’re just passing it on to someone else.” (94) In other words, the Sargent sacrificed Eddie’s leg to save his life, and he also sacrificed his life in order to preserve the lives of his
This can be shown by, “Sure, he’s terrific! Look at him go!” and “He could be very good Marco. I’ll teach him again.” By praising Rodolfo, he is making Rodolfo want to continue boxing with him. Eddie shows more and more authority over Rodolfo and if they go boxing more, Eddie gets the opportunity to humiliate and embarrass Rodolfo more, and prove to everybody that he is stronger. The tension between the two characters is important, as it continues to grow stronger, until Eddie attacks Marco and Rodolfo. This is important, as this is the point where the tension is first revealed obviously and directly to the reader, through physical actions, although not real violence. The audience may feel that there will be real violence later on in the play, as Eddie keeps encouraging Rodolfo to fight and continuously tries to insult him.
Arthur Miller was an American playwright who wrote plays such as “The Crucible” and “Death of a Salesman” because he thought theatre could change the world. He wrote his works based on friends, his own life, and family. People believed he was a man of integrity and a hero because of the ways he portrayed himself.
In the first scene we meet Eddie and Catherine together. This is when we start to understand the relationship between the two by the language they use with each other, the dialogue, and actions they use with each other. "Hi Eddie!" "(Eddie is pleased and therefore shy about it)" the first instinct is that they are going out with each other. Catherine has a new skirt. When Catherine runs her hands over her skirt the point is even more obvious. By doing this it is like she is flirting with Eddie.
can see the type of man Eddie is, as when he meets the brothers for
At the beginning of the play, Eddie is portrayed as a sensible and smart character. Eddie and the girls (Catherine and Beatrice) all have a requited respect for each other – Beatrice: “Mmm! You’re an angel! God’ll bless you” – and there are no problems as such, even when the immigrants first come. He is also respected by the community – Alfieri: “He was good a man as he had to be in life that was.” But this dominant respect that he gains is what he is very used to and the slight changes where Catherine finds another man in her life and Beatrice also looks after the two immigrants (Rodolpho and Marco) effects Eddie hugely. The respect that he becomes used to is now shared by the women in his life between the men in his house and he craves for more attention. This can be considered one of his flaws that lead to his downfall. He is also shown caring for Catherine in the beginning of the play. He can be seen as a normal uncle or father – Beatrice: “She’s got a job.” Eddie: “What job? She’s gonna finish school.” He is also very proud of Catherine – “Sure she’s the best… You look like a
Also, Catherine's affection for Rodolfo highlights how she likes things that Eddie doesn't like, making him realise that he is more out of touch with her than he realises. This scares him, and makes him recognize that he cannot control or know what she truly feels in her heart and mind. In the last act, Eddie can't help but let manly pride override his common sense. He demands an apology from Marco, even though he knows that he himself is in the wrong, 'tell them what a liar you are C'mon, liar, you know what you done'.
With Eddie being limitless on this drug he gains power over things and makes more money than he ever thought would be possible, which eventually conditions him into becoming even more dependent upon the drug.