A View from the Bridge by Arthur Miller

A View from the Bridge by Arthur Miller

'A View from the Bridge' is a 1950's play written by Arthur Miller. It

follows the same structure as an Ancient Greek tragedy, where the main

actor and in this case Eddie Carbone falls to a tragic and yet a

predictable inflicted death.

I will be explaining the difference in culture between America and

Italy and how this could have affected the outcome of the play.

The play 'A View from the Bridge' was written by Arthur Miller and is

set in Brooklyn America. The scenes are mainly set near the docks and

in the apartment, where Mr. Carbone and the immigrants live.

Eddie Carbone is the traditional Italian-American man. He cares about

his family and how he is perceived in the public by his friends. He is

highly opinionated, physically strong and hard to reason with once his

mind has been set on something. Like most Italian men in the 1950's,

he migrated to America to gain employment. This was probably done

illegally and this lays the basis of the play and the unravelling of

events, down to illegal migration.

Eddie and Beatrice are married. Beatrice's nice Catherine, stays with

them. The problems leading up to Eddie's death began when Beatrice's

cousins Marco and Rodolpho (brothers) come to stay with them, they are

illegal immigrants. Eddie disliked Rodolpho from the very first day.

From the very beginning of the play, it was clear that Eddie Carbone

is the main character as most of the action focussed around him.

He is very protective of Catherine. He does not want her to expose

herself to the men in the neighbourhood. Eddie constantly makes

comments on her appearance.

Eddie: ...

... middle of paper ...

...death was caused by unending conflict between the two

cultures. Electing the American or Italian way of life would have made

life easier. For this, he is an outcaste in his society. If Eddie had

accepted the fact, he could never have controlled Catherine as 'his

territory' forever, maybe, he would still be alive.

Eddie was motivated by obsession of something he cannot have,

Catherine. Eddie knew, he cannot have Catherine and cannot see life

living without her. So accepts his death. This is symbolised with his

own knife stabbing him to death. From this, it was clear that Eddie

was responsible for his own death with little help from Marco, to try

and regain 'his name'. It was all these problems he mainly insinuated

that caused his death allowing him to be shattered and enduring the

torture and hell he made for himself.