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Character of Achilles
Character of Achilles
Across the Bridge analysis
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Miller’s A View from the Bridge, originally written in 1956 as a one act play, has many features of a classic Greek tragedy. It is set in the Italian-American neighbourhood, situated in Red Hook, near Brooklyn Bridge in New York. It is in this community Miller chooses to dramatise themes of conflict, betrayal, love and obsession. The underlying omerta is present throughout the play and is the reason for the conflict as it is defied by Eddie Carbone, the Italian longshoreman, who destroys himself in a clash between his blind passions and primeval ideas of his own people about right living.
In Eddie, Miller creates the classic Italian-American ‘family man’ who strives to be head of the household and goes about with a sense of pride and familial duty. Eddie feels it is his duty to look after his family and keep to his word as he says, ‘Katie I promised your mother on her deathbed. I'm responsible for you’. It is evident that family is very important and he has very strong family values to which he endeavours to keep, a sign of the Italian family where the man feels it is his duty to keep his word and look after the entire family, as he is the head of the household. This accentuates the concept of masculinity which is further enforced by Eddie’s old fashioned views, his inability to understand the younger generation and also the conflict of interest of duty to family between Eddie and Rodolfo. Eddie, the ‘respectable family man’ feels no honour for Rodolfo who buys, with his first money, ‘a snappy new jacket …, records [whilst] his brother’s kids are starvin’ with tuberculosis.’ He feels that as Rodolfo has none of his own family, he should help his brother who is also a family man. This underscores the fact that in Eddie’s mind, ...
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... from out chosen image of what or who we are in this world’ (Miller).
Miller’s choice of an Italian-American community is a very good one. It allows him to successfully convey the concept of masculinity in its true environment where there is an underlying code of society which is broken by the tragic protagonist and their masculinity, which comes into question resulting in the individual struggling to gain his ‘rightful status’ and overcome his flaws, causing disruption to society which is only fixed by the death of this person. It is very similar to that of a Greek tragedy with the chorus, Alfieri, providing a firm link both in terms of being the chorus and the origin of his name, an eighteenth century writer of tragedies. He is essential to elevate the play, from a mediocre tragedy contributed to by masculinity, to the same level as any other classical tragedy.
In the essay “A View From the Bridge” by Cherokee McDonald, descriptive words are used to describe the little boy fishing and the fish he caught. All this happened on a little bridge, but I bet it is a moment that this guy will not soon forget. “... As I neared the crest, I saw the kid.”
The Miller is hardly a likeable character. His negative depictions of love and John, the old and supposedly more learned husband, upset a few members of his audience. His tale juxtaposed with "The Knight's Tale" gives the reader valuable insight into the viewpoints of the era. The Knight still believes in honor and love at first sight whereas the Miller resorts to dishonesty every chance he gets. The General Prologue tells us that the Miller is lecherous, dishonest, clever, and eloquent. If you read the General Prologue carefully enough, the outline and themes of "The Miller's Tale" should not surprise you in the least.
Arthur Millers play is a creative dramatic and well-researched exploration into the hysteria that surrounding the 'perverse manifestation of the panic which set in among all classes when the balance began to turn toward greater individual freedom'.
'A View from the Bridge' is a play set in Brooklyn in the 1940s. The
113-117. Arthur Miller. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1982. ---. Eight Plays.
Firstly, tragedy arises due to a tragic flaw embedded within individuals. Miller’s essay speaks of a tragedy as an event that not o...
Eddie in A View From the Bridge by Arthur Miller "A View from the Bridge," is a play by Arthur Miller. The scene is down town New York along the fore shore and involves Eddie Carbone, an Italian Longshoreman, his wife Beatrice and her niece Catherine. When his wife's cousins, Marco and Rodolfo, seek refuge as illegal immigrants from Sicily, Eddie agrees to shelter them. Trouble begins, as his wife's niece Catherine, is attracted to Rodolfo. Eddie's baffled jealousy culminates in an unforgivable crime against his family and the Sicilian community.
Tragedy has been a prevalent theme written into many plays over the past few centuries. Each play portrays a character attempting to overcome overwhelming obstacles to no avail. The protagonists of these tales in the past have primarily been associated with the upper class and high status. However, in Arthur Miller’s works the Crucible and Death of a Salesman the author explores a new form of tragedy within the common man. Miller aptly uses the previous archetype of the tragic hero and alters it to relate to the modern world. Although Miller implements the common man into both the Crucible and Death of a Salesman, the author distinguishes between the characters of Willy Loman and John Proctor though their individual experiences, tragic flaws,
"A View From A Bridge" is a play by Arthur Miller. It is set in 1950s
“Miller tries both to offer a disclaimer about the imaginative aspects of his work, and to claim a higher level of veracity for the play’s authority.” (133)
A view from the bridge is a play set in the late 1940s and is based in
Costello, Donald P. “Arthur Miller’s Circles of Responsibility: A View From a Bridge and Beyond.” Modern Drama. 36 (1993): 443-453.
Miller, Arthur. "The Family in Modern Drama" The Theater Essays of Arthur Miller, Da Capo, 1996.
Arthur Miller is an interesting author in the sense that many of his plays reflect or are a product of events in his life. He was born in 1915 in New York City and was the son of a successful businessman, up until the Great Depression when his father lost most of his wealth. This greatly impacts Miller's life, and influences the themes for many of his future writings. To make ends meet at home, Miller worked as a truck driver, a warehouse clerk, and a cargo-mover; consequently, these odd jobs bring him close to the working-class type people that will later be the basis of many characters in his plays. It is while he is involving himself in these jobs that Miller forms his love for literature; he is greatly impressed by Fyodor Dostoevski's The Brothers Karamazov because it questions the unspoken rules of society, a concept he often wondered about, especially after the Great Depression. He believes that American society needed to be made over; for this reason, many of his earlier plays show sympathetic portrayals and compassionate characterizations of his characters. In 1956, Miller marries the eminent Marilyn Monroe. This event significantly affects his writing in that he focuses on female characters more than he had formerly. He also looked back at his prefigured themes in past stories and expanded or reconsidered them (Martin, 1336-7). Clearly, the roots of his works are the result of important events from his past experiences.
While Miller’s plays are designed to draw questions and moral dilemma for their audience it seems as if some critics have taken Miller’s open invitation too literally.