Theme of Letting Go

The play “A View from the Bridge” written by Arthur Miller tells of a story of a man’s great love for his own daughter leading to his unwillingness to let her go. This ironically results in the straining of the relationship between the two and ultimately his self-destruction and death. The theme of letting go is one of the main themes the play and the playwright are trying to convey to the reader. The theme is clearly manifested through the main conflict between Eddie, Catherine and Rodolpho in the various incidents of the play. In fact, entire two acts circle around how Eddie’s love for his daughter has grown to a point where he cannot let go of his grown up niece, but more appropriately his, stepdaughter.

The theme is first observed in the beginning of the play where Eddie does not like the prospect of other men taking her stepdaughter away from him. This is clearly seen in two separate incidents.

This is first shown when both admires and criticizes the clothing choice of Catherine. At first sight of her new pretty look, Eddie compliments her saying how she “look like one of them girls that went to college” however just a few moments later, his mood changes and Eddie becomes “aggravated” by how other men were “given you” “looks” “in the candy store”. The playwright’s use of words in the dialogue helps to heighten the change in Eddie’s mood. This illustrate how possessive Eddie is of his stepdaughter to the point of not wanting the possibility of other men wooing her away from him even though she is at the right age of marriage and wants to keep her to himself. This highlights the theme showing how Eddie refuses to want to let her stepdaughter go and have relationships with other men.

The theme was also displayed when Eddie...

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...me of letting go has been clearly shown to the reader. It tells of how it is better to let something we love so dearly go than to hold on to it and restrict its freedom. In the play Eddie was holding on Catherine so dearly that she and her new boyfriend were unable to attain a happy relationship. He claims he wanted the best for her such as working in “lawyer’s office” or having a “better class of people” as her husband. He did not realize that his standard of best was attainable for her and only wanted her for himself. As a result when she did receive good things like the job as a “stenographer” and having “Rodolpho” as a husband he refused”. No matter how much we love someone there will always come a time where we must let the person go. Treasure the time we have with that person and if we really truly love him or her we will let them go freely without complaint.