Two Key Scenes Between Eddie and Marco in A View from the Bridge

Two Key Scenes Between Eddie and Marco in A View from the Bridge

Examine the dramatic effectiveness of two key scenes between Eddie

and Marco. In the play, the lead character, Eddie Carbone is an

“A View from the Bridge”: Examine the dramatic effectiveness of

two key scenes between Eddie and Marco.

“In the play, the lead character, Eddie Carbone is an Italian

longshoreman working on the New York docks. When his wife’s cousins,

Marco and Rodolfo, seek refuge as illegal immigrants from Sicily,

Eddie agrees to shelter them. Trouble begins when his wife’s niece,

Catherine, is attracted to the glamorous younger brother, Rodolfo.

Eddie’s baffled jealousy culminates in an unforgivable crime against

his family and the Sicilian community.” The playwright, Arthur Miller,

writes about an era and district with which he is very familiar.

The two scenes that I have chosen to analyse for dramatic

effectiveness between Eddie and Marco are:

o The last scene of Act 1, where Eddie attempts to teach Rodolfo to

box and is challenged by Marco to lift the chair.

o The last scene where Eddie refuses to leave the apartment pending

Marco’s arrival.

In the last scene of Act 1 dramatic effectiveness is displayed in a

very strong and powerful way. The effect of this scene is very

dramatic on the audience because before this particular scene takes

place, Eddie’s anger and jealousy has been building up. The audience

is keen to see how Eddie is going to react to the closeness of

Catherine and Rodolfo.

When Eddie went to see Alfieri, prior to the final scene of Act 1 he

explained how he felt about Catherine seeing Rodolfo. Eddie made it

very clear that he thinks Rodolfo “ain’t right.” When Alfieri makes it

clear t...

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...o the Immigration Bureau. This is a hint as to what

Eddie may do later on in the play. The story of Vinny Bolzano is a

precursor of what is to become Eddie’s fate. This also prepares the

audience for the fact that Eddie may do something that is

“unforgivable for people of Red Hook.” Although Vinny was obeying the

law what he done was seen as unjust and wrong by the Red Hook as they

have their own law.

In conclusion I feel that both the last scene of Act 1 and the last

scene of the play have a very dramatic effect on the audience. The

last scene of Act 1 shows the audience the build up of tension and

suspense between Eddie and Marco and the last scene of the play brings

the suspense to a tragic end. Both scenes have a dramatic effect on

the audience because they both contain the most exciting and

predominant elements of the play – tension and suspense.