Why Marco and Rodolfo Came to America in A View From the Bridge by Arthur Miller

Why Marco and Rodolfo Came to America in A View From the Bridge by Arthur Miller

The play A view from the bridge the author, Arthur Miller, is

presented to the audience as a tragedy but not a classical, a new,

modern tragedy. I still employs the elements well known to classical

tragedies but then it is set in the docks of America where illegal

immigrants are not uncommon to be hiding. There are many cultural

issues surrounding the play and the modern tragedy genre like the way

that different cultures treat justice; in America there are laws and

anyone who breaks them goes to jail but these laws are not always good

enough as Alfieri says on Eddie's first visit to him "the law is very

specific", it does not deal with every situation; The Sicilians treat

justice by taking the law into their own hands and getting even in

their own way. The Sicilians arrived in America in the first place to

search for the 'American Dream' of a job, money, welcome and hope for

the people left behind back home. The genre of modern tragedy uses a

protagonist, like classical tragedies, in the form of Eddie. Miller

uses him to focus on the frailty of human nature, how humans often do

not know their own feelings so cannot see what they are doing wrong:

Eddie, when told by Alfieri "she wants to get married, Eddie. She

can't marry you, can she?", his answer of "What're you talkin' about,

marry me! I don't know what the hell you're talkin' about" is

indignant and the audience sees that Alfieri has noticed what Eddie

just does not see about himself.

The tragic elements used to make A View from the Bridge into a modern

tragedy are taken from the old Greek classic...

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...acters and their way of life. Alfieri

has cleverly picked a culture that still runs as the Greeks did with

high standards to live up to and strong family values. By using

Alfieri as a modern day chorus, Miller mirrors a classical tragedy

set-up keeping the audience informed and creating the element of

predestination. By using a modern context, Miller has shown the

audience that theories on honour and respect have not changed much

since the Greeks. Alfieri's message at the end of the play to the

audience is that the truth should always be told. It shows that

although Eddie did not know his feelings for Catherine, someone could

have told him and the problem could have been sorted. If people had

talked more to each other and instead of fighting about everything,

just talked, maybe the whole thing could have been resolved.