A View From The Bridge Analysis

In this essay, I will discuss how Arthur miller ends act one in such a dramatic way. The end of act one is a turning point of Arthur Miller’s play “A View from the Bridge”. I think this is because Marco finally finds out what Eddie is intending to do. The scene also builds up the feelings between Rodolpho and Catherine and shows us how much Eddie despises Rodolpho. This scene is the most clearest and one of the most important scenes this is because it tells us how Eddie feels about Rodolpho, when he observes between Catherine and Rodolpho.

In this scene, Catherine finally realises that she has to stand up to Eddie, the man who brought her up. There is a small argument about oranges and lemons and Eddie says how they paint oranges so they look orange. Rodolpho tries to get his point across which concerns lemons. E know his by Eddie saying “I heard that they paint the oranges to make them look orange”.

Eddie squashes Rodolpho considerably. At this point Beatrice creates peace and asks Marco about his family. Eddie has had enough of listening to this; states that some women are unfaithful while their husband’s are off earning money.

View From A Bridge

Surprisingly for Eddie, Rodolpho says that life is strict in Italy and Eddie rises to the occasion. Eddie retaliates with the comment that it is also strict here and he does not like Rodolpho bringing Catherine back so late. Referring to Rodolpho he says to Marco “Well, Marco, till he came here she was never out on the street twelve o’clock at night”.

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Marco gives in to Eddie’s power, trying to create peace between the two by saying “You come home early now, Rodolpho”. There is now an air of tension and suppressed rivalry in the room. Catherine at this point is sick and tired of the person she loves being denounced in such a way.

She then challenges Eddie’s authority in asking Rodolpho to dance. Eddie simply freezes. This instantly has a huge shock on the audience. Marco the says that Rodolpho is a good cook by saying “When Rodolpho comes along; everybody gets fat”. Eddie the highlights Rodolpho’s feminine side by saying “He cooks too! [Looking at Rodolpho] He sings, he cooks”. Catherine, undermining Eddie’s comment then says “They get some pay them guys”. Eddie then takes his frustration out on his newspaper, and starts to twist it, Imagining that he is twisting and ripping Rodolpho. We know this from the stage directions

“He has been unconsciously twisting his newspaper into a tight roll. ” Eddie then carries on attacking Rodolpho by asking him to box. In this way, Eddie was putting Rodolpho to a strength test. Eddie was wondering if Rodolpho was actually going to hit him. At first he teaches Rodolpho how to block and punch. Catherine then comes in and thinks it’s a real fight. During the fighting Eddie tells Rodolpho that he is going to punch him, he then fakes a left and jabs with the right. At this stage Marco was quiet throughout the whole boxing scene and when it was finished, Catherine and Rodolpho started dancing gain.

This is probably because Catherine also likes Rodolpho as well as her trying to shut her dad up. Marco then challenged Eddie to his own kind of test. When Eddie fails to pick the chair up by one leg, Marco does it exposing his full strength. Although this action wad done without any words, Eddie had gone too far and Marco was protecting his baby brother. Marco, who was normally a quiet, self-contained and polite figure, was now questioning Eddies authority because Eddie has violated him. The audience know this from the stage directions “Marco rises”. Although the stage directions tell us two words, it shows us a lot about Marco’s reaction.

The scene is set in Eddie and Beatrice’s living room in their apartment. This is an excellent set for the scene due to the living room being a reasonable size for the boxing scene. This is because it is about the same size as a boxing ring, and with all those people in the room it becomes a cramped society, which has a poor frustrating feeling. Another reason why this is an superb set, is because the section where Eddie hits Rodolpho, he’s saying that it is his house, and he has the power and not Marco or Rodolpho. Also if they were on the street Catherine would not have been.