A View From The Bridge Essay
The third key conflict occurs after an awkward argument occurs and Catherine asks Rodolfo, ‘you wanna dance’ flushed with revolt Rodolfo knew that this will only make things worst so he makes up an excuse that he is tired in order to show that he is uncomfortable dancing at such a tense moment. The next disagreement occurs after the dancing. Catherine offers to make some coffee for everyone after her behaviour towards Eddie as an act of peace. During her absence Eddie and Rodolfo have a boxing match suggested by Eddie but he accidentally punches poor Rodolfo in the face.
Catherine, Marco and Beatrice are alarmed but most of all Rodolfo. Eddie chose Rodolfo instead of Marco to have a boxing match with because Eddie could no longer keep his anger bottled up so he found an opportunity to physically hurt Rodolfo. Additionally, he chooses Rodolfo as he wanted to see if he would fight back like a man, ‘He didn’t give me the right kind of fight… the guy ain’t right.
‘ Therefore, he still believes that Rodolfo is homosexual. However, Marco will not tolerate his little brother being hurt and will punish any one who does so.
Therefore, Marco shows his masculinity when he arrogantly says, ‘can you lift this chair’ to show his strength and to warn Eddie that he is standing on thin ice. Due to the constant disagreement between the family and the family siding with Rodolfo, Eddie feels alone and is alone in thought.
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Even Eddie’s close mates, Louis and Mike, like Rodolfo more than Eddie as they find him hilarious. This foreshadows the final scene in the play. At the beginning of act two, Catherine and Rodolfo are home alone and are discussing their future together.
Catherine says that she would like to live in Italy as she thinks that this is the only way that she can break free from the hold that Eddie has on her. However, Rodolfo refuses this idea and is insistent that they will never go back to the poverty and uncertainty of life in Italy. She then tries to persuade him to move to Italy again as she believes that she is breaking Eddie’s heart. She no longer wants to distress him as he was a good man, ‘I took out of my own mouth to give to her. ‘ The discussion then ends as Catherine tells Rodolfo that she loves him and they then walk into the bedroom.
The Bridge Essay
This suggests that Catherine and Rodolfo are committed to each other and also that their love is true. Therefore, the audience now realise that all of Eddie’s accusations of Rodolfo are perhaps false. In addition, at the start of act two, Alfieri describes the dropping of the Scotch whisky. The significance of describing this item is too show that one of the characters, Eddie, is going to get drunk as the play develops. Therefore, the technique foreshadowing is used again as it gives the audience a hint or clue about what is going to happen.
When Eddie arrives home we see him drunk (Scotch whisky) and he sees Rodolfo leaving Catherine’s bedroom. This builds up tension and drama in the play as Eddie is drunk and his emotions are running high therefore, making his actions very unpredictable. Eddie is shocked to see Rodolfo coming out of Catherine’s bedroom so he shouts at him so that he can go and pack up his bags. Catherine tries to prevent Eddie from making Rodolfo leave so he tells him that she will leave as well. Eddie then tries to show Catherine that Rodolfo is gay by kissing him on the lips.
He even kisses Catherine to show Rodolfo that he is the only one with the right to kiss Catherine. It also suggests that Eddie is more masculine than Rodolfo. In another instance Eddie is very livid at everyone that he seeks advice from Alfieri about his situation as he is isolated in his beliefs about Rodolfo (interlude 5), ‘On December 27th I saw him next. ‘ Alfieri tells us this date as it is close to Christmas and this date is normally when the whole family is together. It also shows us that Alfieri is dedicated towards his job and Eddie is in serious trouble.
When Eddie enters the room the room turns dark to indicate that something horrendous is going to happen or that Eddie is carrying a large burden. Miller uses words like, ‘dream… transfixed’ to show the audience that Alfieri is working late and also to prove that the experience was almost unreal. Alfieri again tries to prove to Eddie that the law cannot do anything, ‘the law is nature. ‘ Therefore, he uses a metaphor to appeal to the lighter side of Eddie’s nature. He tells him that if he goes against the law then he may possibly die.
Eddie finds this very difficult to believe and that he can do nothing about it. At this stage Eddie feels powerless. The only option he has will lose him the respect of his society, which is to confess about how the brothers entered America so he foolishly, without thinking of the consequences acts upon anger. Arthur Miller uses the technique dramatic irony when Eddie calls the immigration bureau. When the brothers and the family find out, they are astonished in Eddie’s behaviour. After this Marco’s true colours begin to show and his loyalty and love for his younger brother Rodolfo emerge.
He humiliates and embarrasses Eddie in front of the whole community and even spits on him. Eddie believes he deserves an apology however; Marco is not going to give it to him so Marco ends Eddie’s life by plunging the knife into his heart. I believe that Eddie’s death was due to a number of reasons; his life was very similar to dominoes tumbling down on each other. Each action lead to another and perhaps if he never did one of his foolish the other dominoes may have never fell therefore, acts he may of never died. On the other hand Eddie wasn’t a malevolent person to begin with.
Eddie only transformed into a tragic hero when he thought that a member of his family was going to get her heart broken. So he may be perceived as a loving and slightly over protecting parent by other people. Moreover, Eddie becomes the tragic hero in the play as he has many weaknesses (hubris) which lead to the destruction and death of him and his surroundings (Beatrice looses a husband. ) However, he was respected and loved by the entire community. Although he rejected the idea of Catherine going to work at first he did allow her in the end.
So all these factors make his death more tragic and when the audience see him die they may cry as they know that he wasn’t always this arrogant and big headed, ‘His eyes were like tunnels’. This technique is known as catharsis. Miller provides us with catharsis when Eddie realise how wrong he has been when the two women support him when he dies. He is also forgiven by the people who love him most. Additionally, AVFTB is a tragedy due to the fact that it contains a devastating and dramatic ending.
In interlude six, Alfieri will not bail Marco out as he believes that this could be the only way to prevent the death of Eddie Carbone. Alfieri is afraid that if he bails Marco out then he will act on revenge (Sicilian social code) on what Eddie previously did therefore; Marco isn’t following the American social code of law and justice. Marco is following the Italian social code which is to get revenge and justice the way that they believe that it should be, ‘In my country he would be dead now. ‘ This will mean the death of our tragic hero, Eddie.
However, Alfieri doesn’t want this to happen as Eddie is a good friend and person so he tells Marco, ‘Only God Marco. ‘ Therefore, he is trying to tell Marco that only God has the right to take away life and that he shouldn’t be so ignorant. When Marco finally agrees that he won’t do anything to harm Eddie, Alfieri bails him out and then they all leave the stage but Alfieri leaves in a processional tread to show the audience that he is more civilised than the other characters and that he doesn’t carry the same social codes as he used to.
This illustrates that Alfieri tries to the best of his ability to change Eddie’s final fate as in the beginning he doesn’t seem bothered at all (walks into darkness) however, now he is trying to make amends of his previous error. After Eddie dies by the hands of Marco (interlude 7) Alfieri says, ‘Most of the time we settle for half and I like it better. ‘ This quote has several meanings behind it for example; it is how Alfieri begins and ends the story to show that Alfieri knew that this would be the final outcome.
It also states that perhaps some people should have settled for half like Eddie and if Eddie did settle for half (let Catherine and Rodolfo have a relationship) then he may have never died. He sees the cup of his life as half empty. On the other hand many people did settle for half and their life wasn’t that bad like Beatrice and Alfieri. It is also trying to tell the audience that when many immigrants migrate to another country they normally have to settle for half as it is better than nothing at all and also because they not fully from that country. Therefore, it touches upon many political views like homosexuality, immigration.
Etc. It also summarises the themes of AVFTB, such as: immigration, social codes, appreciation. Etc. This suggests that there is moral to be learnt by the audience which is to be appreciative of what you already have (see the cup of your life as half full) or otherwise you will probably end up with less. In conclusion, I believe that Alfieri is the view from the bridge as he sees the bigger picture throughout the story. He is probably so well qualified to see the whole picture/ story as he is the omniscient narrator in the play who tells the story in a flashback.
He could also be the bridge as he allows immigrants to arrive and depart from one place to another. Arthur Miller perhaps wrote this story to show the experiences that many immigrants had when he grew up, as he is also an immigrant. These are things like rejection from some plays that he wrote as we know that most of his plays weren’t a success. I believe that he could have written the play to emphasise the political status of immigration. The structure of the Greek tragedy is perfect for this drama as it fits into the points that Arthur Miller was trying to portray.
In addition, Alfieri is the perfect character to tell the story as he connects the audience to the characters as both the audience and Alfieri are observer of the play. Therefore, he expresses some of the thoughts that the audience may have. Finally, he is also the perfect person to narrate the story as he can relate to each and every character and is totally impartial. ? ? ? ? Show preview only The above preview is unformatted text This student written piece of work is one of many that can be found in our GCSE Arthur Miller section. Download this essay Print Save Not the one? Search for
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