The American Italian Neighbourhood In A View From The Bridge By Arthur Miller

A View from The Bridge was a modern drama play written by Arthur Miller and is based on the 50’s. The play was set in Red-Hook, The American Italian neighbourhood. In this play Eddie Carbone was portrayed by Miller as a tragic hero. This was surrounded by the demise of Eddie throughout the play. Miller created Eddie to made us consider these types of people as bad, but some of us really wanted Eddie to change throughout the play but he never does and in fact he calls the immigration bureau on Marco and Rodolfo. Arthur Miller showed us Eddies obsession with his niece Catherine and that Eddie was afraid that Marco gains all the power and control. Miller threw his exposition of eddies hamartia (fatal flaw which is his obsession with Catherine) leads the audience to react in a weird way. at the end as Eddie died, his death is his own fault as he was stabbed by his own knife trying to stab Marco. The biggest conflict is between Eddie and himself. The final scene is the major denouement.

Arthur Miller portrayed Eddie as an American dream, we respect that, he is justAverage guy and what Miller is doing is showing us you don’t have to be a king to Be a tragic hero. The reason that Eddie is considered a tragic hero is that he allowed Catherine to move in with him followed by Beatrice’s cousins Marco and Rodolfo. He also managed to become an American citizen and was not afraid to from his country Italy and head off to America hoping to have a better life there, without a lot of money and without any help. At the beginning of the play Eddie is also portrayed as a hard and dedicated worker when it says “he he got a job as a longshoreman and worked his but off on those docks”. Eddie then tells Alfieri “ In the worst times, I didn’t stand around looking for …I hustled”. This leads the reader to believe that Eddie was in fact a dedicated citizen who really did work hard and cared for his job. These are all the equalities of an American dream. This is once again portrayed when Louis asked “you workin’ tomorrow” Eddie then replied “yeah, there’s another day yet on that ship.” This shows us that Eddie is a humble person who to works hard. This makes the story a Greek tragedy. Miller utilizes Greek tragedy convention through Eddie’s hamartia which is his downfall. His hamartia is his incestuous feeling for his niece Catherine.

Despite Eddie’s good characteristics Miller wants to show Eddie’s downfall. At the start of the play Eddie is over-protective and is unable to let Catherine live her life the way she wishes. This seems more than the normal feelings towards his niece. This is evident by “Listen, you been givin’ me the willies the way you walk down the street, I mean it.” This shows us that Eddie does in fact have incestuous feelings towards Catherine. Another reason we know that Eddie has incestuous feelings towards her is that Beatrice even told Eddie “You want somethin’ else, Eddie, and you can never have her!” this shows us that Eddie is chasing Catherine all of the time and that he needs to stop. When Eddie finally realizes that he can’t have Catherine he does something that is despised by all Italians, he snitches to the police that Marco and Rodolfo are immigrants and that they deport them. As soon as the immigration bureau knocks on the door Eddie gets second thoughts and hides the cousins to protect them. Later Eddie once again strikes and He reaches out suddenly, draws her to him, and as she strives to free herself he kisses her on the mouth. This once again portrays Eddie’s strong incestuous feeling for Catherine.

The cousins act as a catalyst for the drama when they arrive. They spark a flame between the whole family. Eddie’s true personality comes to show when he attempts to be virtuous but does not succeed. This happens when the cousins arrive at the beginning and Eddie really does welcome them with a cup of coffee, but later on Rodolfo starts singing then Eddie tells him to stop meanwhile Catherine loves it and tells him to continue. This sparks the flame of jealousy Between Eddie and Rodolfo. Eddie realizes that Catherine likes Rodolfo, But Eddie does not want that due to the incestuous feelings he has towards Catherine. Due to Eddie’s hubris his downfall begun. He contacted the Immigration bureau on Marco and Rodolfo which lead him to his major denouement. This single phone call made Eddie lose all his pride. Eddie’s downfall rapidly increases during the fight as Rodolfo intimidates Him. This fight scene reveals that Eddie really is trying to solve the issue of Masculinity, honor and pride But has been struggling since Marco and Rodolfo came, this is causing even more tension between this family. One by one Eddie started losing all of his Respect, Pride and Honor. The cousins cause Eddie’s downfall which was in his hands as he was the one who allowed them to move in from the first place. This shows us that kindness does not always lead you to something good.

When Marco and Eddie fight, themes of masculinity and justice are prevalent. I think Miller is trying to show that Eddie is trying to earn back his alpha male status and masculinity. This is evident when Eddie says “come on, kid, put sump’m behind it, you cant hurt me.” This shows us that Eddie is trying to be muscular. The final scene is the plays denouement, when Eddie dies by his own knife this reveals that Eddie’s death was actually his own mistake and he was always the one acting violent. What Marco did was self-defense otherwise Eddie would have re-attempted to stab him with a knife. We instantly know that Eddie regrets his violent actions by the last sentence that Eddie says before dying ‘My B..!’ then he dies in her arms. This shows us that Beatrice still loves Eddie and Eddie loves her with regret to his previous actions. Eddie’s death could not have been stopped by anyone but Eddie himself. Even Alfieri – a lawyer- said that there was nothing he could do to stop it. Many of Eddie’s mistakes are probably normal everyday mistakes that people make so maybe what Miller is trying to teach us that we should be more aware of surroundings and things that are going on with the people around us.

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. The trouble begins when his wife’s niece is attracted to Rodolfo. Eddie raised her and is not ready to let her go. Eddie’s jealousy culminates in an unforgivable crime against his family and the Sicilian community. Throughout the play Eddie’s feelings for Catherine gets the better of him and eventually resulting in his death. Eddie was unable to control his jealousy and pride over Catherine. Arthur Miller could be trying to tell us that we should think twice before you act as actions could have severe consequences just like Eddie’s scenario. He is also telling us it is sometimes better to let go even if it Is against your will. Eddies death was really unexpected and tragic which Is a good way of teaching the audience that things could happen anytime, Anywhere, anyway.