A View from the Bridge - Arthur Miller

There are some things you just don't expect to enjoy. Things like morning walks, visits from forgotten relatives or films on at one 'o' clock in the morning. Add to this list, books studied at school. I spent three months on an intensive and indepth analysis of this play, for my English Literature GCSE, and I say with a note of polite surprise in my voice, that I actually enjoyed this play.

The main plot is simple, and the characters are introduced swiftly to us. Eddie Carbone is a longshore man, working his way in America to provide for his family- wife Beatrice, and adoptive daughter Catherine. He works long hours, in order to give his family the best chance possible, and indeed there appears to be a cohesive family unit- they joke together, and appear to be very close, though there is tension about the daughter Catherine, leaving school to get a job. Eddie and Beatrice have both worked very hard to give Catherine options
about what to do with her life, and fulfill the role of loving parents, -though Eddie is not blood related to her, he serves the role of the paternal male figure in the household. Yet beneath the surface, tension lies and dark feelings fester.

Eddie is subconsciously attracted to Catherine, and this has made him wildly overprotective of her, and especially her interest in other men. Alfieri (the wise old lawyer) and Beatrice can see this developing, and how it is ruining their family life, while Catherine innocently unaware of what is happening, in fact furthers his infatuation with her.

The catalyst however is the arrival of two immigrants from Italy, Rodolpho and Marco, whom Eddie takes in and shelters (they are illegal.) Marco, tall, strong, dark haired and stoic is Eddie's idea of a man, and soon earns respect through his hard work, but his brother is a different story. Rodolpho is blond, funloving and a spendthrift, and has a list of frivolous achievements which Eddie finds effiminate- cooking, sewing etc. Catherine is attracted to his light ways, and the young couple are soon deeply in love. But Eddie is filled with a jealous rage, and attempts to break them up by whatever means he can, issuing ultimatums, and generally behaving so unreasonably that even Marco (who is deeply grateful to Eddie) makes it clear that he will not tolerate such an attitude anymore.

The penultimate scene is one in which Eddie claims Catherine, and degrades Rodolpho's masculinity, using his greater strength. It is a harrowing scene, and very well written, contrasting youth with age, lust with love, old with new and of course the old Silician society as against the new America.

I won't reveal the ending, ecept to tell you that it is tragic, and in the way of all Italian dramas ultimately bloody. This play is dark with little hope of redemption. Alfieri narrates the action and moves the pace forward, and we get the feeling that he sees more than he lets on- indeed he talks of seeing disaster approaching and being unable to thwart it.

Complex, though not as good as Death of a Salesman or the Crucible, this is a tale of twisted familial love, and the conflict between old and new cultures, and the inevitable clashes. It is also a play about the many different kinds of love that can be experienced, and the tragic conclusion that so many must lead to.

Well worth spending some time and money on.

I hope this review will have proved to be of some use.