A View From The Bridge by Arthur Miller

A View From The Bridge by Arthur Miller

'A View From The Bridge' is a play written and directed by Arthur

Miller A writer that got interested in a lower part of Manhattan which

is across the Brooklyn Bridge from the richer part of New York City

where the play is set. Miller's play concentrates on a particular

community full of Sicilian immigrants. This community has

responsibilities towards one another, they look out for each other,

but soon a character's betrayal casts a shadow on the rest of the

community, the same character that is led by fate towards a destiny

that cannot be escaped.

In the last part of the play, just before Rodolfo enters, Catherine,

Eddie and Beatrice have been quarrelling about the wedding. Eddie

doesn't want Catherine to get married to Rodolfo because we learnt at

the start of the play that Eddie thinks that Rodolfo 'isn't right'.

This scene is the start of where all the tension builds up, when Eddie

tells Beatrice not to go to Catherine's wedding, but betrays him and

plans to go. As soon as Rodolfo comes in, Eddie's reaction towards him

makes us feel tense as if something is going to be said. Miller

succeeds in building up the tension when Rodolfo says that Marco is

'praying in the church'. This tells us that Marco might be praying for

forgiveness from God. Therefore it says to us, that he might be

getting revenge on Eddie for turning him in to the immigration police.

Miller's stage direction about Beatrice makes us feel tense when she

'raises her hands in terror'. Eddie's reaction towards Rodolfo when he

enters is angry and shouts 'get outa here' for showing his face at his

place. Dramatic tension i...

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... takes no

notice and calls Eddie an 'animal'. This shows that Marco still thinks

that he is stronger than Eddie; therefore Marco goes for Eddie,

turning the knife around and 'pressing it home' towards Eddie. As

Eddie dies, the audience feel as if the tension is over, but still

feel slightly shocked, as Eddie is dead now and how Marco could kill

someone over pity.

Overall, I thought that Miller used a variety of ways to succeed in

tension in the final scene, for example, the use of body language, how

characters reacted to sudden things, and the stage directions.

However, I think that how Eddie got killed should have been more

dramatic, because the audience could have predicted what would have

happened as soon as Eddie pulled out the knife and the source of

weapon used should have been a gun as it is more dramatic.