Conventions of Tragedy in A View From The Bridge By Arthur Miller

Conventions of Tragedy in A View From The Bridge By Arthur Miller

Arthur Miller manipulates his characters and uses literary devices to

effectively convey to the audience the trajectory of Eddie Carbone and

his flaws of misconduct in the play, 'A View From The Bridge'. He uses

all the conventions of a modern tragedy adequately to help arouse

sympathy, suspense and fear from the audience at significant intervals

of the play.

Mr Eddie Carbone plays the role of a 'tragic hero' accustomed to a

life of dignity and of mutual respect amongst his peers in the Italian

community. Yet due to his natural tendency of over protectiveness and

domineering nature towards his niece, Catherine, gains an immense

distrust and evidently falls to an inevitable death, controlled by

fate alone. Eddie has a relatively personal, controversial, yet

plutonic relationship with Catherine at the start of the play. This is

especially evident when Eddie comments on Catherine's walk and 'dress

sense' as she is walking down the road. 'I don't like the looks

they're givin' you in the candy store' (page 6). This shows Eddie's

insecurity and instability when other boys her age give her looks,

implying that no one can have her. When Catherine applies for a job,

Eddie's irrational behaviour, once again reappears when he says, 'You

can't take no job'. 'Why didn't you ask me before you took a job?'

(Page 9) It seems as if he has to be consulted initially before she

can do anything she wants. He cares for her, but to an extent that no

teenager her age should have to go through and Arthur Miller shows

this incredibly well. Eddie...

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...psychological

tricks he uses in his plays dare to be reckoned with. However, there

is a highly important aspect in the writing of his plays that is

important to distinguish between other plays of intense dramas. Unlike

other plays, instead of creating a play that was uniformly depressing,

he deviated from this standard perception, making plays that were

optimistic in that the main character causes the tragedy for what they

perceive to be the greater good. However, rather than being a flaw for

Miller, it proved to be a beneficial and highly commended approach as

he was selling a vast number of copies worldwide. Arthur Miller

follows the stereotypical conventions of tragedy in 'A View From The

Bridge', but also follows in the paths of his own too - an optimistic

viewpoint over the whole play and excels in this immensely.