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The significance of arthur millers a view from the bridge
Arthur Miller. A view from the bridge
What were the significant themes in arthur millers writing a view from the bridge
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Manliness, Hostility, and Aggression in A View From the Bridge
Arthur Miller’s ‘A View from the Bridge’ represents the ideas of
manliness and how the perception of certain individuals (Eddie)
affects the lives of their fellow friends and family. The play is
based around the views of the play’s protagonist, Eddie. His analysis
of the male personality leads to conflict when other males, in this
case Rodolpho, do not conform to his ideas of manliness. Hostility,
aggression and masculinity are the main themes which influence the
mood of the play and the way they are associated with each other allow
an increase in tension in the minds of the reader.
Eddie is the play’s main character who has very distinct views on what
a man should be like. He feels it is necessary for a man to be
aggressive and to use violence in order to state his authority and
power. This is evident when he asks Catherine “What’s the high heels
for, Garbo?” Eddie asks this in a very sarcastic manor, however, he is
fully aware that he wants things his own way. Eddie also considers
bravery and the reputation of the male to be vital in a man’s
personality. This is shown by the way he battles Marco nearer the end
of the play, not to make friends but to restore his reputation. The
language in which Arthur Miller employs when Eddie is speaking tends
to be fairly provocative for the person he is addressing, particularly
with the way he has primarily been shown to ask or talk to other
people in a challenging manner. This is evident when Eddie refers to
Rodolpho as “fruit”; “aint right” and “no good”. These quotes show no
manners what so ever and portray a very negative approach indicating
confrontation to the reader. However the quote “sees the...
... middle of paper ...
...is carefree personality shows us how life
should be lived. Arthur Miller’s views on masculinity are introduced
into the character of Alfieri, through this character he reveals how
he feels “it is better to settle for half.” This means settling for
what is available to you having worked out a compromise. With his
perception on manliness he includes Eddie, Marco and Rodolpho. These
three characters portray Miller’s views on masculinity on three
different levels, showing that Marco being in between Eddie and
Rodolpho is the real man as he enforces violence when need be and also
being in touch with his feminine side shown by his family values.
Miller has Eddie killed by Marco at the end; this is a metaphor and a
sign of the real man winning in his eyes and believes that living the
life of Eddie will not allow you to achieve everything you ever want
in life.
When someone is thinking of a man, what do they think? Strong? Brave? That’s what most people think; in reality that is a very false image. In “Bros Before Hos: The Guy Code,” Michael Kimmel, talks about what it means to be a man and what it takes to be a man in today’s world. Men are pressured into what they “should” be. If they don’t follow certain unwritten rules, which include: not asking for directions, not giving up, not showing fear, or any signs of emotional weakness, such as tears; they are considered less than a man, a wimp. A real man must be aggressive and brave, he must defend his territory: status, family, possessions. Men blindly follow the Guy Code, they believe in order to fit in, they must comply and be part of the pack.
As Joseph Stalin took over the USSR in 1929, he kept a tight control over his people. Stalin did not want any of his people questioning his actions and decisions. He wanted complete control of not only the country but also of all the people that lived in it. Stalin came up with an idea that would help him achieve this: strip people of their freedom. He started to take control over what the people read, what they watched and what they listened to. Stalin glorified his name in all types of media and if anybody said otherwise they were sent to harsh labour camps. Stalin also changed the children’s history books in a way that overvalued him so that he could control the next generation ("Life in USSR under Stalin.") The novel 1984, by George Orwell, presents a post-apocalyptic world where a ruling party similarly manipulates the people’s memories in order to have infinite power and control. In this novel a man named Winston has memories of the past political state that exist before the Party’s existence which spark a desire within him to rebel, but he is caught and tortured until he believes that his memories are lies. Similarly, in the novel The Road, by Cormac McCarthy, a man and a boy travel an abandoned road in a post-apocalyptic America. The Man has dreams of the old world and he believes that these are signs that his death is near. Both 1984 and The Road are similar in the way they depict memories and dreams of the past as a symbol for a troublesome future. Both books are also similar in the way they portray love as a necessity for survival. Also, these novels are similar in the way they expose Winston and the Boy to violence in order to negatively develop their characters to enhance the books. However, the novels differ in that ...
In the movie Twelve Angry Men, tells the story of an ongoing debate within a jury whether to find the defendant guilty or not for murdering his father. While watching the movie, I couldn’t help but realize that there was a lot of techniques used by the juries and lawyers to sway the vote in either directions. I was able analyze the movie using social psychology as my main tool. I could relate the movie to the topic of social psychology by comparing it to Asch’s experiment and the act of conformity and the act of persuasion.
Imagine flying on a plane and crash landing on an unknown island with a select group of people. How would humans deal as a result of this horrific situation? Is cruelty and violence the only solution when it comes down to it? In Lord of the Flies, William Golding explores the relationship between children in a similar conflict and shows how savagery takes over civilization. Lord of the Flies proves to show that the natural human instincts of cruelty and savagery will take over instead of logic and reasoning. William shows how Jack, the perpetrator in the book, uses cruelty and fear for social and political gain to ultimately take over, while on the other hand shows how Ralph falters and loses power without using cruelty and fear. In Lord of
The play, ‘Twelve Angry men’, written by Reginald Rose, explores the thrilling story of how twelve different orientated jurors express their perceptions towards a delinquent crime, allegedly committed by a black, sixteen-year-old. Throughout the duration of the play, we witness how the juror’s background ordeals and presumptuous assumptions influence the way they conceptualise the whole testimony itself.
In the article "The Rebirth of Black Rage", by Mychal Denzel Smith, the United States' history involving racial inequality is brought to light and organized to reveal how a newly sparked civil rights movement has begun. Smith begins his statement revealing how poor of a response the US government had following Hurricane Katrina. During an NBC celebrity telethon, rapper Kanye West made a statement regarding the Katrina response that, "Bresident Bush doesn't care about black people". This statement, along with the worlds' new strength in exposure through technology, a strong uprising was underway. Black rage was pushing racial issues into America's face and the movement was potentially at the strongest point in history. Smith next portrayed how
In 12 Angry Men, the main theme deals with justice and prejudice as well. In the beginning of the book we learn that a young man was accused for the first degree murder of his father and that the fate of his life was in the jurors hands. Throughout the play, there are two clashing views of justice from Juror number 8 and the rest of the jury, as they eventually come together, we see a perspective of justice that is in favor of the accused boy and that wants him to have a fair trial. “...Look, this boy's been kicked around all his life. You know - living in a slum, his mother dead since he was nine. He spent a year and a half in an orphanage while his father served a jail term for forgery. That's not a very good head start. He had a pretty terrible sixteen years. I think maybe we owe him
Throughout the novel “The House of the Spirits” by Isabel Allende the reader sees many instances that exemplify the antagonistic nature of man verses woman. Through Esteban Trueba’s raping of many of the women at Tres Marias, his marriage with Clara, his relationship with his daughter Blanca and her with her lover Pedro Tercero Garcia and with Alba Trueba’s relationship with her lover Miguel and her Grandfather Esteban, much of what Allende wants the reader to know about the nature of man verses woman is exposed. Nature pits man against woman, in marriage, love, sex, work, and war. Women can choose their battles and fight them subtly, without really seeming to, because all women know that the men like to think they are in charge when they really aren’t, and that men will fight every battle just to prove that they are men. Triumph over a weaker opponent does not make men stronger. It only makes them feel powerful. Allende writes about women who are able to quietly persevere, always managing to get their own way, without seeming too, because they know the only way to keep men happy is to let them feel powerful and in charge.
Prejudice can lead to violence. The violence can be a physical, emotional, or mental state. I was close friends with a girl with Aspergers. People made fun of her for it and then started to make fun of her friends as well. She’s very knowledgeable, but people jeered at her. The same people jeered at her friends, similarly to the way they mocked her. In the book Flowers for Algernon, Charlie, the main character, has a mental disorder. His I.Q. is 68 and all he wants is to be considered “intelligent.” At work, he got adjudicated, picked on and treated inadequately for his mental problems. Charlie gets put in for a developmental surgery to make him “intelligent.” The people at work start to be more compassionate regarding him, and people
Twelve Angry Men is a film that exemplafies many aspects of social psychology. In it, twelve jurors are tasked with deciding the fate of a boy accused of murder. The initial vote is eleven to one in facor of guilty. Gradually, through much intense discussion, all the jurors are swayed to vote not-guilty. The film highlights some of the key theories in social psychology, including confomityprejudice, and group polarization.
In the book Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck there are multiple themes when the book is analyzed. One of the most prevalent themes in the book is the theme of violence. This theme can be sited throughout the book.
“Courage - a perfect sensibility of the measure of danger, and a mental willingness to endure it.” Courageous people understand the danger that they face when they act how they do. That is what courage is all about. Many historical events occur due to people having the courage to do what they think is right, or because of those who use their courage to do what they want. Having the courage to stand alone in one’s beliefs may be one of the hardest thing a person can do.
From nearly the beginning of time, man has been the center of history and the ideal of man has been the basis of nearly every modern thought, practice, and institution. In every moment that man has existed, an ideal man has also existed—a model for how men should act, appear, and exist. This ideal man has been the basis for what is considered good in society, and nearly all virtues are considered “manly” or masculine. Through creating this ideal man, society has also created the antithesis: woman. In the establishment of the ideal man throughout history, woman has been defined as man’s opposite, therefore making anything feminine, even feminine characteristics in men, the opposite of the virtuous male standard. This gender binary established throughout history is particularly present in William Shakespeare’s
In viewing 12 Angry Men, we see face to face exactly what man really is capable of being. We see different views, different opinions of men such as altruism, egoism, good and evil. It is no doubt that human beings possess either one or any of these characteristics, which make them unique. It is safe to say that our actions, beliefs, and choices separate us from animals and non-livings. The 20th century English philosopher, Martin Hollis, once said, “Free will – the ability to make decisions about how to act – is what distinguishes people from non-human animals and machines 1”. He went to describe human beings as “self conscious, rational, creative. We can fall in love, write sonnets or plan for tomorrow. We are capable of faith, hope and charity, and for that matter, of envy, hated and malice. We know truth from error, right from wrong 2.” Human nature by definition is “Characteristics or qualities that make human beings different from anything else”. With this said, the topic of human nature has been around for a very long time, it is a complex subject with no right or wrong answer. An American rabbi, Samuel Umen, gave examples of contradictions of human nature in his book, Images of Man. “He is compassionate, generous, loving and forgiving, but also cruel, vengeful, selfish and vindictive 3”. Existentialism by definition is, “The belief that existence comes before essence, that is, that who you are is only determined by you yourself, and not merely an accident of birth”. A French philosopher, Jean-Paul Sartre, is the most famous and influential 20th - century existentialist. He summed up human nature as “existence precedes essence”. In his book, Existentialism and Human Emotions, he explained what he meant by this. “It means that, first of all, man exists, turns up, appears on the scene, and, only afterwards, defines himself. If man, as the existentialist conceives him, is indefinable, it is because at first he is nothing. Only afterward will be something, and he himself will have made what he will be 4”. After watching 12 Angry Men, the prominent view on human nature that is best portrayed in the movie is that people are free to be whatever they want because as Sartre said, “people create themselves every moment of everyday according to the choices they make 5”.
Anger can be partly physiological, cognitive, and psychological, and it is also pointedly ideological. Factors such as race, class, gender, sexuality, ethnicity, nation, and religion arouse anger (Kim1). Goldhor-lerner stated that: