Tension in A View from the Bridge

The scene takes place in the Carbone living room; you can tell they have just finished a family meal because Beatrice and Catherine are clearing up the table. At first the atmosphere is relaxed and calm, they are talking about normal things, ‘They went to Africa once.’ Then the tension rises, ‘I know lemons are green for Christ’s sake!’ This is between Eddie and Rodolpho. Eddie gets upset and angry when he’s wrong and especially when the person who gets it right is Rodolpho. Eddie doesn’t like it when he’s challenged and he hates it every time Rodolpho speaks. Beatrice, the ‘peacemaker’, tries to stop any bad things from taking place and diverts the conversation, ‘Your wife is gettin’ the money alright, Marco,’ by butting in.

We already know that there is tension in the household before this because Eddie says to Catherine, ‘You’re walking wavy’, which shows that he is very protective over her. You can tell that Catherine really wants to please him because she asks him, ‘What do you want me to do?’ and you can also tell that he treats her like a child and she takes it, which makes her act like it even more. You know that Eddie is not playing his role as a husband properly because Beatrice says to him ‘When am I gonna be your wife again?’ That shows Eddie is not paying much attention to his wife’s needs and his mind is elsewhere. That comment shows that there is tension between husband and wife, because obviously a man would not like to be asked that by his own wife. We also sense that Eddie does not like to be questioned on such matters.

The tension is slowly decreasing as Beatrice talks to Marco about his wife, but Eddie decides to bring it back up by making comments about Marco’s wife, ‘they count the kids and there’s a cou...

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...y didn’t stop dancing for Eddie but they did for Marco shows they may have more respect for him. The stillness acts as a signal to the audience of the danger ahead. The chair has been taking away, from the family table, and has been lifted up like a ‘weapon’, which symbolises that there will be a gap in the family, taken away by a ‘weapon’.

The main catalyst of every type of tension in the play is Eddie, he is involved in every single one, from Eddie to Catherine to Beatrice to Rodolpho and finally to Marco, the other alpha male. The tension between Eddie and Marco is the most dangerous because they’re so similar. They are both the heads of their families, traditional, patriarch’s and old fashioned. In that household there is only room for one alpha male. The only way to get rid of all the tension is to get rid of Eddie and in the end there can only be one winner.