Tension in Act 1 of A View From the Bridge by Arthur Miller

Tension in Act 1 of A View From the Bridge by Arthur Miller

This play takes place in 'Red Hook', a dirty place dominated mostly by

illegal immigrants from Italy. It is a poor, nefarious place where

crime is rife and gangsters and the Mafia are well known. The play is

about an Italian family, the Carbones and centres around Eddie Carbone

in particular. He lives in a small apartment with his wife Beatrice

and her niece Catherine who they both treat as a daughter.

Tension in 'A view from the Bridge' is defined as the anticipation and

suspense of the audience and the conflict between characters.

Tension in the Carbone household is present right from the beginning

of the play and even though the narrator, lawyer and family friend

Alfieri, has subconsciously warned the audience of an ill-fated

ending, they are still unaware of any existing tension. In the opening

paragraph, he tells the audience that 'In this neighbourhood to meet a

lawyer or a priest on the street is unlucky. We're only thought of in

connection with disasters, and they'd rather not get too close.' Eddie

is unconvinced of this, as he is well acquainted with Alfieri. Through

the narrator's opening speech, Arthur Miller is hinting that Eddie and

the rest of the Carbone family are going to experience a disastrous

fate because of their connection with Alfieri.

Alfieri is a good narrator. He is a neutral and wise character and

knows Eddie very well. Like the audience, he is an outsider with a

reflective view; a 'View from the Bridge' into the closed world of Red

Hook and he directs the audience's responses. Alfieri is familiar with

the Carbones and the troubles they experi...

... middle of paper ...

...a weapon over EDDIE'S head - and

he transforms what might appear like a glare of warning into a smile

of triumph, and EDDIE'S grin vanishes as he absorbs his look.'

Finally, Eddie is left utterly humiliated and he knows that he cannot

do anything to stop Catherine and Rodolpho marrying. He gives up.

To conclude, Arthur Miller has built up tension by hinting at various

issues and then slowly developing them, scene by scene, juxtaposing

scenes that are distant in time for dramatic purposes. The tension in

the scenes is gradually built up until the climax, the moment where

Marco picks up the chair and Eddie is left stunned. Miller uses

Alfieri to direct the audience towards anticipating some violent end

to this play. He also uses Eddie's continual spontaneous changes in

mood to make the build up of tension more intense.