How Arthur Miller Creates Tension in A View From The Bridge

Show how Arthur Miller creates a tense atmosphere at the end of act one of ‘A View From The Bridge’

In the play ‘A View From The Bridge’ there are many ingredients that finish with the final dish at the end. Usually, when you know the ingredients to a dish, you could guess what it would taste like or look like. Basically, there are many pressure points in the play that lead to the final outcome, and that outcome is very obvious. The audience would not be surprised when they get to the end, many would see it coming from far.

The play is set in New York, in the Red Hook neighborhood in the borough of Brooklyn, next to the docks. It’s a quiet simple community of Italian immigrants, who follow an unwritten respectful Italian law. The Italians keep to themselves pretty much as they feel as though they have been separated from their Italian roots. The ‘unwritten law’ requires for everyone to be respected, and it also encourages revenge, as it shows in the play. This Sicilian Code Of Conduct consists of honor, marriage, family well being, revenge hospitality, love, respect and strictly no snitching. The Sicilian Code Of Conduct shows all sorts of good things that also relate to the philosopher’s idea of a good and honest life. If Eddie could have stuck to this advice, and kept his feelings and anger to himself (which would have been impossible for Eddie), everything would have turned out better.

Italy represents homeland, origin and culture for the citizens of Red Hook. But Italy represents different things to the main characters in the play, for example Catherine associates Italy with mystery, romance and beauty, but Rodolpho on the other hand is actually form Italy, and thinks it is a place with little opportunity, that he feels justified from escaping from. All of the characters appreciate the benefits of living in the US, but still strongly hold to Italian traditions. Italy is the basis of the cultural traditions in Red Hook, and it serves as a touchstone to unite the community, with their own laws and customs.

The main areas of tension are when, Eddie gets frustrated when Rodolpho tells him lemons are green, Eddie is rude about Italian wives, Eddie tells Rodolpho that America is as strict as Italy, Catherine asks Rodolpho to dance, Eddie claims that Rodolpho is not a real man, Eddie punches Rodolpho, Rodolpho asks Catherine to dance and the last one is when Marco raises a chair over his head as warning.