A View from the Bridge

A View from the Bridge

1. Context

2. Characters

   • Eddie
   • Rodolfo
   • Marco
   • Beatrice
   • Catherine
   • Alfieri
   • Mike and Louis

3. Themes

   • Reputation and Respect
     • Respect is very important in Red Hook in order to maintain your reputation as the 'man' of the house. This is evident when Eddie tries to assert his authority by demanding respect from his wife and the cousins. Although, he loses it in the "chair incident". As a result, this lead to his downfall as he desperately tries to save his last inch of respect by fighting Marco which lead to his death. Can respect and reputation be powerful to the point of making a once honourable man self-destruct?
   • Justice and Law
     • There is a conflict between justice and law in the story, reminiscent of the bridge that connect the American and Italian values. Alfieri is a good example that settle for half, he becomes a lawyer but still advocate Marco sense of justice. On the other hand, many fails to compromise and meet a tragic end. Miller suggests this through Marco failing to feed his family because he is incapable of enduring Eddie torment due to his sense of justice. Arguably, it is more intoxicating than the law that he is moved by his family, it still led to violence.
   • Masculinity
     • Red Hook's code of masculinity inserts many stereotypes that encourage people to conform. Miller conveys this with Eddie, who is pressured to prove his masculinity against Marco which lead to his death. On the other hand, Rodolfo is an anti-conformist that violate gender role expectations like a "Paper Doll" that "sings' and "cooks". As a result, Eddie assumes that he is homosexual and assault him with a "kiss". Is Miller trying to convey that it makes no difference whether you conform or not? Is suffering inevitable?
   • Immigration
   • Fate
   • Feminity
     • Females characters like Catherine and Beatrice are forced to conform to the gender role expectations of the society. They must respect the man of the house like Eddie, who rules over them with "iron-control". Therefore, they are suppressed of their freedom like Catherine who can't love Rodolfo due to Eddie's incentives. Beatrice also has no influence or say over Eddie actions and must also suffer from the consequences as well like a fellow, innocent "rat".
   • Betrayal and Loyalty
     • Characters in 'AVFTB' greatly values loyalty as a community that protect each other especially with the influence of the 'syndicate'. Therefore, they severely despise people like Vinny and Eddie as they "snitch" to the immigration bureau. These types of people cannot exist in a community with people like Marco that endorse loyalty and the family unit. Hypocritically, Marco also break his promise to Alfieri but killing Eddie. Perhaps, Miller tries to indicate how a much more powerful influences like love and justice force these characters to betray.

4. Plot

5. Techniques

6. Left-Characters Right-Themes Down-Others

7. Setting