How Effectively Does Miller Explore the Theme of Jealousy and Possessiveness in a View from the Bridge?
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Arthur Miller was born to a Jewish family in New York 1915. After a family business failed, they moved to Brooklyn, this being where A View from the Bridge is set.
Before Miller became a famous playwright, he worked in the Brooklyn shipyards for two years, where he befriended the Italians who he worked alongside. In 1947, Arthur Miller was doing research on Pete Panto, a young Longshoreman. He was told an interesting story about another Longshoreman in the area who had ratted to the Immigration Bureau on his own relatives. The Longshoreman was attempting to prevent the marriage between one of the brothers and his niece. The man scorned and hated in the community, soon disappeared. In the community, it was rumoured that one of the brothers had killed him. This inspired the story of A View from the Bridge. Originally, with it being a one-act play, Miller re-worked it into a two-act play the following year.
Most of his work is set in America and portrays realistic characters and events. He deals with political and moral issues and merges ideas from Greek tragedy using the chorus commentating on the action. He writes about how personal relationships dictate the way your life is lead and about people who struggle to do what is right. A View from the Bridge is based around the Italian immigration in the 1950s and with people so very desperate for work in America that they entered illegally. The play is set in Red Hook, Brooklyn, a very poor area described by Alfieri as the slum that faces the bay on the seaward side of Brooklyn Bridge.
Alfieri, an Italian-American lawyer in his fifties, enters the stage and sits in his office. Talking from his desk to the audience, he introduces the story of Eddie Carbone. Alfieri compares himself to a lawyer in Caesars time, powerless to watch as the events of history run their bloody course. This is very effective on the audience as he is the one person that can stop Eddie doing a stupid thing because he knows about the situation but he is powerless and must watch the tragic events unfold before him. An Italian Longshoreman working on the New York docks, Eddie lives with his wife, Beatrice and orphaned niece, Catherine, in Red Hook Brooklyn. He is very protective of Catherine and acts as her father figure. When his wifes cousins, Marco and Rodolpho seek illegal refuge from Sicily, Eddie agrees to shelter them. To his dismay, his wifes niece, Catherine, is attracted to the charming younger brother Rodolpho. Soon Eddies emotions turn from being a protective father figure of Catherine into intense jealousy of Rodolpho. As Catherines relationship with Rodolpho develops, Eddies jealous emotions develop further leading him to perform an unforgivable crime against his family by going behind their backs and telling the Immigration Bureau that Marco and Rodolpho are seeking illegal refuge. As the police come to arrest the two brothers, Catherine and Beatrice come to find out that Eddie has betrayed them. This crime also becomes obvious to Marco. All because of one mistake, that of Eddies emotions taking over his actions Marco cannot forgive Eddie under any circumstances and this leads to Eddies tragic death.
Miller portrays jealousy and possessiveness mainly through the character of Eddie. These emotions become stronger as the play unfolds as Catherine becomes closer to Rodolpho. Eddie Carbone is the tragic protagonist of The View from the Bridge. He is constantly self-interested, wanting to promote and protect his innocence. He is very protective of Catherine, whom he has brought up as if she were his own daughter. He paid for her typing lessons and had ambitions for her to rise to a different class. He is proud of her looks, yet concerned that she will attract the attention of men and is concerned about her new job. “Oh if your mother was alive to see you now She wouldnt believe it.” Eddie is so proud of her looks that he says if Catherines mother were alive, she would be amazed at how Catherine looks. He finds it hard to admit that she has become a woman. “I guess I just never figured that you would ever grow up.”
However, it soon becomes apparent that Eddie is in love with Catherine. He has not made love to his wife for three months. He quickly becomes jealous of Rodolpho because of the immediate impression Rodolpho makes on Catherine. The stage directions tell us, “He looks at her like a lost boy” when she tells him she loves Rodolpho. He is unable to admit this shameful emotion to himself so instead he manipulates Catherines words. She says to Eddie, “He blesses you, and you dont talk to him hardly.” He replies with “I bless you and you dont talk to me.” Catherine uses the word “bless” as a form of saying thank-you from Rodolpho and trying to make the point to Eddie that Rodolpho tried to please him but Eddie is not reacting to his behaviour. Eddie however manipulates her words to use a different meaning of pleasing, as he really tries to say, “I please you but still you dont talk to me or take any notice.” That one word “bless” has many different meanings when it comes out of his mouth and they all say that he has looked after Catherine and brought her up, nurtured her since she were a small child and loved her but now shes turning away. He can feel her slipping through his fingers into Rodolphos hands. Miller conveys this jealousy effectively as she is physically slipping away into Rodolphos hands.
As the new male role develops in Catherines life, Eddie feels pushed away and begins to feel even more jealous and desperate, since he feels he is losing her slowly he says, “I dont know, youre runnin, youre runnin Katie. I dont think you listening anymore to me.” Miller uses a metaphor for the fact that Eddie is losing Catherine slowly and the repetition of “runnin” makes a rhythm making it effective. His words to show his desperation continue as he says, “I dont see you no more. I come home youre runnin around someplace” Also the word “runnin” again implies that she is wandering out with a stranger and that shes running off with him far away. He does not like her staying out late or spending time with Rodolpho, as he is very possessive over her.
Millers use of stage directions play a big role in being important in helping us to imagine exactly what is going on: they can help us picture each characters actions and reactions. The stage directions are in great detail and are vivid so we can imagine the action, the set and the scenery as if the play were to be acted out. They are precise and convey the characters deep emotions. “It is a workers