Based On Our Reading And Drama, Evaluate And Analyse The Ways In Which Miller Creates Dramatic Tension For His Audience: Look Specifically At His Chosen Period, The PlayS Setting In Brooklyn, New York And The Carbones Tenement Flat. Analyse The Tens
Essay Preview: Based On Our Reading And Drama, Evaluate And Analyse The Ways In Which Miller Creates Dramatic Tension For His Audience: Look Specifically At His Chosen Period, The PlayS Setting In Brooklyn, New York And The Carbones Tenement Flat. Analyse The Tens
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Based on our reading and drama, evaluate and analyse the ways in which Miller creates dramatic tension for his audience: look specifically at his chosen period, the plays setting in Brooklyn, New York and the Carbones tenement flat. Analyse the tensions which Miller introduces to the central character dynamics and look closely at the dramatic techniques he uses in the final scene of act 1. How successful do you feel Miller is in creating tension in his play, “A View from the Bridge”.
In class, recently we have been reading: “A View from the Bridge” by Arthur Miller. We have been exploring his magnificent techniques in being able to show the immense tensions between a family and his excellent ways of using this to grab the audience.
After reading “A View From a Bridge”, I found it amazing how Miller shows how tense Eddies world is and how he surrounds the family with this cramped world, creating such immense tension. In my opinion I think that the setting and time is perfect to match the situations and to build up on the dramatic atmosphere.
The book was set after World War II, when many immigrants were coming over to find jobs for money to send back home or for money to build a life in the new country. Mass immigration had already started by then as after the war Italians wanted to broaden their career options and so make as best of a living as they could. The wide range of careers and cooperations of which the Italians could dominate brought great interest and attracted Italians to move. All Italians had great ambitions for them: to become business owners and managers and to having the options in the USA helped.
The play is set in New York, in the Red Hook neighbourhood in the borough of Brooklyn. Red Hook is a regular Italian community, full of Italian immigrants needing work. Most of which originated from Sicily therefore carrying their code of silence, Omerta, which secrecy is sworn to by oath; this Omerta, of sworn secrecy causes havoc through out the play. Millers idea of situating the Carbones flat in the borough of Red Hook raised the tension as, as well as their own tension their whole community surrounding then had bubbling tension and troubles. The Carbone Flat was absolutely tiny; “homely; “clear”; “sparse”; completely claustrophobic, with this everyone was on top of everyone and tensions were getting mixed and rising over the bar. With the house being so claustrophobic there was little privacy space for any of them. The set of the play is merely a skeleton of it. What the play contains is of more importance.
The Carbone family consists of Eddie (the husband and uncle), Catherine (niece of Eddie and Beatrice) and Beatrice (Wife and Auntie). Act one starts with Alfieri (Eddies lawyer) giving a quick once over on the setting and about how immigration affect people around Eddie. Miller uses the character dynamics to create tension.
At the start of Act 1 we see the tension between Eddie and Catherine: “I think its too short, aint it”; “No! Not when I stand up”: Eddie obviously cant bear to see Catherine growing up so fast; hes thinks of her as his little girl which Im sure all parents do: “Listen, you been giving me the willies the way you walk down the street, I mean it”: Miller has shown that Eddie is getting jealous of guys looking at his niece because he has had her by his side since she was young and now he might soon have to see his girl standing next to another man.
At this time the tensions are at a high, and then Miller decides to add more by Beatrice talking about Marco and Rodolfo getting into the country. Eddie is obviously getting worried as, when they arrive the word can get around and someone could tell Immigration. Miller has got tensions between Beatrice and Eddie bubbling because of this now, as they both has very strong opinions about it. With Marco and Rodolfo arriving we can clearly see that the tensions are going to blow soon after.
Eddie is very worried about the neighbour hood and how its full of crime and obscene behaviour. Hes scared that if Catherine gets a job shell be endangered by the neighbourhood and forget about the dangers and risks that it contains and the type of people that are situated inside and outside the neighbourhood. : “I know that neighbour hood B., I dont like it”, “listen nothin happened to her in this neighbour hood it aint gonna happen no place else”. I feel that Miller is trying to deliberately raise the tensions to start an argument: “she is angering”, Eddie, “insulted”. After everything had cooled down another day had passed.
But yet again a simple conversation had overturned into heavy arguments about Beatrices cousins staying and how Eddie thinks the neighbour hood is going to get suspicious: “I dont care who sees them goin in and out as long as you dont see them goin in and out”. Eddie is giving them a lecture about what to do with Marco and Rodolfo but his attitude makes the tension between the characters rise: “This is the United States Government youre playin with now, this is the immigration Bureau. If you said it you knew it, if you didnt say it you didnt know it”: This really shows the tension and worry that Eddie is going through at the moment and he is making sure that they know the risks of what is going to happen. I feel that this shows how caring but still worried Eddie really is. Eddie has his names reputation to hold up and he doesnt want anything to go wrong with this as his reputation would go downhill.
Soon after that the tension of Omerta joins in: “oh it was terrible: he had five brothers and the old father and they grabbed him in the kitchen..his own father and his brothers. The whole neighbourhood was cryin”: Miller has really shown how the tension of Omerta is affecting everyone; I think that Miller is putting across the consequences of what could happen if the Omerta of sworn secrecy was broken. This puts terrible stress on everyone to be careful in what they say and do from now on and to make sure they dont tell a soul.
There are millions of tiny tensions adding to the pile already as well as Eddie and Beatrices (intimacy) problems). When Marco and Rodolfo arrive they give everyone warm welcomes and are extremely polite: “I want to tell you now Eddie- when you say go, we will