A View From The Bridge Essay Example for Free

A View From The Bridge EssayA View from the Bridge was written by Arthur Miller in 1955. The play is a modern tragedy with some elements of an Aristotelian tragedy. The play is set in the 1950s in the gullet of refreshing York which is Red Hook.In this essay I am going to explore if the protagonist, Eddie Carbone, is guilty for his downfall which wherefore leads to his death. A tragic hero has a ignominious flaw which leads to his downfall, in Eddies case, he is attracted to his niece. This causes him to be overprotective and not let her meet anyone else, as he wants her for himself. The tragic heros downfall is brought about by ignoring advice In Eddies case, he doesnt listen to Alfieri, the lawyer and chorus of the play, when he tells him to let Catherine go.My first off impression of Eddie is a tall, big and quite overweight man, with little hair and a slowly dying face. He is an outgoing and hardworking man who provides for his family. I got some of these impressions bec ause the chorus, Alfieri, describes him as, He is forty a husky slightly overweight massiveshoreman. The first person he talks to in the play is his niece, Catherine. At first he is caring when he comments on her new dress. But then he becomes a bit protective about her wearing it as he thinks it is too short and that men outside would stare. He is also reluctant to let her to go to work at first but when he sees she is sad he lets her do it, which shows us that he is more willing to make his niece prosperous than his wife. He talks to his wife, Beatrice like he would to any other wife but he does not go over to her to give her a liquidity crisis or a kiss, just simply tells her something. But when he does, he sometimes holds her hands affectionately. This tells us that he expresses his feelings more easily in gestures than in words.Before Marco and Rodolpho arrive, Eddie is not too fond of them staying at his house, he complains that he may end up sleeping on the floor because of them. But then he talks about it being an honour for letting them stay over. When the cousins actually arrive, his attitude towards them changes dramatically. Earlier on he was saying Listen, as long as they jazz where there gonna sleep, and when they arrive he greets themYoure welcome, Marco, we got plenty of room here. Katie, give them supper, heh? Later on he only comes to address Marco only as he realises that Catherine is attracted to Rodolpho. He is coming more and more to address Marco only. He notices this as she keeps talking about Rodolphos facial appearance.The fall of Eddie Carbone begins when the cousins moved in. Rodolpho and Catherine are promptly attracted to each other, which angers Eddie very much as he is also attracted to her. Beatrice worries that Eddie dislikes Rodolpho because he likes Catherine, he responds, He sings on the ships, didja know that? This gives us a hint that he is trying to find things wrong with Rodolfo. by and by this he visits Alfieri, t he lawyer. He goes to ask him if he would be able to stop Rodolfo and Catherine marrying each other, but Alfieris advice to him is the child has to rise up up and go away, and the man has to learn to forget. Because after all, Eddie what other way can it end?One other thing that Alfieri says hints at the truth, She wants to get married, Eddie. She buzzword marry you, can she? Eddie replies Whatre you talking about, marry me I dont know what the hell youre talking about He obviously knows what hes talking about, and Beatrice knows as well. The violent reply from Eddie shows us that he fells ashamed that he loves his niece and fears that he will lose his dignity and respect.Eddie doesnt listen to his advice but leaves the office in a dilemma.Knowing he cant do anything about Rodolfo, his attitude towards him changes dramatically. He stops talking to him in a civil manner and only speaks to mock him, such as when Rodolfo says, Lemons are green, and Eddie replies, I know lemons are green, for Christs sake. He says this almost to point out that Rodolfo is stupid. Every time he criticises Rodolfo he seems to look for support in his older brother, Marco. When he tries to teach Rodolfo how to fight, we see Marco being protective of his brother. When Eddie tries to land a punch on Rodolfo, the stage directions say it mildly staggers Rodolfo, Marco rises.After they consecrate finished, Marco has his own test of masculinity. Marco says Can you lift this chair, a seemingly easy task. But Eddie cannot complete it and Marco carries on with showing him as the stage directions say, Rodolfo and Catherine have stopped dancing as Marco raises the chair over his head. Marco is face to face with Eddie, a strained tension gripping his eyes and jaw, his neck stiff, the chair embossed like a weapon over his head and he transforms what might appear like a glare of warning into a smile of triumph. This shows us that Marco is no longer in support of Eddie and it is also a sign th at he will defend and protect his brother if he is harmed. This leaves the audience tense at the end of Act One, which will make us focus more on the play. We become anxious about what happens from here on. We also know that a tragedy or something that will lead up to it, is going to occur in the beginning.