A 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 New York" which is Red Hook. In this essay I am going to explore if the protagonist, Eddie Carbone, is guilty for his downfall; which then leads to his death. A tragic hero has a fatal flaw which leads to his downfall, in Eddie's 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 hero's downfall is brought about by ignoring advice; In Eddie's case, he doesn't listen to Alfieri, the lawyer and chorus of the play, when he tells him to let Catherine go.
My first 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 because the chorus, Alfieri, describes him as, "He is forty - a husky slightly overweight longshoreman". 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 happy 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 hug 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 know where there gonna sleep", and when they arrive he greets them; "You're 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 Rodolpho's facial appearance.
The fall of Eddie Carbone begins when the cousins moved in. Rodolpho and Catherine are instantly 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. After this he visits Alfieri, the lawyer. He goes to ask him if he would be able to stop Rodolfo and Catherine marrying each other, but Alfieri's advice to him is "the child has to grow 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 can't marry you, can she?" Eddie replies "What're you talking about, marry me! I don't know what the hell you're talking about!" He obviously knows what he's talking about, and Beatrice knows as well. The violent reaction from Eddie shows us that he fells ashamed that he loves his niece and fears that he will lose his dignity and respect. Eddie doesn't listen to his advice but leaves the office in a dilemma.
Knowing he can't 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 Christ's 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 have 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 raised 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 that 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.
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