Essay Flashcards
Introduction
-“A View From The Bridge” Is a play written by Arthur Miller.
- main focus is about a family who live comfortably in Brooklyn, New york.
-The antagonist of this story Eddie Carbone seem like a loyal family man but we n discover that he is secretly obsessed with his niece Catherine.
- His love for her is interrupted when Eddies wife Beatrice invites her sicilian cousins to come and live with them illegally.
- Rodolpho and Marco move from the run down sicily to the admired New York.
- The problems arise when Catherine shows interest in Rodolpho which infuriates Eddie…
Eddies need for authority and power in his house hold
-Assert power in household
- “Your just a baby you dont understand these things”
- Eddie constantly reffering to Catherine as a baby
- He beleives that she has the mindset of a baby although she is a fully grown adult
- He is also expressing how scare he is as she is growing up by her getting a job, leaving school and wearing more “revealing” clothes
-This means she wont be as reliant on him which he dosent like
- Eddie is also trying to undermine her by saying “you dont understand these things”
-Telling her she dosent understand basic things and making her feel stupid
Eddies toxic masculinity
- Talk about how Eddie has many toxic traits
- Give context to how the quote is about Catherine telling Eddie she is going to marry Rodolpho
- “Rodlopho flies at him in attack. Eddie pins his arms laughing, and suddenly kisses him”
- The quote is a stage direction
- Shows the audience how Eddie has little respect for Catherine and Rodolpho
- Also shows what Eddie thinks about Rodolpho and Catherines relationship and how this affects Catherine as she values relationships with both men and she is made to chose between the both
- She feels she has a loyalty towards Eddie as he has looked after her but she loves Rodolpho and wants to have a life with him
- It signifys Eddies toxic masculinity as we see him humiliate and put down another man to make himself feel more superior
Eddies internal conflict
- His incestrious feelings towards Catherine
- When Eddie says to Alfeiri
- ” Hes stealing from me”
- Eddie is reffering to Rodolpho “Stealing” Catherine
- Stealing something is often associated when its someones property which is exactly how Eddie sees Catherine
- By objectifying her he truly believes that she is his property and he has full control over her
-This shows hoe much he truly wants control over Catherines life and how he values his wants over her needs.
Eddie at the climax of the play
- “Eddie raises the knife and louis haults and steps back”
-Stage direction - How irrational Eddie has become
- He is willing to kill someone because he disrespected him
- Good contrast to the begining of the play because we see him have full control over everyone at the start and now Catherine has run off and his marriage has gotten even worse than before
- He at least has pride in his name which has now been stepped all over because of the two brothers that illegally moved from sicily into his home
Conclusion
- Play written good and the intentional villain of Eddie was portrayed well.
- He created characters like Catherine and Beatrice for the readers to sympathise with in contrast to Eddie who is manipulative
