Critical Essay – ‘A View from the Bridge’ By Arthur Miller
Choose a play which has a key scene.
‘A View from the Bridge’ by Arthur Miller is an intriguing and clever play in which there is a key scene where Eddie Carbone, the main character, phones the immigration Bureau on illegal immigrants. The play is set in the slums of Brooklyn, and focuses on an Italian American community who are extremely loyal to one another. Eddie lives with his wife, Beatrice, and their orphaned niece Catherine. Eddie is a loving, family man at the opening of the play, but it quickly becomes apparent, to the other characters and the audience, that he has “too much love” for his niece. The play changes dramatically when Beatrice’s cousins arrive in Brooklyn as illegal immigrants from Italy. Eddie is happy to house them but when Catherine immediately falls in love with one of the cousins, Rodolpho, Eddie’s jealousy and protectiveness over Catherine is revealed. Eddie’s emotions and feelings get the better of him leading to the key scene where he phones the Immigration Bureau. This in turn leads the play on its bloody course.
The story takes a dramatic turn when Rodolpho and Catherine decide they want to get married. As a result of this, Eddie’s jealously and feelings towards Catherine grow even stronger and take over him, “give me the number of the immigration Bureau” Eddie has now completely changed his mind from how he felt at the beginning of act one. This is the key scene as he has changed from being loyal to completely going against the ideals of the Italian community. He demonstrates jealousy, protectiveness over Catherine and reveals how desperate he is. Eddie cares so much for Catherine that he was prepared to break his code of honour to stop her from marrying Rodolpho. Eddie feels as though the only way...