Arthur Miller's A View From the Bridge
Works Cited Missing
I have chosen pages 40-42 from the part where Eddie says "You never
seen a fight, did you?" to Marco, in the centre of page 40. This is a
fight scene, in which Eddie "teaches" Rodolfo how to box. He begins by
making fun of Rodolfo's attempt. This then leads to the two lightly
boxing, until Eddie hits Rodolfo hard, so he staggers. At this point
the fight is stopped and Marco uses some intimidation tactics to
frighten Eddie off, away from Rodolfo. Marco does this because he
knows that he is the stronger of the two so if Eddie challenges him to
a fight he will win. He also does this, in a secretive way, to warn
Eddie that if he hurts a member of his family, for instance Rodolfo,
he will have to go through him first. This in a way tells us about his
background because of the strong bond with in a family. This is like
the end of the play, where Marco, protecting Rodolfo's honour and
life, fights with Eddie, to begin with not meaning to, but when Eddie
plunged at him, he had no choice, so killed him in self-defence. This
in itself tells us that he is Italian because of the gangs that he
talks about, earlier on in the play, and the strong bond between him,
his family and Rodolfo.
In this scene the characters have different emotions and feelings
going through their minds.
Eddie, at this point of the play has had enough of Rodolfo's
femininity. This could be because he is jealous of his range of
talents, such as cooking and singing. At the moment before he comes in
the family has had a little argument. Eddie in a sly way, with out
revealing anything mysterious to the family has come up with a plan to
get back at Rodolfo. He does this by bringing up boxing. He finds this
relates well to the upcoming boxing match not to far away, in a couple
of weeks. But, this could be seen as undeliberate by some viewers
because of the situation, so could just be a...