A View From the Bridge is the modern tragedy. It symbolises one mans life and his helplessness in the face of his own death. Eddie Carbone is an epic character; a man that is too proud to show emotion, makes all the wrong decisions at the wrong time, and pays the price. His love for his niece tears his family in two, and causes him to break the code of honour, and "rat" on his cousins: the worst decision anyone can make in a strict Italian-American district of Brooklyn. In many ways a View From the Bridge can be compared to a Grecian tragedy. Eddie is the tragic, mad character who is suppressed by his own terrible fate. Alfieri, the narrator acts as the chorus in the play. He provides commentary on the action and articulates the greater moral and social implications. Just like any tragedy the inevitability of Eddie's death is a key factor, which Miller has conveyed to us the reader many times in a strong voice. One example is the story of Vinny Bolzano, the boy who "snitched" on his uncle to the immigration authorities; "he was pulled down the stairs- three flights his head was bouncin' like a coconut. And they spit on him in the street, his own father and his brothers
I never seen him again". At the beginning of the play, Eddie's death is as inevitable as his birth.
The play is set in an area of Brooklyn called Red Hook. Its main population is of either Italian or Jewish immigrants, and the Irish who were situated not very far away on Statton Island. The Carbone's themselves are from a family of immigrants, as are many of the others that live near them. In many cases the relatives come over to live, so within Red Hook, there were probably very few families but many people. As the immigrants came over, so did their values and their rules, For example, they would have used a semi-feudal system back in Italy. The theme "Code Of Honour" is used through out the play. This symbolises, that no matter who they were they stuck together, and they did not at any...