Dramatic tension for the audience Essay

In the play, â€Å"A View From The Bridge†, Arthur Miller gave the audience an impression that the Italian immigrants weren’t welcome to the USA. The scene is set in New York and it relates to six main characters, who are all individuals and play unique roles. Arthur Miller was born on October 17th in 1915 in New York City. He was a prominent figure in American literature and his career as a writer spanned over seven decades. He is considered by audiences as one of Americas’ greatest play writers, and his plays are widely recognised throughout the world. The play is set in Red Hook. The main focus and stage is the Carbones’ living and dining room. Alfieri thinks that the public do not appreciate lawyers or priests because he says â€Å"You see how uneasily they nod to me? That’s because I am a lawyer. In this neighbourhood to meet a lawyer or a priest on the street is unlucky. We’re only thought of in connection with disasters, and they’d rather not get too close†. A slight of distrust lies in the neighbourhood because he can sense that the law wasn’t an amicable idea since the Greeks were beaten. People have told him that the neighbourhood lack an element of â€Å"elegance and glamour†. The neighbourhood consisted of longshoremen and their wives and fathers and grandfathers and poor people. Red Hook was considered quite a dangerous place but now it’s â€Å"quite civilized, quite American†. Alfieri can foretell the rest of story as he tells the audience that they should watch the situation â€Å"run its bloody course†, and followed that by introducing Eddie Carbone by saying â€Å"this one’s name was Eddie Carbone†. The way Arthur Miller uses Alfieri to say â€Å"this one’s†, shows that Alfieri has seen this many times before and is giving us a hint that the play is not going to end well. Eddie is introduced on stage by pitching coins with the men, in which he highlighted from them, â€Å"He is forty-a husky, slightly overweight longshoreman. When Eddie enters his apartment and meets Catherine, there is quite a friendly atmosphere but this changes quickly when Eddie criticizes the way Catherine walks and her appearance. The conversation ends when Eddie says that Beatrice’s cousins are coming. Here we can get the feeling that Eddie has undiscovered sexual feelings and is very possessive over Catherine. While the family were waiting for Beatrice’s cousins, Eddie is telling the story of Vinny Bolzano. The story has a significant importance because this play also has a similar story as Bolzano. Miller uses Eddie as the person who informs the immigration about Beatrice’s cousins (just like the young boy did to his uncle in Bolzano’s story). Marco appears to be suspicious initially. He is quite stiff towards Eddie and gives him control of when he requires them to leave. There is an instant reaction where Rodolfo is introduced, we can see Catherine is attracted by his appearance, she asked him many questions like â€Å"How come he’s so dark and you’re so light, Rodolfo† (you can see how she just addressed the question directly to Rodolfo). Catherine also is astonished, as she said to Beatrice â€Å"He’s practically blond! â€Å". Eddie however assumes that he is homosexual because he has blond hair and sings the song â€Å"Paper Doll†. Eddie doesn’t understand the law because he doesn’t see the need of obtaining evidence to prove Rodolfo guilty. He just assumes that Rodolfo wants to marry Catherine for the right to stay and become an American citizen. It is difficult for Eddie to express his emotions because he has intimate feelings towards Catherine. Alfieri’s advice to Eddie was to inform the immigration as to how Beatrice’s cousins entered the country illegally. Initially Eddie is shocked at the advice and says â€Å"Oh, Jesus, no, I wouldn’t do nothin’ about that†. Alfieri also advised Eddie to learn to let Catherine go. He says â€Å"The child has to grow up and go away, and the man has to learn to forget. † Eddie does not want to let Catherine go. This could result in two endings, either Eddie snitches on Rodolfo and Marco or lets his niece live her life the way she wants to. Catherine starts off a conversation about the places where Marco and Rodolfo have been to. Eddie doesn’t seem too convinced when Catherine says they’ve been to Africa, and says â€Å"it’s true Eddie†. Miller uses his stage directions to show that Eddie is only asking Marco about the places they have visited. Then the conversation diverts to Catherine asking Eddie about oranges and lemons growing on trees. Eddie replies directly to Marco. He becomes very aggressive and rude when Rodolfo intervenes. Eddie gets very hostile and snaps back at Rodolfo by saying â€Å"I know lemons are green, for Christ’s sake, you see them in the store they’re green sometimes. I said oranges they paint, I didn’t say nothin’ about lemons. â€Å". Another incident rises when Eddie has a conversation about how he can teach boxing to Rodolfo. Eddie picks on Rodolfo and tries to intimidate and patronise him. They both throw in some light punches but Eddie gets carried away and grazes Rodolfo. Catherine is astonished and Eddie replies â€Å"Why? I didn’t hurt him. Did I hurt you kid? â€Å". Marco had realised that Eddie was bothered by Rodolfo. Marco showed his strength towards Eddie by raising the chair over his head. He does this to make Eddie aware that if anything happens to Rodolfo, Eddie will have to pay the consequences. Arthur Miller shows that Marco has had enough and understands what’s going on, the stage directions describes Marco with â€Å"a strained tension gripping his eyes and jaw, his neck stiff†, he also used a simile â€Å"the chair raised like a weapon over Eddie’s head†. Eddie then realises what Marco meant, his â€Å"grin vanishes as he absorbs his looks. â€Å". This shows us that Marco’s hamartia is Rodolfo.