A View from the Bridge

A View from the Bridge is a play by Arthur Miller originally produced as a verse drama on Broadway in 1955. It was based upon an unproduced screenplay that Miller developed with Elia Kazan entitled The Hook, dealing with corruption on the docks of a port. (Though the movie was never made, Kazan's 1954 film On the Waterfront developed similar ideas.)

Related Topics:
Arthur Miller - Elia Kazan - The Hook - On the Waterfront

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Though the 1955 production was not successful, it was revised in 1956 to become a more traditional prose play, and it is through this version that audiences are most familiar with the work today. (Interestingly, the play was adapted into an opera in 1999 by William Bolcom, thus bringing the story back into verse.)

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The main character in the story is Eddie Carbone, a longshoreman, who lives with his wife Beatrice and niece Catherine. His feelings for Catherine however, develop into something more than filial as we see through out the play. These feelings are brought into perspective by the arrival of Beatrice's two cousins Marco and Rodolfo. They have come from Italy hoping to leave behind hunger and unemployment for a better life in America. Rodolfo is young, good-looking and charming and Catherine instantly falls for him.

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Predictably Eddie sets about pointing out all of Rodolfo's flaws and persistently complains that Rodolfo is a "weird" (Gay) He uses Rodolfo's femminine qualities, such as dress-making, cooking and singing, to back up his argument.

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In the end Catherine decides to marry Rodolfo and Eddie sees he has no choice but to confess to The Immigration Bureau that he is harbouring two illegal immigrants. This in turn makes Eddie lose the respect of his neighbours and his family.

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The play ultimately ends with one final showdown between Eddie and Marco (Not Rodolfo) Eddie leaps at Marco brandishing a knife, but Marco turns the knife the other way and Eddie stabs himself.

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The play is a tragic one as Miller himself said that Eddie possessed all the qualities of a tragic hero:

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He is not a particularly good man nor is he a bad man

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He comes from a noble family / background (In this case he holds status within the patrifocal Itallian community)

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He makes a error of judgement

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He does not realise his fault untill it is too late to change what he has done

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