A View from the Bridge: Dramatic Conflict in Play
A View from the Bridge which was written by Arthur Miller focuses on a tragic character who throughout the play causes conflict with almost everyone that he interacts with. The theme of conflict is one of the key themes of A View from the bridge, Miller uses language and structure techniques throughout the play to emphasize the importance of the conflict between the characters.
Eddie Carbone is the main character and fills the role of the tragic hero. When Eddie is first introduced to us he appears to be a caring father figure to Catherine, but we soon find out that this is not the case. Throughout the play, Eddie wrestles with his strong feelings for his niece, Catherine. The conflict within the play intensifies as soon as Rodolpho and Marco are introduced to us. The conflict becomes so intense that Eddie goes against his community and commits the ultimate “crime” when he reports the two immigrants to the immigration officers. Throughout the play, Eddie is constantly experiencing inner conflict and fails to realize and consider the consequences of his actions, which ultimately leads to his death.
The first conflict which arises is when Eddie begins to feel conflicted over his feelings toward Catherine. At the start of the play, Eddie appears over-protective and unable to let her live her life. “You look like one of them girls that went to college.” Eddie suggests that the way Catherine is dressed is inappropriate, and then asks Catherine to “Turn around, lemme see in the back”. This instantly makes the reader aware that there is something unusual about Eddie. Eddie appears to be concerned over her “inappropriate” outfit, but it is noticeably clear that he is only bothered about others seeing her. On the other hand, Catherine is naïve and does not realize what Eddie's intentions are.
Later, in the play, Marco and Rodolpho arrive at the Carbone’s household. Miller establishes a conflict between Eddie and Rodolpho in their initial meeting, Rodolpho instantly demonstrates a hugely different view of masculinity compared to Eddie’s expectations. Eddie strongly believes that men should provide for their families, do manual labor, and never show any signs of weakness to others. However, when Rodolpho arrives at the Carbone household, he is singing. Catherine is instantly impressed by his talented singing whereas Eddie is less amused and instead shows signs of jealousy. “He is sizing up Rodolpho, and there is a concealed suspicion.” Miller uses stage directions to indicate that Eddie is inspecting Rodolpho closely, which suggests that Eddie sees him as a rival. The phrase “sizing up” conveys the idea that Eddie sees Rodolpho as a competitor for Catherine’s affections.
Eddie believes Rodolpho is “not right” and seeks help from Alfieri. Eddies conflicted feelings are clear for Alfieri and he questions his motives. Eddies suspicions of Rodolpho’s confidence make Eddie feel the need to reassert his authority and power within their home. However, at this point in the play, Eddie prevents himself from revealing his true feelings to the other characters and instead attempts to portray the idea of a strong and welcoming family man. In this scene, Miller introduces the theme of toxic masculinity, which was a very well-known trait to have in the 1950s. Eddie uses this to his advantage as he feels threatened by Rodolpho’s ability to charm Catherine. Eddie is aware of what Catherine admires in Rodolpho, and Eddie uses these characteristics to insinuate that Rodolpho is homosexual. Miller uses dramatic irony, as we, the audience, we can see the developing jealousy Eddie has towards Rodolpho, however Eddie masks this as a concern for Catherine. Eddie continues to suggest that Rodolpho’s feelings for Catherine are not authentic, “Katie, he’s only bowin’ to his passport.” Eddie is insisting that Rodolpho’s intentions are to marry Catherine just to become an American citizen.
Nearing the end of act 1 Eddie shows his anger towards Catherine and Rodolpho’s closeness. “He has been unconsciously twisting the newspaper into a tight roll. They are all regarding him now; he senses he is exposing the issue and he is driven on.” Here Miller uses stage directions to indicate how he uses body language to convey Eddie’s resentment towards Rodolpho. Eddie is twisting the paper as an outlet for his aggression, which demonstrates his frustration at the relationship which is growing between Catherine and Rodolpho. Eddie has been doing this “unconsciously”, and now the audience and characters are aware of the emotions previously concealed by Eddie, he is now so consumed by anger that he no longer worries about appearing as jealous. Eddie’s inner conflict has had a strong effect on his marriage with Beatrice. Eddie is confronted by Beatrice “When am I gonna be a wife again, Eddie?”. This shows that Eddie’s inner conflict has had a serious effect on his relationship with others, this is because he has been consumed with jealousy over Catherine and Rodolpho’s relationship.
The conflict further develops when Eddie offers to ‘teach’ Rodolpho how to box. In this scene the conflict becomes physical. This in turn sees a new conflict arise when Marco challenges Eddie in a chair-lifting competition. “He feints with his left hand and lands with his right. It mildly staggers Rodolpho. Marco rises.” During the climax of this scene, Eddie tries to fool Rodolpho to appear like the alpha male of the household. The conflict between Eddie and Rodolpho illustrates Miller’s theme of toxic masculinity. Eddie makes a move to undermine Rodolpho, which ultimately reveals his jealous and manipulative nature.
A key scene within the play is when Eddie kisses Catherine and Rodolpho. The conflict between all three of the characters has erupted. At this moment, even Catherine becomes physically aggressive towards Eddie. The inner conflict of Eddie forces him to take what appears to be his last option to prevent Catherine and Rodolpho from getting married – he ironically, goes against his own beliefs and reports the two cousins to immigration. “I want to report something. Illegal immigrants. Two of them.” This moment is ironic, because earlier on in the play Eddie was informing us how important the community is, and here Eddie has broken one of the community’s biggest laws.
The sudden conflict between Eddie and Marco reaches its peak as the immigration officers take Marco away from the Carbone house. “Marco spits into Eddie’s face.” Marco spits at Eddie to show his disgust towards him and his actions. Eddie managed to let his inner conflict take over his sense of reality and has consequently ruined Marco and his family’s life. “That one! He killed my children! That one stole the food from my children!” Marco shouts as he is being taken away because Eddie has taken Marco’s ability to provide for his family.
We reach the final dramatic conflict at the end of the play when Eddie and Marco fight. Eddie is consequently killed by his own knife, which is symbolic of the fact that he created his own misfortune.
A View from the Bridge by Arthur Miller manages to effectively follow the conflict in which all characters get involved. The story follows a tragic hero who ultimately could not be saved due to his tragic flaw. The structure and language used ultimately add to the atmosphere of the entire play which is what makes this play so great. Conflict is what truly developed Eddie’s character, we realize that he was controlled by his inner conflict and his ability of not to be aware of his own actions. Without conflict, we would not be able to witness the darker and more manipulative side of Eddie.
