Я бедный ребёнок такое эссэ накатала для Инглиша кошмар. Мучалась долго. Размещу тут на всякий случай, а вдруг потеряю, тьфу тьфу тьфу.) Можете почитать)))

Essay – A View from the Bridge

 

Arthur Miller was born in Manhattan. In 1956 he wrote a play called “A View from the Bridge”.  The play is set in Brooklyn, New York. It was set in times when women strayed at home the most; men went to work and were ‘feeding’ the family. Women did not work; they were doing housework like cooking and cleaning.

 

In that times there were a lot of Italian Immigrants in America. Most of the immigrants stayed in USA illegally. The places where they went usually contained more people of the same race and as they say: “blood is thicker than water”. So, one person wouldn’t grass another for hiding and being an immigrant.

In this essay I will discuss Eddie’s character. How his attitude changes along the play from the beginning to the terrific collapse at the end.

 

At the beginning of the play Eddie is a nice, respected family man. He has got a wife- Beatrice and a niece- Catherine. Catherine’s parents died when she was an infant. Beatrice and Eddie raised her. Eddie loves her as his own daughter. At the beginning as I said everyone are just fine. Eddie is caring and a loving person. But he is a bit overprotective.

At the start of the play Catherine shows Eddie her new skirt. He says: “I think it’s too short, ain’t it?” and “I don’t like the looks they’re givin you in the candy store.”

It shows that he cares about Catherine but still he is a bit overprotective.

When Catherine says that she wants to work Eddie disagrees. He does want her to work but not in the place where she wanted. “I don’t like the neighbourhood over there” or “Near the Navy Yard plenty can happen in a block and a half. And a plumbin’ company! That’s one step over the water front. They’re practically longshoremen.” He doesn’t like this work, he wants better for her.

That also shows his love and care for Catherine. But he lets her go, because Catherine really wanted to.

At the start of the play Eddie, Catherine and Beatrice are having a laugh, joking around.

When Eddie gets to hear that the cousins are coming he still behaves nice. He wants to make it good for them.

When they came he is very kind and nice. “You’re welcome, Marco, we got plenty of room here. Katie, give them supper, heh?”

Catherine really is interested in Rodolpho, but Eddie talks more to Marco than to Rodolpho.

When Rodolpho starts to sing the “Paper Doll” Eddie sees that Catherine likes it and he stops him. “Hey, kid – hey, wait a minute-” Eddie is annoyed and he is a bit harsh.

And he takes Catherine down by saying: “What’s the high heels for, Garbo?” He really doesn’t like Catherine’s attitude towards Rodolpho and talks to her like to a little girl.

When Beatrice is asking Eddie when she will be a wife again; he doesn’t want to talk about. He is trying to make her believe that it is because of the cousins arrived. “It’s almost three months you don’t feel good; they’re only here a couple of weeks.” – said Beatrice to Eddie. Eddie is confused about something. And he is wigged out.

He doesn’t like the fact that Catherine and Rodolpho want to marry. Eddie doesn’t like Rodolfo all along the play. He doesn’t respect him. He thinks that ‘the guy ain’t right’. Eddie obviously identifies Rodolfo as homosexual because Rodolpho sings cooks and sews a dress for Catherine.

Eddie also questions Rodolpho because he doesn’t like to work and has

bleach blond hair that makes him look more feminine.

Eddie can’t talk of homosexuality even to Beatrice, so he goes to Alfieri. Alfieri does not share Eddie’s feelings. He says that it is better to let her go. “She can’t marry you, can she?” also he says. Eddie is furious. He is confused and starts to lose control.

 

At the end of Act One he wanted to ‘teach’ Rodolfo how to box. Everyone, except of Beatrice understands that it is not just teaching. At the end of the scene Marco doesn’t like it and lifts the chair up with one hand, I think he wanted to show Eddie that he is strong.

Also he tells Catherine that Rodolpho is only after the American passport and that he doesn’t love her. I think that he said that because he couldn’t tell her that he thinks Rodolpho is a homosexual.

In Act Two when Eddie comes drunk, he sees Rodolpho coming out of Catherine’s bedroom, and he sees Catherine adjusting her dress. I think he understood what happened between Catherine and Rodolpho. Eddie is piteous.  Suddenly he kisses Catherine on her mouth. Rodolpho get angry he flies at Eddie in attack, but Eddire kisses him as well. That shows that he is uncontrollable now. He is even more confused, angry and even furious.

He comes to Alfieri again. Eddie is angry that there is nothing to do to stop the marriage. I think that he likes Catherine but he doesn’t realize it. He thinks that it is just that Rodolpho “ain’t right”. But it is a self-hypnosis.

Eddie is confused. At home he has got a conversation with Beatrice. “You used to be different, Beatrice.” He says. He doesn’t understand that he is the one who changed in a whole different way. He feels like everyone are against him. He messed up, he is nearly in depression. He is downfallen.

 

The final stage of Eddie’s downfall is when he calls the immigration, which is seen as the worst thing to do by the Sicilian law. When Eddie calls he knows he is doing a bad thing. After this his family or friends will never accept him just as he said to Beatrice and Catherine at the start of the play about a boy who grassed his relative. Eddie is losing his respect when Marco spits in his face. This shows he sees Eddie as a piece of dirt.Eddie’s inability to listen to other people’s advice causes many problems and ultimately results in his downfall. If Eddie had taken Alfieri’s advice then he would not have died, but Eddie could not see that taking someone’s advice would help he was on a one way mission to separate Rodolfo and Catherine. This could be related to when Miller says, “his eyes were like tunnels” Eddie has tunnel vision and although he wants people to give advice he knows he is never going to listen. Eddie is the cause of his own down fall. His feelings for Catherine, his jealousy and his hate towards Rodolfo are all to blame.