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.