Background to the drama Essay

‘A View from a Bridge’ is a play inspired by Miller’s own background, in terms of plot and context. Miller grew up in America and was the son of two immigrants. In the late 1940s he became interested in the work and lives of the communities and Longshoremen of New York’s Brooklyn Harbour, a place where he had in fact previously worked. Many of the workers were exploited by their bosses, underpaid and had only recently immigrated to the United States. It was during this time that a young lawyer friend of Miller’s ‘mentioned a story he’d recently heard of a longshoreman who had ratted to the Immigration Bureau on two brothers, his own relatives, who were living illegally in his very own home, in order to break up an engagement between one of them and his niece. ‘ Miller took this story combined with his upbringing and experiences on a recent trip to Sicily and provided the background to the drama ‘A View from a Bridge’. The play takes place in Brooklyn around 1950s. Catherine is an orphan who lives with her aunt and uncle, Beatrice and Eddie Carbone. Eddie agrees to Beatrice’s two relatives, Marco and Rodolpho, both of whom are illegal immigrants. Eddie, the plays protagonist, has a very particular view of the qualities of a man. When other characters don’t conform to these masculine expectations it leads to hostility and aggression resulting in death. Our first impression of Eddie is that of a simple, average man. He comes across as a hardworking, friendly, kind and generous husband and uncle: especially as he is prepared to accept and welcome his wife Beatrice’s illegal immigrant cousins into his own home. However Eddie has a very strong point of view of the qualities of manliness, believing that a real man should be strong, tough and mean. The appearance of a man should be with dark features and big size. He thinks that a real man should be like him, the breadwinner who works hard, doing work that uses muscle and not much brain: â€Å"I worked like a dog†. He perhaps also thinks that a man would always look at a pretty woman in a sexual way rather than just another person; this is shown when he says there are â€Å"bad men† at Catherine’s workplace. Another quality which Eddie considers to manly is power. Eddie’s views on manliness are also based around the ideas of protecting your family and loved ones, providing for your family and keeping your pride and dignity. Eddie tries his very best to keep to these things as he feels very strongly of being a man. He shows this by showing concern when Catherine buys a new skirt. He says, â€Å"Where you going all dressed up? † and, â€Å"It’s too short ain’t it? † He is concerned because he doesn’t want her attracting too much attention from other men, like when he says, â€Å"I don’t like the looks they’re giving you in the candy store†. This overprotectiveness leads to conflict on a small scale between him and Catherine as she says â€Å"Eddie, I wish there was one guy you couldn’t tell me things about! † This dialogue shows that Eddie has been overprotective before and Catherine has realized it. She does not say it seriously but rather, a joke; however she is actually trying to express that he’s being too overprotective. This power that Eddie considers to be manly also creates many other incidents on small scales and Eddie starts to show open hostility towards the other characters. Firstly when Rodolfo, Marco and Eddie are talking about oranges and lemons Eddie becomes very hostile when Rodolfo corrects him, â€Å"Lemons are green†. Eddie lashes out at Rodolfo when he corrects him about the colour of the lemon and becomes slightly aggressive â€Å"I know lemons are green for Christ’s sake†. Eddie becomes hostile and aggressive because he believes knowledge and being ‘right’, amongst other things, is where the power lies. Miller uses this to show how something as insignificant as a lemon can create hostility and aggression all because of a manly characteristic of wanting power and respect. Another example of Eddie’s pettiness is during a conversation about Marco’s family back home in Italy. Eddie tries to suggest an affair with Marco’s wife but Rodolfo again corrects him saying â€Å"it’s more strict in our town† We are able to see how Eddie is becoming aggressive through Miller’s stage directions. Eddie goes from being hostile and sarcastic â€Å"(laughing)† to aggressive â€Å"(rises, pacing up and down)† as a direct reaction to the immigrants differing culture. The stage directions often say a lot more about the characters then the actual script itself and also greatly contribute to the heightening of tension throughout. Not only do they describe the positions of the characters on set; they help the audience to identify with their feelings. Miller begins a scene with a simple conversation about a recent trip to Africa which Marco and Rodolfo had undergone through work. However, tension is still created, regardless of the triviality of the conversational subject, by Eddie, who, from a simple glance at Catherine, appears to be sceptical about whether the trip took place â€Å"They went to Africa once. On a fishing boat. (Eddie glances at her. ) It’s true, Eddie†. Eddie then retreats to his rocker, a prop which Miller makes significant throughout the play as it acts as Eddie’s position of authority, as his â€Å"throne† – when in his rocker, he feels very much at the helm of the household and Miller uses this in order to show how Eddie feels he has power yet a rocker is slightly unsuitable as it does not assume a fixed position The conversation then continues further, though it is clear from Miller’s use of stage directions that Eddie is disregarding anything Rodolfo says to him, and talking to Marco exclusively, creating an uneasy atmosphere and increasing the tension further.