A View from the Bridge: Language, Structure & Themes
Structure
Alfieri’s Role
A View from the Bridge is a well-structured play with an uncomplicated shape, presented in two acts with clearly defined divisions controlled by the lawyer, Alfieri. Alfieri is crucial to the play’s structure, opening and closing it while also serving as Arthur Miller’s mouthpiece to move the action forward.
Eddie Carbone’s Influence
All the action revolves around Eddie Carbone, whose character drives the drama. When he is calm and friendly, the atmosphere reflects this. However, when he is tense and hostile, the atmosphere becomes uncomfortable. Several flashpoints in the two acts mirror each other. The controlled hostility at the end of Act I (when Eddie shows Rodolpho how to box and Marco indirectly challenges Eddie) develops into unpleasant hostility at the beginning of Act II when Eddie kisses Catherine and Rodolpho. The final explosive violence at the end of the drama is justified considering the preceding events.
Themes and Action
The play’s themes—incest, justice, manliness (see Themes)—are interwoven into the action and remain integral to the drama’s fabric. Arthur Miller skillfully moves the action and themes through the play until the final tragic scene.
Language and Style
A View from the Bridge features a variety of language forms. The audience hears the educated, controlled dialogue of Alfieri, the aggressive, uneducated speech of Eddie, the intelligent, attractive conversations of Rodolpho, the heavy, serious tones of Marco, the lively, searching words of Catherine, and finally, the quiet, serious language of Beatrice. Arthur Miller’s dialogue is, in turn, powerful, economical, colorful, and dramatic.
Alfieri’s Educated and Controlled Dialogue
Alfieri’s language is meditative and encourages the audience to reflect on the issues Miller deems important. His leisurely style draws the audience into his story and helps maintain a relationship with them throughout the play. In the opening lines, he uses the pronoun “you” to indicate that he is talking directly to us. The use of “you” also shows that he is the medium between the audience and the characters.
His wry sense of humor at the beginning of Act I when he refers to himself as an object of superstition and again at the beginning of Act II when he mentions the case of Scotch Whisky slipping “from a net while being unloaded” (Act II, p. 59) endears his audience to him. In the final section of Act I, Eddie speaks to Rodolpho as if he is complimenting him by comparing Rodolpho’s talent with his own lack of skill. He repeats his list of Rodolpho’s talents—three times he lists them—superficially to show how much he admires him, but in reality, he wants Rodolpho to be seen as effeminate and not as a real man. About the coffee that Catherine offers to make, he says, “Make it nice and strong” (Act I, p. 56), indicating that he, a real man, likes his coffee strong.
Dialogue of Confrontation
Ultimately, it is Eddie’s uneducated, American working-class conversation that sounds the most realistic of all the characters. His words are anchored in reality, and we realize that he speaks the truth as he sees it. His vision of the truth is twisted but is, nevertheless, true for him. His dialogue is never far away from confrontation and builds relentlessly to the inevitable tragedy at the end of the play.
It is worth looking at the way tension is built and maintained in the dialogue during the final moments of the play. Confrontation is built on confrontation. Beatrice’s conversation is soothing, attempting to calm things down, but Eddie does not listen. His conversation is shot through with comments that do not allow compromise: “Didn’t you hear what I told you? You walk out that door to the wedding you ain’t comin’ back here, Beatrice” (Act II, p. 80).
Later, Marco is in the same uncompromising mood: “Animal! You go on your knees to me!” (Act II, p. 84). Eddie insists that he must have his good name restored: “You lied about me, Marco. Now say it. Come on now, say it!” (Act II, p. 84). The dialogue carries with it the inevitability of tragedy that may shock, but does not surprise, the audience.
Themes
- Immigration: The play is set in an Italian neighborhood in New York, with both illegal and legal immigrants, and the family itself is Italian.
- Maturity and Independence: Catherine’s coming of age.
- Love and Desire: Catherine and Rodolpho’s love for each other, Eddie’s desire for Catherine, Marco’s love for his family in Italy, Beatrice’s need for Eddie, who is losing his love for her.
- Justice and the Law: Illegal immigration, Alfieri, who is a lawyer and narrates the play, immigrants hiding from the law.
- Respect and Honor: Eddie’s feeling of being disrespected by Rodolpho, his pride over his family and the honor of everyone’s Italian roots.
- Masculinity: Eddie’s constant need to prove Rodolpho’s sexuality while himself acting like what a stereotypical man should be.