Customer Reviews

View from the Bridge - All My Sons Pb (Twentieth-Century Classics)

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

A View From the Bridge is a compelling and exciting drama that delves into such issues as incest, manliness and justice. It's the story of Eddie, an illiterate longshoreman, and his anger towards his niece's affection for an illegal immigrant staying in his house. The complicated relationships between these and many other characters in the play makes A View From the Bridge a truly great piece of theatre. The play has the ingredients of a traditional Greek tragedy, complete with Alfieri, a narrator that fulfils the same purpose as Sophocles's chorus from his plays about Oedipus and Antigone. It's a really good read and unravels like a great page-turner.

The structure of the play is uncomplicatad. The play is in two acts but within the acts there are easily defined divisions which are controlled by Alfieri. Alfieri is essential to the structure of the play. He opens and closes the play. He is Arthur Miller's mouthpiece and he moves the action fluidly. Catherine is a young lady who, it seems, as a result of her mother's death is living with her aunt, Beatrice, and Beatice's husband, Eddie. Eddie and Catherine have developed a close family relationship. The credibility of the relationship throughout the play is inceasingly questionable. Eddie is fatherlike in Catherine's eyes. In the first conversation between them Catherine looks for Eddie's approval that she looks good.She behaves almost in a coquettish manner to Eddie BUT this is not calculated. She sees him as a loving father figure. Eddie's obsessive attention to her physical appearance is realized when he asks her to turn around so he can see in her back. His intensions here are questionable. Is he attracted or is just parental pride? Eddie realises this from the beginning. Perhaps he feels that for the responsility he has taken, to support Catherine, he deserves a reward. The reward he wants(Catherine) is too big, and which if he got would be unnatural and ridiculous. Beatrice notices the relationship but her unwillingness to speak out makes her part of the problem. Eddie uses an emotional approach which in sensitive to Catherine's emotions. He suggests that all he is doing is looking out for her interests. He uses her inexperience to denunciate her arguements. Catherine shows her interests in Rodolpho's physical appearance. Eddie subjugates her. His intensions to show power dominate his actions. Rodolpho speech is lively and descriptive if a little frivolous. Catherine seems to be attracted to his different style which contrasts to Eddie's simple, normal style. Eddie is antagonistic towards Rodolpho because he is jealous of the obvious chemistry between the youngsters. Eddie unsuccessfully does his atmost to vilify Rodolpho. He sees him as a homosexual who is using Catherine to get an American passport. Catherine is attempting to be independent but she can't stand up to Eddie. She seems to be looking for attention again but Eddie's tension and his use of passionate words bring us to question his motives.

Arthur Miller often allows the reader to have difficulty identifying with a character, while empathizing with several characters. This is the case in "A View from a Bridge." When the story ends in tragedy, it is no surprise that the reader is made to question some aspect of American society.

In this play, Eddie inherits the duty of raising his niece since the death of his sister. When cousins who are illegal immigrants come to stay with the family, it is a challenge to Eddie's role as father figure. The character and integrity of Rodolpho the younger immigrant is called in to question as he begins a relationship with Eddie's niece Catherine. Is he only marrying her to obtain American citizenship? Is he too much of a free spirit with his singing and dress-making skills? In Eddie's eyes, he certainly not the proper suiter he expected for Catherine. With a wedding on the horizon, Eddie takes his only real option to prevent the marriage. He calls immigration. The final confrontation between Rodolpho and Eddie ends in tragedy, but the character flaws in both men make it difficult to sympathize with either.

The story raises questions of the bonds of family as well as the changing conditions of immigration into America. The fact that the play makes the reader think about social conditions is a reflecion of the quality of the play. It is from the high standard readers hold an Arthur Miller play to.

This is a tightly woven story that packs a punch in just a few pages. In fact, it was short enough that I thought there was no way to resolve the conflicts that left me hanging until the last few pages. Sure enough, Miller effectively tied up loose ends and still managed to surprise me despite ending in a similar fashion to what most would predict.

The play is about an uncle's overprotective nature, which runs so deeply as to be too close for comfort, and the fact that no one would ever be good enough for the niece living in his home. The take home message is about letting go of something you love, as well as swallowing your pride, which ultimately leads to the downfall of at least two of the characters. Eddie's failure to cut his losses and admit he was wrong left him proud but dead.

The setting gives a cool, albeit tiny, insight into what the New York waterfront must have felt like long ago, and the narration (through the eyes of the lawyer from whom Eddie sought advice) is a neat touch.

I have loved A VIEW FROM THE BRIDGE since the first time I read it, three years ago. It is a tautly written, exciting drama in which one can practically see the tragic end coming, "step by step, like a dark figure walking down a hall toward a certain door" (in the words of Alfieri, the lawyer in the play). But as well as the play "reads," it is absolutely ELECTRIFYING when seen on stage -- as I found out just yesterday, when I saw a production of it. The actor who played Eddie Carbone, the protagonist, made the character very sympathetic; as a result, the play's ending was truly tragic. Read A VIEW FROM THE BRIDGE, but also try to see a production of it, if you possibly can. I will admit, though, that it is not performed that often -- not nearly as often as it deserves to be.

Well, after the reading the above reviews I have to say that I was compelled to write a review since I think this exsquisite piece of literature is one of the most moving plays I have ever read. A tale of wrenching and impossible desire, it exposes the danger of the subconscious and within that is a true love story. Arthur Miller has once again brilliantly created a complex and emotionally torturted man in Eddie.

The great play writer Arthur Miller had the idea for "A View From The Bridge" when he was doing research on a longshoreman who was executed by the mob for attempting to revolt against union. He heard a story about another man who denounced his relatives to the Immigration Bureau. The play is not only about this fact, but also concerning on tense familiar and social relationships, and also there is a sexual identity subtext.

Although "A View from the Bridge" is not as famous or as good as "The Crucible" or "Death of a Salesman", it is an interesting piece since its characters are so well developed. One of the main themes in this play is the `naming names'. Just like Miller himself, the main character Eddie Carbone, had the chance of denouncing his friends. Unlike his character, the writer when inquired about his supposed communist friends chose to be loyal to them.

But certainly, the main symbol in the play is Brooklyn Bridge, that means, among other things, pathway of opportunity to Manhattan and also the linkage between American and Italian cultures. And the community where the play is set is very close to this bridge. Miller has created again some effective characters in this play, who are forced to face problematic situations. They may not always succeed, but the writer does - at least most of the time.

A awe-inspiring view of Brooklyn in the 1950's. The storyline was very believable as it displayed the passion and anger of Sicilian society. Marco's honesty and physical strength against the insanity and perverted thoughts of Eddie towards Catherine, was the perfect ending to a intricate struggle of loyalty versus human integrity.

Either I got a misprinted copy or they have a terrible editor. It starts off with A View from the Bridge but becomes Room Service by Allen Boretz at page 18. It turns back into AVFTB at the start of the second act, but since pages 18-44 are filled with Room Service, I cannot say anything content-wise. If anyone else has had this problem, then there was an obvious mass misprint.

Arthur Miller's View from the Bridge is a lengthy, emotionally packed drama that focuses on perplexing longshoreman, 40 year-old Eddie Carbone who has a disturbing inappropriate fixation on his 18 year-old niece. Lawyer Alfieri provides intermittent narration on the unfolding drama with tragic consequences.

The 50's play, considered in Best American Plays, takes place in Red Hook Brooklyn, NY, where an Italian family, Eddie Carbone, wife Beatrice, and Catherine, the 18-year old niece whose mother was Beatrice's sister. It's unclear how young she was when they took her in, but since she has become a young girl, Eddie has been in control of her actions, the normal coming-of-age sexuality, like when he accuses her of the looks she gets by "walkin' wavy".

Neice Catherine's argument to prove a short skirt isn't as short when she stands up and walks, she says, "when you see me walkin' down the street.......Eddie replys "Listen, you have been giving me the willies the way you walk in the street, I mean it."

Beatrice's two cousins, who are brothers, are immigrating from the beautiful mountains and oceans in Italy, but where poverty is the predominant force. The beautiful view is what is across the bridge.

Hiding from immigration, the brothers are respectful and here to work and Catherine is soon in love with younger brother, Rodolpho. Through his own admission, the idea "eats" at Eddie, as his torment is fueled each day. Eddie is challenging, belligerent, sarcastic and evil.

We don't learn a lot about his wife Beatrice's past or Eddie's, we just know that wife Beatrice is very aware of his actions and obsession toward Catherine. Beatrice and Eddie have not had sexual relations for months and she is craving to be his wife again.

During the first act, the set-up is done well. The reader learns quickly about the sexual obsession; we learn how dedicated and respectful the immigrants are, we learn the frustration with Beatrice, and we learn very well, what makes Eddie tick!

The drama moves quickly, it is intense and complete! There is a movie version, but I truly believe the best way to see this and get the feel of characters, is to see the entire play on stage. Movies leave out so much feeling one needs to grasp to gather your thoughts.

I recommend highly, Miller's All My Sons (Penguin Classics)"All My Sons" and The Price and of course, the popular Death of a Salesman (Penguin Plays). .......Rizzo