Modern Drama Coursework (Y10)

Exploring the ways in which Arthur Miller presents Eddie as a tragic hero in ‘A View From The Bridge’.

Miller’s play, A View From the Bridge, employs themes and ideas that are seen typically in the period that it was written in, so as to achieve a modern Greek Tragedy about an everyday man- Eddie Carbone. Eddie, the main protagonist of this play, is consequently presented as a tragic-hero who is a  hard-working, family oriented longshoreman in the town of Red Hook, with a concealed fatal flaw. My essay will aim to reveal how ‘A View From The Bridge’ largely parallels traditional aspects of a Greek tragedy whilst also disputing these typical ideas and how this ultimately accentuate Eddies demise at the end of the play.

            In the beginning of the play, Miller establishes Eddie as an everyman character and exhibits themes of honour and reputation. The audience are presented at first with a decent man, at his point of zenith, who is solely content with the dignity of providing for his family and doing a job well. We see this in Eddie’s downplayed response to comments about his virtuous act of welcoming the immigrants into his home when he insists that he feels a sense of gratification and says, “they don’t bother me, don’t cost me nutt’n”. This double negative and his colloquialism portray his humility and generosity of spirit. However, we are aware of his internal struggle and that he is remaining humble in order to uphold his reputation of being a providing family man. He has too much familial duty and pride to admit to his fatal flaw of hubris, so he acts dismissive and careless to Louis’ compliments. Furthermore, even though Eddie is outwardly expressing his contentment in embracing the cousins, we already begin to see him worrying about the threat that these new males will have on his position of authority as the respected head of the house. He is worried about Beatrice being “pushed around” because she has a “big heart” but perhaps his concern for Beatrice being dominated is actually a reflection of what he wishes not to happen to himself. Regardless, he constantly reassures his wife and tells her “it is an honour”to provide for them, despite his growing concerns. This entire interaction not only shows the audience Eddie’s unconscious need for validation to keep his dignity intact, but also displays the dominating character Eddie is. Moreover, I believe by commencing the play with Eddie presented in such a manner, Miller already elicits a sense of respect and fondness in the audience towards him. This will eventually turn out to increase the sense of pathos the audience will feel when he reaches his demise because, though we are aware Eddie may be fallible, it would be ignorant to put him in a box and claim him to be immoral or fixate solely on his hubristic character and faults when we know (based on this evidence) that he is a decent human being.

            In order to remain accordant to the quintessential rules of a Greek tragedy, Miller incorporates a concept used by Aristotle to describe a tragic hero: hamartia; in Eddie, this is his love and excessive overprotectiveness for his niece which causes him to fall. In order to begin to disclose this deeply rooted desire in Eddie, we see him commentating on Catherine’s appearance. His repeating, obsessive, and critical comments about how she dresses and looks, allow the audience to start to understand the extent of Eddie’s affection as he condemns her outfit and says, “you look like a Madonna” and also states that “she’s walking wavy”. The subtle emanation of Eddie’s taboo desires are beginning to unveil and the simile “like a Madonna” not only exhibits Eddie’s interest but also derives connotations about how chaste and pure Catherine seems (like the Virgin Mary, or Madonna). In addition to this, as Catherine begins to start maturing and develop feelings for Rodolpho, characters like Beatrice start to notice Eddie’s unlawful desires through his jealousy; she tells him that he’s “just jealous” and Eddie tries to mask this with flimsy arguments about how Rodolpho is “wacky”, “weird”, and “like a chorus girl”. The simile-once again- highlights Eddie’s repressed desires as instead of admitting to his actual concern of Catherine maturing, he instead decides to reflect his feelings of redundancy on fixating on Rodolpho’s perceived effeminacy. He will not admit to his feelings of redundancy because of his excessive pride and hubris (another of his fatal flaws), so he instead decides to overly concentrate on Rodolpho’s femininity and put his energy into proving he is gay. I think it becomes proceedingly unclear to the audience whether this yearning for his niece, which he persistently denies, is merely a way for him to cling onto any remanence of Catherine’s youth or if he has other repressed desires which have not yet risen to the surface. 

            Alfieri tries to subtly remind Eddie that “every man’s got somebody he loves, but sometimes there’s too much… there’s too much and it goes where it mustn’t” in order to establish a consciousness in Eddie’s mind about the possessive hold he must relinquish over Catherine. However, as we are made aware ever from the beginning of the play, Alfieri is powerless to do anything. He compares himself to a lawyer in the time of Caesar “powerless” to “watch it run its bloody course” when he talks about the impending tragedy to come and this powerlessness is still established later on in the play through the use of soliloquies- a device used to express a character’s inner thoughts and emotions but specifically for Alfieri (who acts as a Greek chorus) perhaps, to see his omniscience and be revealed to a side of Eddie which is not demonstrated otherwise; the thing about soliloquies, as we are shown through the character of Alfieri, is though he may be completely aware of his feelings, he is unable to act on anything and thus exhibits his powerlessness even more. 

A recurring motif in the play, and one which will eventually be the downfall of Eddie, is the strong sense of justice in the Italian community of Red Hook. Characters like Eddie repeatedly mistake the law for justice and even after reprimands from Alfieri, asserting that Eddie has “no recourse in the law”, he continues to argue with Alfieri. This is also seen at the end of the play when Alfieri tries to reason with Marco’s growing vengeance but in the stage directions we see “his anger rising” as he claims Eddie has “degraded” his brother and once again, Alfieri is left to remind him that he can do nothing about it because matters of the law are not the same as one’s idea of justice. Despite Alfieri’s pansophical presence and aggrandised character, he is still impuissant and unable to take actions on what he is clearly witnessing unfold: the demise of Eddie. His high status of being a lawyer might insinuate that he would have a great deal of power to help Eddie, but it is not the claims of Rodolpho being gay or the fact that there are illegal cousins throughout the entire neighbourhood, that Alfieri wants to stop, more the subdued fatal flaw of hubris which slowly starts to consume Eddie. 

In essence, I believe Miller tried to portray a man everyone could relate to, through the timeless and everyman character of Eddie, who unlike most tragic heroes, ends his demise through his self-interest, affection, and denial instead of something more typical like an obsession for power, wealth, or death. Through his noble and desirable qualities, Eddie evokes a sense of leniency in the audience, enhancing the cathartic experience at the end of the play; thus supporting Alfieri’s eulogy which states he allowed himself to be “wholly known”.