A View from the Bridge York Notes

Both Eddie and Marco are strong characters but in very different ways. Eddie is often nasty in an uncontrolled way while Marco usually thinks before he acts or speaks. As the play moves on, particularly after Marco and Rodolfo arrive, Eddie loses any control he had whereas Marco observes and shows awareness before reacting to Eddie. . The power of the play lies in this.

In the early section of the play Eddie shows he is protective towards Catherine. He warns her about the ‘guys’ when she is waving out the window, ‘I could tell you things about Louis which you wouldn’t want to wave to him no more.’ Gradually we see that this is not just protectiveness but control.

Eddie’s anger increases as he observes the relationship between Catherine and Rodolfo. The conflict continues from the moment Catherine admires Rodolfo’s singing until, eventually, Eddie loses complete control. Marco, on the other hand, quietly observes what Eddie is doing and only reacts when he feels it is necessary. When Eddie criticises Rodolfo for keeping Catherine out late Marco says, ‘You come home early now’. . But when Eddie hits Rodolfo, Marco shows who is in command when he lifts the chair over Eddie’s head and ‘transforms what might appear a glare of warning into a smile of triumph’.

Miller shows the greatest contrast between the two characters in the way that they react to the ‘code’ which says that no-one in the community should betray illegal immigrants. Eddie speaks powerfully about the consequences of breaking the code when he talks about Vinny Bolzano who ‘snitched’ on his uncle. ‘You’ll never see him no more, a guy do a thing like that’. But for his own selfish ends, he does exactly what Vinny Bolzano did by betraying the cousins to the authorities. Marco, on the other hand, believes completely in the ‘code’. He says to Alfieri, ‘In my country he would be dead by now’ and later ‘He degraded my brother, my blood. He robbed my children...’ .Miller’s words are very strong because they come from the mouth of the usually calm and controlled Marco. Unlike Eddie, he believes that breaking the code is an inhuman act and that is why he calls Eddie ‘Anim-a-al’.

With two such powerful characters in opposition Miller creates a powerful mix which creates the inevitable tragedy. In the end, the audience is aware that Alfieri is indeed ‘powerless to stop it’.