A is always very obedient towards her aunt

A Great Play Should Inspire The Passion Of its Audience. In what way does A view From A Bridge Achieve This? A view from the bridge was an extremely enjoyable play to read. This was because the author achieved the aim of inspiring his audience. He attained this goal by dealing with emotions that all people experience and are able to relate to, for instance jealousy. The play contains several themes, with jealousy being the emotion that the play was mainly orientated around. Other themes include grief, love and the audience often feels sympathy for the characters. The Author also keeps its audience interest with a lot of use of description; it also boasts a tense atmosphere and keeps its audience in suspense for the final outcome.

As the play is based on a true story, and includes Arthur Miller’s own experiences of Sicily, it has an extremely believable story line. The play opens with a content and devoted family. The main character is Eddie. He works as a longshoreman and sees himself as the main breadwinner of the family and loves and cares for his wife Beatrice and his niece Katie. Beatrice his affectionate wife whose character is a stereotypical housewife, always supporting her family in whatever they do, and is extremely kind and generous. Catherine (Katie) is Eddie and Beatrice’s niece. She’s 17 and attends school. She is always very obedient towards her aunt and uncle and seems to be a very helpful character.

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The play begins to unfold when talk of Beatrice’s cousins arises, two men who seek refuge from Sicily. The tension builds and the play ends in a conventional and plausible tragedy. The first example we get of a controversial statement that would elicit strong emotions is when Eddie accuses Katie of ‘walkin wavy’ He seems easily aggravated about men ‘staring’ as she ‘clack clacks’ down the road in her high heels. He seems, at first to be trying to protect her but if you read into what he says a little more he seems jealous of the attention she’s getting. I felt infuriated on Catherine’s behalf because as she’s 17 and a grown woman she should have control over her own life.

The next example we acquire is when Katie gets the opportunity to go to work. I feel sympathetic towards Katie that she has to go to such lengths to obtain Eddie’s approval. His defence is that he doesn’t want her walking past plumbers every morning and night. In my opinion this is not an adequate argument. Surely Eddie should be proud of his niece. Beatrice then comes into the conversation and tries to sway Eddie’s decision. It eventually works.

This part of the play presents two contradicting emotions to its audience. The couple (Eddie and Beatrice) discuss the prospect of taking in Beatrice’s cousins from Sicily. Eddie doesn’t hesitate in replying. He declares that he would gladly take them in because he knows from past experience what it’s like to be starving. Beatrice is ecstatic and tells Eddie he’s an Angel. But the audience, although impressed and sympathetic might wonder about Eddies motive for declaring his discontented childhood. Did he want Beatrice and Catherine to think more of him?

Beatrice describes the horrifying proceedings that took place when illegal immigrants were staying with neighbours of theirs. She says at one point in her story ‘their heads were bouncing like coconuts’, which refers to the two brothers heads as they were dragged down the stairs. The audience may feel shocked to know that some people would ‘ship’ their own family to immigration. I also felt extremely sympathetic towards the two brothers. One out of two parts of the play when I felt sorry for Eddie was when he says ‘what, are you mad at me lately’ to Beatrice. You can imagine him looking all sheepish and downtrodden. He obviously feels as though everyone is angry with him but is unsure why, as in his eyes he’s only trying to protect his family.

Marco and Rodolfo arrive from Sicily and are welcomed with opened arms. Marco tells us a lot about his character by describing his family and the poor conditions they’re living in. He states, “What can I do? The older one’s sick in his chest. My wife she feeds them from her own mouth. They eat the sunshine” By saying this he is showing his sensitive and caring side. He also mentions coming to America to make money to send back to his family, so (like Eddie) he is thought of as the main ‘bread winner’ of his family. Could Eddie find it a struggle having someone of equal or higher status living under his roof?