A View From the Bridge - Arthur Miller Essay example -- English Litera

A View from the bridge by Arthur Miller Examine the ideas of manliness, hostility and aggression in 'a view from the bridge'. How are these ideas connected? In this essay I will examine the ideas of manliness, hostility and aggression are connected to each other in 'a view from the bridge'. The play is set in a slum near the Brooklyn Bridge. In the story the main character is Eddie carbone and we see many sides to this character throughout the play. Eddie carbone is a middle aged man going through a mid life crisis. Many things are causing this mid life crisis, but the main thing and the most obvious one is the relationship between Catherine and Radolpho. Catherine is the niece of his wife, Beatrice. Catherine's parents died when Catherine was very young and ever since then Beatrice and Eddie have raised her like their own daughter. Eddie has grown to love as his own daughter but due to this he has also developed a possessiveness that he does not quite understand. Eddies mid-life crisis starts to be noticed when the cousins of Beatrice illegally immigrate into the country by boat and stay with them temporarily. From the moment they first arrive in the play we immediately notice that something is bound to happen from the way Eddie talks to them. This is where the drama officially begins. Eddie has a certain type of belief that you have to be a particular way or do particular things in order to be a real man, he believes that certain types of characteristics and qualities are needed to be manly. He has lived by these qualities and characteristics and believes they are right. This is possibly due to the way he was raised. The views that Eddie thinks are need for masculinity are that you should go ou... ...cond language and struggles sometimes, " ...the machine, the machine is necessary. " His sentences are lively and witty and entertaining. Marco seems to be able to speak English better than his brother. His sentences are usually serious and quite intense, " Too loud. The guests in that hotel are all Englishmen. They don't like too loud. " This book is all about manliness, hostility and aggression. Manliness is the main thing because backs in the time that this play was set in men were the most dominant gender by far. They were in charge of everything; they were the ones that had a say in everything. Manliness led to hostility because the role of dominance can be threatened, as it was in Eddie's case, which leads to aggression. Eddie tried to eliminate the threat be trying to kill him but it backfired on him and in the end he was the one who died.