A view from a bridge is a play written by Arthur Miller. It is set in the 1950’s in Brooklyn, New York when the country was recovering from the second world war and thousands of refugees fled to America for a better life. The main characters in the play are Eddie Carbone and his wife Beatrice living with their niece, Catherine, later on their cousins Marco and Rodolpho. The play is about the love, jealously and hatred between families. The play is set in a time where men worked and women stayed at home to do the housework. After world war two, Italy was devastated by the war and thousands of immigrants, legal and illegal went to America for a second chance.

Towards the end of Act 1, where the characters are talking about Marco and Rodolpho fishing trips to the end of Act 1 where Marco challenges Eddie. Throughout this section of the book a lot of dramatic tension is created by Arthur Miller. He creates this using a lot of stage directions, speech emphasis and subtle messages. The first moment is when Marco and Rodolpho  talk about their fishing trip Catherine says, “hey went to Africa once. On a fishing boat.” ‘Eddie glances at her,’ this glance is a worrying look. He gives it because he is already afraid of Catherine and Rodolpho’s relationship. Now they are fully bonding and he is really suspicious of their pending relationship. Marco and Rodolpho I think notice this because both rise after Eddie makes his little sarcastic remarks. Both of them are almost intimidating him and warning him to stop.

Next, there’s moment when Eddie asks Marco, “I heard that they paint the oranges to make them look orange.” Marco takes this quite defensively and asks him a question back to see what he’s getting at. Rodolpho corrects Eddie and says that it is lemons that are green, Eddie doesn’t like this and snaps back at him, “I know lemons are green for Christ’s sake, you see them in the store they’re green something, I said oranges they paint, I didn’t say nothing about lemons.” At this point the tension between them is running and Beatrice notices this and diverts their attention to Marco. Then Eddie makes quite a shocking remark to Marco, “I betcha there’s plenty surprises sometimes when those guys get back there, heh?” This is extremely insulting to Marco as he is casting aspersions on his wife and Italian women saying how they cheat on their husbands when they are away. Eddie says it as a joke but Marco is obviously insulted by this and just tries to rule it out, “no no, the women wait, Eddie. Most. Most. Very few surprises.”

The Rodolpho says, “it’s more strict in our town, it’s not so free.” This gets Eddie annoyed who takes it as an insult.” He replies getting at Rodolpho, “it ain’t so free here either …….. know what I mean?” Rodolpho knows exactly what he is getting at and covers himself, “well, I always have respect.” Eddie then turns to Marco to make his point across, Marco cautiously agrees, not 100% sure what Eddie is getting at. Then Catherine asks Rodolpho to dance which really makes Eddie mad although he doesn’t show it but he’s mad. When this is happening he freezes as if in a state of shock or disbelief Rodolpho sees this, [in deference to Eddie], “no, I-I’m tired.” The tension between the two is immense at this moment and when Rodolpho rises to dance he feels Eddie’s eyes burning into his back.
Some time after, Eddie teaches Rodolpho to box the tension in this scene is very high because Eddie does something that is quite cruel to Rodolpho he lets him punch him a few times to put him in a case of false security. Then Eddie exploits this opportunity and hits him when he is least expecting it. When this happens Marco rises as if he was anticipating this and rises to stop it. Then Rodolpho gets back at Eddie by dancing with Catherine, Rodolpho knows this will push him and does it as an act of defiance to Eddie.

Marco then at the end of the act challenges Eddie, he gets a chair and asks Eddie if he could pick it up with one hand on the bottom of one of the legs. Eddie fails and says its very tricky for him to do. Marco takes it and lifts it up in in front of Eddie then gives him a glare of warning. Eddie absorbs this and knows exactly what Marco is trying to say, ‘hurt Rodolpho and I’ll hurt you.’ The relationship between the two throughout was a respectful and understanding one but which slowly tearing apart throughout. Instead of being a main character, Marco was more of a dramatic device used by Miller just showing his strength but he hardly ever talks he’s more of a presence there.

Overall, Miller uses the tension very well, throughout he uses a lot of stage directions. Also, Miller uses Rodolpho and Marco as dramatic characters and throws them into the already fragile and destructive family of the Carbones. Rodolpho is very talkative and brass whilst Marco is very quiet and experienced. Rodolpho takes Eddie’s remarks as compliments as he is naïve but Marco can see through these as he is less naïve and more experienced. Now the stage is set for Act two.