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- A View from the Bridge: the plot
A View from the Bridge: the plot
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Arthur Miller's tragedy is set in Red Hook, Brooklyn, New York, in the 1950s, among Italian-American dockworkers. The lawyer Alfieri introduces the story as one he could not stop.
Act 1: arrivals
Eddie Carbone, a longshoreman (docker), lives with his wife Beatrice and her orphaned niece Catherine, whom they have raised.
Beatrice's cousins Marco and Rodolpho arrive illegally from Sicily to work. Eddie and Beatrice hide them.
Catherine falls in love with Rodolpho. Eddie claims Rodolpho only wants to marry her to become an American citizen, and mocks him for singing and sewing. Act 1 ends with Marco lifting a chair above Eddie's head, a silent warning.
Beatrice's cousins Marco and Rodolpho arrive illegally from Sicily to work. Eddie and Beatrice hide them.
Catherine falls in love with Rodolpho. Eddie claims Rodolpho only wants to marry her to become an American citizen, and mocks him for singing and sewing. Act 1 ends with Marco lifting a chair above Eddie's head, a silent warning.
Act 2: betrayal
Eddie comes home drunk, finds Catherine and Rodolpho together, and kisses them both.
Alfieri warns him that the law cannot help him. Eddie phones the Immigration Bureau and reports the cousins.
As they are arrested, Marco spits in Eddie's face and accuses him in front of the neighbourhood.
Alfieri warns him that the law cannot help him. Eddie phones the Immigration Bureau and reports the cousins.
As they are arrested, Marco spits in Eddie's face and accuses him in front of the neighbourhood.
The ending
Eddie demands that Marco apologise to restore his 'name'. Marco, released on bail, confronts him.
Eddie pulls a knife; Marco turns it on him and Eddie dies in Beatrice's arms.
Alfieri ends by saying he still loves Eddie, because he allowed himself to be wholly known.
Eddie pulls a knife; Marco turns it on him and Eddie dies in Beatrice's arms.
Alfieri ends by saying he still loves Eddie, because he allowed himself to be wholly known.
Why is the chair-lifting at the end of Act 1 so important?
- Eddie challenges Rodolpho's strength through 'boxing lessons'.
- Marco lifts the chair over Eddie's head without a word.
- It is a silent warning that foreshadows their final, deadly fight.
Answer: It is a silent threat from Marco that foreshadows the violent ending.
Cousins arrive, Catherine and Rodolpho fall in love, Eddie's jealousy grows, the chair warning, the kisses, Eddie reports the cousins, Marco spits, Eddie demands his name back, and dies by his own knife.
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