A view from the bridge after reading arthur miller's play a view from the bridge, i am convinced that the most striking character is marco. He is an italian immigrant that moved illegally to the united states with his brother rodolpho to work as longshoremen, since at the time the play was written in 1955 his country of origin, italy, was going through a major economic depression because of the outcome of world war ii. In the play, we are told that marco's plan is to make enough money to survive and be able to send some of that money to his wife and his three kids back in italy, who are starving. Marco physically resembles the sicilian stereotype, with dark skin and dark hair.

Pg.541 in this play, the author uses plot, dialog, actions and symbolism to emphasize marco's honor which, in my opinion, is his prominent characteristic. Throughout the play, we can clearly see that the plot helps us develop marco's character in our imagination. For example, he is an illegal alien, and this might give the reader a less honorable view of him, and it might justify eddie's action. But the fact that marco left his family to give them support and to save his oldest son who is sick in the chest, pg. 535 makes the reader forget about his illegal stay and makes his status rise to the one of a hero.

In this play, marco's actions lead us to the discovery of a violent side which he uses to defend his honor in a number of occasions. For example, when he challenges eddie to lift the chair at the end of the first act, we understand that he did it to save his brother's face and his family's honor. In addition, the killing of eddie by marco's own hands at the end of the play, is the final display of his character. He is very strong, and he is obviously aware of that, but doesn't like to show it in words, or brag about it. In fact, when eddie was making fun of his brother rodolpho, instead of replying to him in words, he chose to use his strength to get his point across by lifting the chair. In addition, marco doesn't talk about his family much instead, he works as hard as he can, and that is enough to show everybody how much he cares about them.

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As a final insult to eddie, marco chooses to spit in his face in front of everybody. This is because in the italian culture, that act is considered as an extreme expression of anger toward a person, and it is rarely left without punishment. In addition, the action of going to the church before facing eddie shows us that he is very religious and cares about his soul. Marco is a very honorable man and believes in his tradition, and the author shows us that through a number of symbols. For example, spitting on eddie's face once he realizes that eddie turned him and his brother to the police is a symbol of disgust and revolt for eddie's actions.

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In addition, at the end of the play, we are told that marco went to church before going to talk to eddie. This action tells us that marco is ready to give up his life and commit a mortal sin to defend his honor, because what eddie has done, the breaking of the omerta' , the breaking of trust, is something that in his culture must never be left unpunished. Throughout the first act of the play, marco is only referred as a flat character and the only time we are really aware his persona and his strength is at the end of the first act, when he lifts a chair over his head and makes it seem like a challenge to eddie, as a response for mocking rodolpho.

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But only in the second act his character is fully exposed and we see his image transform into a round character. In this play, marco is portrayed as the victim, since he hasn't done anything to eddie but he still gets arrested. In addition, although his brother rodolpho gets away with it by marrying catherine, he has no other choice but to go back to his hungry wife and sick children in italy. These thoughts, and knowing that eddie has no regrets for what he has done makes him furious, and at the end of the play he seeks revenge. If marco would have not existed, it would have left eddie unpunished and alive, and this would be in conflict with the very conception of drama which drives this works. If you use part of this page in your own work, you need to provide a citation, as follows: you show a knowledge of the play and explore in some detail the characters and their actions. At times, your essay reads like a general essay rather than one that answers the question specifically.

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Then discuss eddie's relationship with each of the characters in turn, showing the conflict he has with each of them, and within himself. In the final scene of the story there is tragedy as eddie dies after an intense fight with marco. The enraged eddie kisses his niece and then does the same to rodolfo! this is a little confusing in terms of the time sequence coursework: a view from the bridge how does сustom literature essay coursework: a view from the bridge how does arthur miller present the stages of eddie’s collapse? is eddie solely responsible for his own downfall? i will identify all the stages of eddie’s collapse from the beginning to his tragic downfall. I shall then decide whether eddie brings it all upon himself or are there other characters in the play who contribute to his collapse. Eddie is the father figure and catherine is the daughter, this is how it appears on the surface. However, it becomes clear to the reader that eddie has more than fatherly love towards catherine. Eddie was happy and therefore shy about it eddie enjoys having catherine around him and always looking up to him.

Catherine is growing up and becoming a woman, eddie cannot cope with this change, and he feels that no man is good enough for catherine. He doesn’t like the idea of men taking an interest in catherine and vice versa. This can be seen in the beginning of the play, catherine comes to eddie wearing a short skirt and seeking his approval of it. At first this seems like a protective father but it soon turns into eddie’s jealousy of catherine’s attraction to other men. Eddie knows that catherine’s maturity and growing interest in men will mean that he will soon no longer have the same role in her life. This creates a problem because he has got used to catherine relying on him he does not want this to change.

Eddie still sees catherine as a child and this is shown clearly at the beginning of the play when he calls her kid. He is obsessed with catherine and this obsession grows stronger and stronger as the play goes on, putting a greater strain on his relationship with beatrice. She no longer feels like eddie’s wife, she hints that these feelings of eddies are causing their relationship to no longer be physical. What’re you gonna stand over her till she’s forty the fact beatrice does not always agree with everything eddie says makes eddie feel like less of a man. She later tries to stop catherine from provoking these feelings eddie has by pointing out her actions are inappropriate. You still walk around in front of him in your slip we can see catherine’s ignorance too the whole situation evolving around her when she says: well i forgot and when did i do that eddie’s downfall is also due to his obsession not just with catherine, but with respect. He hates to feel anyone is better than him or has more than him, this is what causes the feud between eddie and rodolfo.