Literature Coursework Essay

The play a View from the Bridge is a modern day Greek tragedy, which tracks the downfall of one individual. This is Eddie Carbone, an Italian man, with the beliefs of the Italian culture. Eddie, with his wife Beatrice and niece Catherine, live in Redhook, Brooklyn, a slum as the people there calls it and now it is known as that. Brooklyn has a large Italian community. Many people who live in Redhook are mostly Italian. The arrival of Beatrice’s cousin Marco and his brother Rodolpho two illegal immigrants who must be kept a secret form the Immigration authorities, in America to live an ‘American Dream’, makes the whole play catalyst. The play is a tragedy and so a lot of aggression is included. The tragedy focuses on the private and social life of Eddie Carbone. The traditional, cultural beliefs of how to be an Italian man is a downfall. The belief’s on how to be a real Italian man is to get back justice, if you get hurt. This is exactly what happens to Eddie. If any of these Italian beliefs weren’t in place the play wouldn’t have ended as such a â€Å"bloody course†. The whole play is changed when the two brothers arrive in the slum neighborhood. Eddie, who is Catherine’s uncle, but acts like a father to her, is so protective over her and tells her what to do and what not to do. But Beatrice thinks that Catherine is old enough to go out to work, and to attract the attention of young men as she walks down the street. Alfieri who is a lawyer knows both sides of the story and also knows what is going to happen next in the play. Alfieri is the kind of man who is not bad tempered. He tries to control everything what goes on, and doesn’t want anything to go wrong. He knows what Eddie will get in the end, by acting the way he is. This includes being jealous, and not being happy for Catherine, the way she is. In this essay I am going to examine the ideas of manliness, hostility and aggression. I will examine how these are connected. During most of the tragic play, Marco is talked of very positively. This is shown as Marco works day and night very hard, and with physical strength. Marco is thought of positively by a few people at the start of the play, when they arrive, in America, as immigrants. Eddie is one of the people that think very positively as he says: â€Å"Marco goes around like a man; Nobody kids Marco†. This quote is showing that Eddie thinks very positively of Marco. He believes that as a man you should be physically strong. He is saying that Marco is serious; he wants to do work and send money he earns home, to his wife and children. Marco has come to America to do work, and that’s what he does do. Nobody kids around with Marco. Marco shows much more masculinity when he says he cares so much about his family in Italy, that he is going to send everything, straight to them. He says this to show his masculinity: â€Å"I send everything†. He says this quote when he is talking to Beatrice about his wife. He shows masculinity he talks about sending money home, and that’s why he has come to America, to work for his family. It suggests to us he is a man, because he sends money to feed his wife and children. It tells us that he is the man of the house. Marco doesn’t show off much of his masculinity, but at one point, he sticks up for his brother, Rodolpho and gives Eddie a challenge. Eddie is challenged by Marco and this is a point where he shows his masculinity. The point where Marco tells Eddie to lift the chair: â€Å"Can you lift this chair? † Eddie knows that at this point he has been challenged. He thinks he can lift the chair. He gives it a go, trying to show his physical strength, but unfortunately fails two times, to meet Marco’s standards. Marco then shows off his physical strength by lifting the chair over his head. Marco doesn’t like to really show off, in front of people, but at this point he defends his brother by making Eddie do something. Eddie’s view of how to be a real man and show the masculinity you have is to do certain things. He talks about these when he is talking to Alfieri or Beatrice. He considers a lot of things to be very manly. He refers mainly to Rodolpho when he says things to Alfieri. He wants authority and he acts like he is the man of the house. Eddie likes manliness to mean, physical strength, hard working and authority. But when he is talking to Beatrice, he implies that Rodolpho is gay. Of course we don’t know this for sure, but he says it so it makes us believe that he is gay. It says that he cooks, sings and even makes dresses. Eddie certainly doesn’t’ approve of him, especially when Catherine is attracted to him. Eddie thinks he does a lot of women jobs. Eddie shows authority, this is shown, because when Catherine is going out with Rodolpho he doesn’t let her. This is shown in the scene with a stage direction: He moves to Catherine. This shows that Eddie is protective. He stops Catherine from going out, with high heels on. He tells her to take her shoes off. Eddie wins the argument as Catherine listens and she takes off the high heels. This shows that Eddie has his authority. If he doesn’t get this he includes physical aggression. Eddie is saying that men should have control of what women do. Eddie also tells us what as a man you should do. He points out this when he is talking to Beatrice. She doesn’t agree with something what Eddie says about Rodolpho. Eddie wants authority and so he shows this by saying that a wife should agree with what her husband has to say: â€Å"A wife is supposed to believe he husband. If I tell you the guy ain’t right, don’t tell me his is right†. By saying this he means that Beatrice should agree with what the husband has to say, so if he says that Rodolpho ain’t right, Beatrice should agree that Rodolpho ain’t right. He is showing he has authority and is man of the house. The ways in which Rodolpho during the play doesn’t conform to the Italian beliefs of masculinity is when he says and does things those only women do. These included cooking, singing and making dresses. Eddies point of view is for men to work hard and be serious. Rodolpho tries to show his masculinity, but fails dramatically. This is clearly shown, when Rodolpho has been told to leave by Eddie, and Catherine says that she will also leave. Rodolpho gets quite angry and decides to tell Eddie, that he wants Catherine to be his wife. Eddie doesn’t agree at all. It’s obvious why, because he thinks Rodolpho is gay. Eddie doesn’t conform of his masculinity at all. This is because Rodolpho doesn’t at all show much masculinity. The consequence of this is that when Rodolpho gets angry, he tries to attack Eddie. He does not succeed in doing that and so Eddie pins him down. This is told by a stage direction: