[.ca] Gcse 'a View from the Bridge' (ISBN 1843153211)

Willy Loman This Guy Ain'y:
This play explores the same old turf as "Death of a Salesman", but it does so with much less satisfaction and much less character development. Eddie is no Willy Loman, though, and the play suffers immediately from a lack of a central, driving force like Willy. Parts of the play seem borrowed from Tennessee Williams, and they don't seem to work in this context. There is some business about the romance of the Old World Italy versus the New World of Opportunity on the docks of New York, and it is the only topic that is at all explored well, if still unsatisfactorily. Eddie's dreams are represented in his pretty niece, Catherine; and unlike Willy Loman's uncle, she is still an attainable dream. That makes Eddie's life seem all the more petty, in comparison to Willy's: he longs wearily not after what he could have had, but after what he can never have, as he is already married. The death scene at the end of the play also seems like a forced, tacked on ending, and Alfieri's entire presence is a more or less unsuccessful stage gimmick. There are better plays by Miller, and many better plays by others.

One of Arthur Miller's greatest plays:
A View From the Bridge is a compelling and exciting drama that delves into such issues as incest, manliness and justice. It's the story of Eddie, an illiterate longshoreman, and his anger towards his niece's affection for an illegal immigrant staying in his house. The complicated relationships between these and many other characters in the play makes A View From the Bridge a truly great piece of theatre. The play has the ingredients of a traditional Greek tragedy, complete with Alfieri, a narrator that fulfils the same purpose as Sophocles's chorus from his plays about Oedipus and Antigone. It's a really good read and unravels like a great page-turner.

Makes An Impact Despite Its Brevity:
This is a tightly woven story that packs a punch in just a few pages. In fact, it was short enough that I thought there was no way to resolve the conflicts that left me hanging until the last few pages. Sure enough, Miller effectively tied up loose ends and still managed to surprise me despite ending in a similar fashion to what most would predict. The play is about an uncle's overprotective nature, which runs so deeply as to be too close for comfort, and the fact that no one would ever be good enough for the niece living in his home. The take home message is about letting go of something you love, as well as swallowing your pride, which ultimately leads to the downfall of at least two of the characters. Eddie's failure to cut his losses and admit he was wrong left him proud but dead. The setting gives a cool, albeit tiny, insight into what the New York waterfront must have felt like long ago, and the narration (through the eyes of the lawyer from whom Eddie sought advice) is a neat touch.

Excellent Book:
This play is a very intriguing play and I find it very interesting to study. It is my set book for IGCSE examinations which I am writing this year and I definitley enjoyed reading it and would recommend it to anyone.

A True Tragedy:
I have loved A VIEW FROM THE BRIDGE since the first time I read it, three years ago. It is a tautly-written, exciting drama in which one can practically see the tragic end coming, "step by step, like a dark figure walking down a hall toward a certain door" (in the words of Alfieri, the lawyer in the play). But as well as the play "reads," it is absolutely ELECTRIFYING when seen on stage -- as I found out just yesterday, when I saw a production of it. The actor who played Eddie Carbone, the protagonist, made the character very sympathetic; as a result, the play's ending was truly tragic. Read A VIEW FROM THE BRIDGE, but also try to see a production of it, if you possibly can. I will admit, though, that it is not performed that often -- not nearly as often as it deserves to be.