Analysing the Portrayal of Eddie Carbone as a Tragic Hero...

Analysing the Portrayal of Eddie Carbone as a Tragic Hero A View from the Bridge by Arthur Miller is a dramatically tense tragedy that presents the story of the downfall of an ordinary man. The play examines the tragic consequences of Eddie Carbones inability to understand himself and his actions. This predominantly takes the form of his prejudice towards his cousin and his inappropriate attraction to his niece. It is set in the 1950s and was written while Miller had become interested in the lives and work of Brooklyns dockworkers and longshoremen. Miller uses the character of Eddie to express his viewpoint that the tragedy of the ruined life of an ordinary workingman is just as significant a subject for tragedy as that of†¦show more content†¦Eddie suffers after he decides to call the Immigration Bureau to report Marco and Rodolpho as a result of his reckless stubborn determination to get what he wants combined with his fatal flaw of always making the wrong decisions. This choice resulted in Marco killing Eddie while Marco was on probation. The involvement of innocent people in this tragedy allows the audience to identify with the characters and feel pity and fear because of their unnecessary suffering. When the audience relate to the characters of a play, they are forced to feel the tension being created by them. At the beginning of the play, Alfieri is introduced to the audience. Miller uses Alfieris role as the local lawyer to give him an omniscient overview of the characters and action of the play. During the prologue, we are warned that A View from the Bridge has a tragic end by the way Alfieri speaks about lawyers being seen in connexion with disasters. He tells us about how the neighbourhood thinks of him as unlucky. This is the audiences first suggestion that the play may be a tragedy. Alfieri narrates the play like the traditional Greek chorus would narrate a Greek tragedy. Miller has modernised this convention by making Alfieri talk directly to the audience in a way a lawyer would speak to a jury. While the other characters speak with a colloquial tone, using words such as lemme, yiz and aint, Alfieri converses