Overview
Synopsis
The limits of family bonds and personal honor are tested in Miller’s gripping tragedy, A View from the Bridge. The poverty of an American working class family comes face to face with the sheer destitution of their immigrant cousins, desperate to make a new life. In a cramped tenement apartment in Red Hook, Brooklyn, the Carbone family sits down for supper at the end of a long day. Eddie Carbone works as a longshoreman on the docks around New York, putting food on the table by the sweat of his brow. He and his wife Beatrice, both first generation Italian Americans, have no children of their own, but have raised their niece, Catherine, from girlhood. Though all seems well, there is silent tension in the household. Eddie has unresolved feelings toward his niece, and his marriage to Beatrice is growing cold. What makes this evening different is the news that Beatrice’s distant cousins, Marco and Rodolpho, have arrived from Italy and will be at their home soon. The two immigrants have snuck into the United States on a freighter ship, without documentation. Although harboring them is illegal, the Carbone’s are honored to do it, not only for family loyalty but because they see as the right thing to do—helping the men escape the poverty of postwar Europe. Though Marco and Rodolpho speak little English, they soon go to work unloading ships alongside Eddie. Marco cuts the figure of a traditional hard-working immigrant; strong, quiet, and traditionally masculine. He sends his earnings home to support his wife and tubercular children, and hopes to return someday. The blonde and fair-skinned Rodolpho, on the other hand, seems to defy everyone’s expectations. He is cheerful and optimistic; he cooks, sings, dances, and loves the lights of New York City—his dream is to become a naturalized citizen. Soon Rodolpho and Catherine fall in love, and Eddie finds himself unable to cope with their relationship. He seeks advice from a lawyer and family friend, Alfieri, who is also the play’s narrator. When Alfieri tells Eddie that there is nothing he can do to stop the two young people from falling in love, Eddie takes a drastic measure and reports his two guests to the US Immigration Bureau. Things only get worse for Eddie when Catherine agrees to a hasty wedding so Rodolpho can stay in the country. Marco, certain to be extradited, posts bail and comes looking to settle the score with Eddie. The two men clash with tragic consequences, and Eddie is killed in the street. As the unstoppable tragedy grinds towards its inevitable conclusion, against a backdrop of poverty and immigration, we find a play which is, like all great modern drama, about a family.
Show Information
- Book
- Arthur Miller
- Category
- Play
- Age Guidance
- Thirteen Plus (PG-13)
- Number of Acts
- 2
- First Produced
- 1955
- Genres
- Drama
- Settings
- Unit/Single Set
- Time & Place
- new york, 1950s
- Cast Size
- large
- Licensor
- Dramatists Play Service
- Ideal For
- Mostly Male Cast, Includes Adult, Mature Adult, Late Teen, Young Adult Characters, Large Cast
Context
A View from the Bridge began its life as a one-act play, written to be performed alongside another Miller one-act, A Memory of Two Mondays. The two plays opened together on Broadway in 1955, but the run was short and the show was not well received. Miller further revised the play, shaping it into the two-act version we have now, for a successful production in London, directed by Peter Brook. The play did not meet censorship standards in Britain at the time, however, and was performed at the
to read the context for A View from the Bridge and to unlock other amazing theatre resources!Plot
An aging lawyer named Alfieri introduces us to the neighborhood: Red Hook, Brooklyn. He addresses the audience directly, and tells us that in the days when he was young, after he first immigrated from Italy, the streets were meaner. Then, gangsters like Al Capone and Franky Yale ran the neighborhood. But those days are over, and he explains that the passionate justice of the old world has been traded in for a new American civility. “Now we settle for half, and I like it better,” he says, “I no
to read the plot for A View from the Bridge and to unlock other amazing theatre resources!Characters
| Name | Part Size | Gender | Vocal Part |
|---|---|---|---|
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Lead |
Female |
Spoken |
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Lead |
Female |
Spoken |
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Lead |
Male |
Spoken |
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Lead |
Male |
Spoken |
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Supporting |
Male |
Spoken |
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Supporting |
Male |
Spoken |
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Supporting |
Male |
Spoken |
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|
Featured |
Male |
Spoken |
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|
Featured |
Male |
Spoken |
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Featured |
Male |
Spoken |
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Featured |
Male |
Spoken |
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|
Featured |
Female |
Spoken |
|
|
Ensemble |
Male |
|
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|
Ensemble |
Either Gender |
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|
Ensemble |
Male |
Spoken |
Songs
A song with an asterisk (*) before the title indicates a dance number; a character listed in a song with an asterisk (*) by the character's name indicates that the character exclusively serves as a dancer in this song, which is sung by other characters.
Monologues
Scenes
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Videos
Quizzes
Themes, Symbols & Motifs
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