A View From The Bridge Arthur Miller

Respect & Masculinity During the 1950’s, respect was looked upon as highly important by communities. Throughout the play the male characters are in constant competition with one another to be the “alpha male” and assert their dominance. -Throughout the play the theme of respect/masculinity becomes more prominent. At the beginning of the play Eddie portrayed as being “the man of the house.” To start with Catherine and Eddie’s relationship seems to be a positive one and Eddie is portrayed as being more masculine as he has taken on someone else’s child.

Eddie At the beginning Catherine runs about after Eddie making sure all needs are seen to. “Here! I’ll light it for you!” This is something a wife would usually do for their husband. This asserts Eddies dominance in the household and also shows Catherine’s respect for him. -She also gets him a beer when he comes home from his work. -It also shows that they have an unusual relationship as it should’ve been Beatrice carrying out these duties. -When Marco and Rodolpho arrive, Catherine stops seeing to Eddie and starts tending to the brothers.

Eddie Eddie thinks that respect is Important, on page 68 Eddie is in a rage with Marco after being disrespected and states “I want my respect.” He then goes on to say “He’s gonna take that back or I’ll kill him!” Eddie wants Marco to go out on the street in front of everyone and apologise. Eddie is no longer bothered about Catherine and just wants his respect.

Marco Marco shows his masculinity by challenging Eddie at lifting a chair. After Eddie attempts to lift the chair he makes up excuses such as “Gee, that’s hard.” & “It’s on an angle, that’s why, heh?” -Marco is made out to be more masculine as his strength is shown to be greater than Eddies. Marco can lift the chair above his head but Eddie struggles to lift it by an inch. -He tries to humiliate Eddie by doing this

Rodolpho Eddie makes Rodolpho out to be feminine as he possesses skills that Eddie feels a man shouldn’t have as “he makes a new dress.” for Catherine. “If you came in the house and you didn’t know who was singin’, you wouldn’t be lookin for him you be lookin’ for her.” Eddie constantly talks about how blonde Rodolpho is as in his eyes this isnt what a man should look like. Eddie thinks that Rodolpho’s voice is too high pitched to be considered masculine.

Rodolpho Rodolpho is made to look less masculine as he doesn’t have a family to provide for so he spends his money on “A snappy new jacket… records, a pointy pair new shoes…” Rodolpho is made out to be selfish by Eddie as he doesn’t send money home like Marco does. Eddie also complains because Marco’s child has tuberculosis and Rodolpho splashes his cash on new outfits that only benefit himself. Eddie might think that Rodolpho is only doing this to impress Catherine.

Eddie Eddie feels disrespected as his role of being a father figure to Catherine has been undermined by Rodolpho as he hasn’t asked permission. “Katie… if you wasn’t an orphan, wouldn’t he ask your fathers permission before he run around with you like this?” In Eddies eyes this is a dent in his pride as Rodolpho doesn’t view him as enough of a father figure to Catherine. Eddie also feels that he is being laughed at as he introduced Rodolpho to the docks and he goes around singing and has a feminine appearance compared to the other workers, he doesn’t feel that Rodolpho is good enough for Catherine.

Beatrice Beatrice realises the Eddie looks after Catherine too much. She tells her “Don’t tell me you don’t know; you’re not a baby any more” - Beatrice feels like Catherine is being mollycoddled by Eddie leading her to think that she will never have to grow up. “Well you can’t do it. Or like you sit on the edge of the bathtub talkin’ to him when he’s shavin’ in his underwear.” This reinforces that Catherine considers herself as a baby due to the way that Eddie has treated her. This is unnatural for someone of her age

Eddie Due to the lack of respect he has been shown by the cousins he begins to act out of character After the cousins arrive the readers opinion of Eddie gradually changes from being seen as a caring family man to one of a controlling man due to his feelings towards Catherine. - Eddies feelings cause him to do things that the reader couldn’t have imagined him doing at the start of the play.