In A View from the Bridge, Arthur Miller delivers yet another depressing and inevitable decline of an ordinary workingman.
As much as we hate to see Eddie fall, we can’t avert our eyes because his story is just another everyday tragedy. Unlike “Death of a Salesman,” however, this is a story of latent sexuality and violence just waiting for a catalyst to make it all rise to the surface.
We know trouble is coming when Beatrice offers her illegal immigrant cousins refuge in her and Eddie’s flat. Marco is just an ordinary, hard-working guy like Eddie, with a wife and three kids back in Sicily to support. Rodolpho, on the other hand, has platinum blond hair and sings popular tunes while working on the docks. He has no plans to return to Italy; rather, he wants nothing more than to become an American citizen.
Catherine is Eddie’s niece, and Eddie and Beatrice took her in after her mother died. Eddie is fiercely protective of the now-grown Catherine. Catherine is about to start her first job as a stenographer, and Eddie is reluctant to even let her go into a different neighborhood.
The situation at the flat spirals out of
control when Rodolpho begins courting Catherine. They fall in love and plan to marry, but Eddie will do anything to stop them. He visits the town lawyer several times, but has no legal recourse as Catherine is an adult and free to marry whomever she chooses. Eddie’s marriage to Beatrice begins to break down as Beatrice fights for Catherine’s freedom, and Eddie will no longer make love to Beatrice.
Eventually, Eddie’s lust for Catherine surfaces. In a desperate attempt to regain control over Catherine, Eddie calls the police and reports Rodolpho and Marco’s illegal status. When the police come to pick them up, Marco spits in Eddie’s face and denounces him to the neighborhood.
After Marco and Rodolpho are released on bail, Rodolpho goes to Eddie to apologize for not asking his permission to court Catherine. Although all is not well, Rodolpho is out of danger from Eddie and about to marry Catherine and gain citizenship. Marco also goes back to the flat, but to challenge Eddie to a fight. Because of Eddie, Marco will have to go back to Sicily where it is much harder to find work and feed a family. Eddie pulls out a
knife, and Marco turns the knife of Eddie. Eddie dies in Beatrice’s arms, felled by his own pride.