Essay on A View from the Bridge - Importance of the Boxing Scene

Words: 1625
Pages: 7

“A View from the Bridge” is a tragic play written by Arthur Miller, based on the concept of illegal immigrants being snitched on by their own relatives. In this play, the boxing scene refers to the last part of Act 1 or Episode 5 of the play. So far in the play, we learn that Beatrice and Eddie are married, and their adopted child is Catherine, who is almost a legal adult. Marco and Rodolfo are illegal immigrants from Sicily, who are Beatrice’s cousins. Catherine and Rodolfo soon start to develop feelings for each other, and Eddie is trying to prevent this, as he has an unnatural attraction for Catherine. In the boxing scene, Eddie insults Rodolfo many times, and tries to humiliate him through boxing with him. Marco gets angry
This foreshadows that they will fight soon, and that Marco will protect Rodolfo. This is the tensest moment of the scene, as nobody knows what Marco will do with the chair, which is high above everybody’s head. Marco does this to show Eddie that he should not insult or mess around with Rodolfo in the future, as he will be there to defend Rodolfo. Marco’s reactions contribute to making the scene dramatically important, as he is gaining more power than Eddie at this point. This foreshadows the destruction and violence that Marco may bring in the future, and may suggest that a fight will begin later.

Miller also cleverly uses the two women in the scene to help highlight their split opinions on Eddie at this point in the play. In this scene, Catherine is moving over to Rodolfo. Once Rodolfo is hit by Eddie, Catherine immediately lunges out to help Rodolfo. This can be shown in the quote,” (rushing to Rodolfo) Eddie!” The way Catherine rushes to help Rodolfo obviously suggests that she is alarmed and extremely worried. This point shows that Catherine’s relationship with Rodolfo is getting better. She immediately shouts at Eddie trying to defend Rodolfo, even though Eddie only “mildly staggers Rodolfo”. Additionally, Catherine starts to rebel against Eddie. Before the boxing, Catherine also dances with Rodolfo just when Eddie is ranting, to annoy Eddie even more. Right after Eddie and Rodolfo stop boxing, Catherine dances with