Dramatic function in the play Essay

In the play, â€Å"A View From The Bridge†, we are faced with emotions that we have probably all felt or will feel during our lifetime. However, when these emotions are taken to extremes, it could lead to unimaginable consequences. Covered here are some of the more complex and intriguing relationships that shape the whole play, from beginning to end, from the innocent love of a young woman to the dark sinister workings of a mind driven beyond logic and reason. One of the most interesting and complicated relationships in the play is that of Eddie and Catherine. Catherine is Eddie’s niece through marriage and has been cared and provided for by him ever since her mother died whilst she was still a baby; â€Å"with a sense of her childhood, her babyhood, and the years† and during that time, they have grown very close, Eddie treats her like his own daughter. He likes it when she greets him when he gets home, when she treats him like a father; â€Å"Eddie is pleased and therefore shy about it†¦Ã¢â‚¬  However, as revealed later the play, Catherine thinks of Eddie as more than an uncle or a father, she thinks of him almost as her husband; â€Å"If I was a wife I would†¦ now I’m supposed to turn around a make a stranger out of him?† She was originally talking about Beatrice but towards the end of the sentence, she was talking about herself, putting herself in Beatrice’s place as though she was the wife that was making s stranger out of the husband. Catherine matches Eddie’s love for her perfectly, seeking his approval in everything she does, she is eager to please him and is happy when he is happy; â€Å"You like it?† she asks about her skirt, â€Å"you like it?† she asks about her hair. In fact, when Eddie says â€Å"beautiful† she says â€Å"You like it, huh?†; this is a rhetorical question, she’s seeking more than approval, she’s seeking confirmation, because Eddie’s opinions matter to her and it pleases her tremendously to see that he likes what she’s doing. However, when Eddie says that she’s walking wavy and â€Å"ain’t all the girls† Catherine is very upset; â€Å"†¦almost in tears because he disapproves.† There is a point where Catherine cares too much about Eddie’s views, from the play, we can tell that she has put off a few of her lifetime ambitions to keep him happy; as Beatrice says: â€Å"I don’t understand when this ends. First it was gonna be when she graduated high school, so she graduated high school. Then it was when she learned stenographer, so she learn stenographer. So what are we gonna wait for now?† Eddie has obviously been thinking up all kinds of reasons to keep her at home. He says that he just doesn’t want her working with the wrong people and that she should get a good education and go and meet a nice, well-educated (preferably rich) young man and settle down and get out of the working class world.  Most of this we can believe, not only does Eddie love Catherine, he is also very protective of her; â€Å"I know that neighbourhood, B., I don’t like it.†Ã‚  Maybe Catherine doesn’t realize it but all her fondness is what makes him so overprotective of her, she acts like a little child around him; Catherine: â€Å"He thinks I’m a baby.† Beatrice: â€Å"That’s because you think you’re a baby. I told you fifty times already†¦Ã¢â‚¬  and Eddie is so used to that he just can’t accept the fact that she is growing up. He likes to come home to her childish antics, he likes to have her waiting on him hand and feet. There may be a slight ego problem when he realizes that Catherine’s pay is going to be so high, even higher than his if the estimate he gave Marco is a direct correspondence of his salary; â€Å"But I think you could probably–thirty, forty a week, over the whole twelve months of the year.†Ã‚  Eddie is obviously not ready to give up the job as the man of the house, metaphorically speaking, he’s used to having everyone look up to him. He doesn’t take Beatrice seriously and Catherine has always been so childlike and adoring, â€Å"she sits on her heels beside him.† Suddenly, Eddie feels that someone is threatening his position and that concept scares him, it’s the same fear as when Rodolpho steps into Catherine’s life, he’s becoming the object of Catherine’s affections, not Eddie. Quite a lot has been mentioned on the boyfriend front; Eddie is unwilling for Catherine to show interest in the male populous; Eddie: â€Å"Listen, I could tell you things about Louis which you wouldn’t wave to him no more.† Catherine: â€Å"Eddie, I wish there was one guy you couldn’t tell me things about.† Not only does this show that he discourages any interest Catherine develops, he also does it very often, sometimes when Catherine isn’t even interested in them, just to be on the safe side. Could there be more to this relationship than just parental concern, care and love? Could it be that Eddie is harbouring some secret desire for Catherine that he is too ashamed to act upon but is enough to make him feel better when she only has him and no one else? A father would be glad if his daughter found love, but a boyfriend would be jealous, and Eddie was certainly not glad when Rodolpho wins over Catherine’s heart. In the beginning of Act Two, Eddie was drunk and when he came home, he kissed Catherine on the lips. As the Romans said, in vino veritas, which means there is truth in wine, what is normally hidden is exposed as the person loses sense of inhibition and sometimes even logical thought; in this case, Eddie’s desire for Catherine. Of course, Catherine has already been pretty upset with him already and this was just putting salt to the wound. She didn’t admit straight away to Rodolpho that Eddie’s views were once again affecting her judgement, she asks him the questions that Eddie has been harbouring ever since he arrived and especially after talks about marriage and says that they are her own questions, she even suggests that they go live in Italy because she imagined it would be beautiful but really it’s just covering up her fear of Eddie, even though she did admit to it; â€Å"I’m afraid of Eddie here.† Rodolpho saw right through her, he could see that she was frightened and wanted to get away from Eddie. Rodolpho: â€Å"My heart dies to look at you. Why are you so afraid of him?†Ã‚  At this point, Catherine still feels that Eddie’s change of mood was partially her fault; â€Å"I would — just feel ashamed if I made him sad†. Ever since the beginning of the play, Catherine always seemed to be in constant uncertainty and fear of Eddie, but never of his actions, more of his opinions because it mattered so much to her but since after the kiss, she has developed a physical fear of him, of what he could and would do to her and the people she loved and that includes Eddie himself. â€Å"Wait outside, don’t argue with him† Catherine says, wanting to keep Rodolpho safe from Eddie.