A View from the Bridge Essay

Is Eddie a tragic hero or not? If yes then to what extent?

A tragic hero is often a good person who is pulled down by something he/she ultimately cannot control. The prospect from a tragic hero should be noble, tragic flaw (hamartia) bring about his/her own downfall through an error in judgment or weakness in character. “I believe that the common man is as apt a subject for tragedy in its highest sense as kings were.’’ – Miller fundamentally says that the daily, common man is a tragic hero himself because he has the traits of a tragic hero in him. Where as in A View from the Bridge by Arthur Miller Eddie Carbone is the tragic hero, it’s because he embraces the qualities of one. His proceedings with the other characters alter till the part where he lets out his catharsis. Eddie fits as the traditional outlook of a hero, as he has his own personal love (Catherine) and his concern for her is quite immense. He complies with Miller’s definition of a modern tragic hero, since he deals with the usual divergence of a common man. The argument now is that to what boundary is Eddie a tragic hero? In this composition it will converse on this query.

At the commencement of the play the stage will seem dim and quiet, one spotlight at Alfieri as he does his prologue. However it isn’t set up for tragedy for the reason that Miller describes it as spotless and sanitary. ‘’It is a worker’s flat, clean, sparse, homely.’’ The audience might presume the set will look like a small town backdrop for e.g small buildings, little road going through, and off course the main acting area. ‘’The street and house-front of a tenement building. The front is skeletal entirely. The main area is the living-room-dining-room of Eddie’s apartment.’’ So Miller portrays the outside area as bare. The set is situated for the U.S.A in the 1950’s so for e.g old houses, old shops etc.

In the play one of the key characters Alfieri takes up a similar role to a chorus in a tragedy. The chorus often set...