Manliness, Hostility and Agression in 'a View from the Bridge'

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Manliness, Hostility and Aggression– A View from the Bridge In a view from a bridge there are three aspects that are a big part of life, Manliness, Hostility and Aggression. Miller creates all of these by creating characters which oppose what each other believe and therefore using the characters against each other to create conflict. Miller chooses Eddie to be a character that has a certain view as to how a man should act. These traits are; being physically strong, be a family man, and to be respected. Eddie feels that if you do not have one of these traits, you are not truly a man. On the other hand there is Rodolfo who Miller created as he does not have the traits that follow Eddie’s beliefs on what it means to be a man, which creates conflict between the two characters. Then there is Marco, who does fit into Eddie’s Masculine beliefs, is a third character that Miller introduces to the play as Rodolfo’s brother. Eddie is the only truly hostile character in the play with the way he treats Catherine and Rodolfo, however it is Marco who shows aggression in the play. At the beginning of the play Eddie’s views on how Catherine should act because she’s still a ‘child’ starts to create the hostile mood for the play. Miller first introduces this when Eddie complains to Catherine that ‘[she’s]walkin’ wavy’ to which Catherine gets annoyed ,resulting in Eddie shouting at her. This shows Eddie’s hostility towards Catherine. Later on in the play when Rodolfo, Eddie and Marco are discussing what jobs they have done and what they plan to do with what they earn in America, ‘Eddie laughs’ when he realises how feminine Rodolfo is but he also laughs at the whole situation. He doesn’t think its right that Rodolfo wants to buy a ‘motorcycle’ when there is family back home that need the money. The fact that Eddie laughs at this point shows Eddie’s hostility towards Rodolfo, letting
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