To What Extent is Eddie Carbone the Tragic hero of the Play ?
‘A view from the bridge’, an intriguing play written by a graduated journalist named Arthur Miller. Miller was born in New York, 1915. He started to write plays while he was at University of Michigan, and even carried on after graduating. Miller grew up in Brooklyn; this was where the play was set. As Miller was trying to make a name for himself, he worked at a shipyard for two years. He heard stories form his Italian friends he works alongside about how some men coming over to work illegally and being betrayed. This is where ‘A View from the Bridge’ was first inspired. Tragedy: it is a dramatic event where the main character is tested in certain circumstances in which the characters real form becomes unmasked. Aristotle was a famous Greek philosopher and writer, who defined the word tragedy. He said it should represent ‘terrible and piteous’ and lead the audience to experience ‘catharsis’ or feel sorrow. Miller used this technique to create a modern equivalent of a Greek tragedy. In addition, Aristotle also said that every tragedy must have a tragic hero; the protagonist of the play. Aristotle also talks about how a “Tragic Hero” This essay will be exploring how Eddie could be the “Tragic Hero” of the play – “A View from the Bridge”.
Aristotle’s definition of a “Tragic Hero” should be good at the beginning but not entirely as this unrealistic. The character should be “appropriate” – meaning men should be manly and women to be feminine. The characters should be believable and lifelike which results to having a “Tragic Flaw”. This “Tragic Flaw” will lead to the “Hero’s” destruction. Aristotle also says that the play should move from happiness to a state of misery and die at the end of the play which is similar to “A View from the Bridge”.
There are many examples of Eddie as a good man. For instance