Explain, with reference to the text, how Arthur Millers play A View from the Bridge can be regarded as successful.
A View from the Bridge is an extremely successful play; there are many factors for the success of the play, one of those being the story line. This play is set in the mid 20th century, based around the working class American in Brooklyn, an Italian community. Eddie Carbone is a good natured, uneducated longshoreman who lives with his wife Beatrice and his niece Catherine. .
Eddie and Beatrice have looked after Catherine since the death of her parents. Eddie comes across as the typical over protective father figure who complains bout the length of her skirts and of how "wavy" she walks. However we discover his feelings are a lot more complicated for Catherine, feelings he knows he shouldn't have for his niece but doesn't really show or act upon them, as he doesn't really admit his feelings to himself. However Eddie starts to travel on a one-way journey to disaster with no turning back and disastrous consequences. .
With a story line like this, how can this play not be successful? The use of techniques in this play that Miller introduces, highlights how cleverly thought out A View from the Bridge actually is.
For a writer to make a successful play, they must entertain the audience by bringing them to the edge of their seats and create suspense, which is what Miller does.
The use of a chorus in this drama gives us a sense of tragedy. A chorus was used in Greek plays that were about the powerful, for example kings. Only the powerful suffered from tragedies, everyday Greek people never suffer from anything and live "normal" lives, or so it was seen.
Miller uses a chorus to outline the fact that tragedy happens to everyone not just the rich and powerful. This particular chorus, whose name is Alfieri, is a lawyer in his fifties and is completely different to a Greek chorus. They would dress up from head to toe in white, have a plaster cast face and two slits for eyes- whereas Alfieri is an ordinary man in a suit.
