Analysing the Portrayal of Eddie Carbone as a Tragic Hero Essay

Analysing the Portrayal of Eddie Carbone as a Tragic HeroA keep an eye on from the Bridge by Arthur Miller is a dramatically tense cataclysm that presents the story of the downfall of an ordinary man.The play examines the tragic consequences of Eddie Carbones inabilityto pick up himself and his actions. This predominantly takes theform of his prejudice towards his cousin and his inappropriateattraction to his niece. It is heap in the 1950s and was written whileMiller had become arouse in the lives and work of Brooklynsdockworkers and longshoremen.Miller uses the character of Eddie to express his viewpoint that the catastrophe of the ruined life of an ordinary workingman is just assignificant a subject for tragedy as that of any ancient king, God orCaesar from Syracuse or Calabria. He presents Eddie as an equallyvalid antihero. Antiheroes, or Tragic heroes, are as Aristotle wroteneither all told good nor wholly evil provided a mixture of both. Eddie isnot an evil man, but he act s selfishly, inappropriately andrecklessly. Antiheros, unlike heroes, have fatal flaws. These enable acontemporary audience to empathise and identify with his fatallyflawed relationships and smuggled choices. Being able to relate toEddie will let the audience finger the dramatic tension of the bureaus he is placed in.According to Aristotle a conventional tragic hero is a person who findshimself in a situation where he seems deprived of all outward help andis forced to confide entirely on himself. A View from the Bridge isrecognisable as a tragedy because Eddie is a tragic hero even thoughhe is a stereotypical 1950s ordinary American. He is tragic because herefuses to take the help and advice offered by his lawyer, Alf... ...f instead of trying to net control of theother characters, he would have perhaps succeeded rather than causecomplete destruction.By the end of the play, Eddie cannot see any view from the bridge over ofBrooklyn he only has eyes for Catherine. Unfortunatel y, Catherine,like Rodolpho, sees all number of possibilities and dreams that fraudahead of her. Although bridges connect things, they are also a figureof the way things are divided. Catherine needs to move across thesebridges, but Eddie dies rubbish to hold onto her.Eddies story is a tragedy because it is about how he handles hishubristic character, the government issue of his disastrous choices and hisdrastic change in fortune. It takes the audience on a roller coasterof dramatic tension, ending up with his unfortunate and unnecessarydeath, go away the audience in mourning for such a tragic hero.