Gender relationships in one of the two course plays Essay

Show how gender relationships in one of the two course plays is used by the playwright to throw light on our understanding of the main character, and the overall themes of the play. A view from the bridge is based in Brooklyn, an Italian community set in the 1950s. This particular part of the 20th century was seen as a rather sexist era. Men were a lot more dominant, women were known to stay at home cooking and cleaning-like every wife seems to do today! However aside from that, men felt like they had to be ‘men’ all the time. They felt like if they expressed their feelings, talked about their troubles or cried, these men would be laughed at and ridiculed. Eddie Carbone is a hard working longshoreman who works on the docks in his local area. Eddie is a typical bloke; he is a proud and stubborn man but is a loving husband to his wife Beatrice and a caring father figure to his niece Catherine. To the audience in the first part of the play Eddies comes across as the typical over protective father, however as the play progresses his feelings for Catherine become obvious that they are a lot heavier than what we are led to believe. Throughout the play we discover Eddie has fallen in love with his niece but his feelings are not sexual, in my opinion it is an obsessive need that cant be controlled as realized by Alfieri, â€Å"Something perversely pure calls to me from his memory – not purely good, but himself purely, for he allowed himself to be wholly known. † Alfieri realizes his feelings for Catherine are exceptionally powerful and that their would be nothing that Eddie could do to control them or dissolve them. Eddie tries to open up to Alfieri but can’t quite get the words out of what he wants to say. There is also one other particular part of the play when Eddie goes to see Alfieri in his office. Eddie goes to seek advice in order to prevent Catherine from marrying Rodolpho. Alfieri subtly mentions Eddie’s feelings but doesn’t quite mention them in so many words. Alfieri says, â€Å"When the law is wrong it’s because it is unnatural, but in this case it is natural and a river will drown you if you buck it now. Let her go. † Alfieri is saying that it is illegal for Eddie to get involved with Catherine sexually. It goes against the natural order. However the only advice Alfieri can give is to turn Rodolpho and Marco in to immigration, but with them being family it wouldn’t be a wise move. Eddies love for Catherine is so strong that he is willing to go to any means necessary to stop her marrying Rodolpho, making the call to immigration the only way out of the predicament. Eddie calls immigration, aware of his betrayal to Beatrice but he is doing it out of love for Catherine. Beatrice also realizes Eddie’s feelings for Catherine, in one [particular scene Eddie ad Beatrice have a slight disagreement over Catherine which later leads to an argument over lack of sex. Beatrice wants to know, â€Å"When am I gonna be a wife again, Eddie? † Beatrice says it in this context rather than come straight out and says when are we going to have sex again. This way avoids embarrassment but still gets the point across without having to actually say it. Beatrice wants to talk about what is happening but she can’t get Eddie to open up to her. Eddies feelings are putting a strain on the marriage, sexually, physically and emotionally. But Eddie,