Who's the paper doll?

Today we spent much of the time doing the essay assessment. If you missed this, or if you don’t quite pass, do be ready for the reassessment on 3 February.

All we otherwise did was to continue reading and discussing “A View from the Bridge”. We got to the top of page 45 in the Penguin edition – where Beatrice has been having a talk with Catherine.

We reminded ourselves of the emphasis, in this play about Italians, on the themes of justice and honour.

We also observed that Alfieri, the lawyer who’s also a narrator, makes a clear link between the way that people end up behaving in this play and the way they used to behave in Ancient Rome

and Greece.

Most of the time we “settle for half”, he says – unlike in the days of Al Capone, the gangster. But just occasionally – we don’t.

And that’s when things “run their bloody course”. He makes it clear that this play isn’t going to end well: it’s as if it’s already happened and he’s just showing it to us.

We notice Eddie’s extreme protectiveness of his niece Catherine – normal fatherly feelings or a bit over the top? – and the slight tension between Eddie and his wife Beatrice. Beatrice’s cousins arrive and Eddie gets stressed when Rodolpho sings. Is this because he’s nervous about the noise, or is Eddie anxious that Catherine seems to be interested in Rodolpho? But then, would any man want his almost-daughter to get involved with an illegal immigrant?

This is Rodolpho's song. Listen to it. Why did Arthur Miller choose it? http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=uZAy-GW1fek&feature=PlayList&p=39A4F48CA7E8B9F7&index=19

Eddie tells Catherine to go and take off her high heeled shoes. Why, do you think? How does she react?

Alfieri is then used, partly like the Chorus in Greek tragedy to comment on events and partly to move the action on several weeks to when Catherine and Rodolpho are going out together. Eddie is hanging around waiting for them to come back from the cinema and discusses with Beatrice his apparent worries about Rodolpho as a suitor and possibly husband for Catherine:

Rodolpho sings a lot in public.
He’s blond.

Beatrice changes the subject: Eddie and she haven’t been sleeping together for three months – what’s the reason for this? He evades the question: he’s not been feeling good.

When Catherine and Rodolpho return, Eddie sends Rodolpho away and tells Catherine that Rodolpho just wants to marry her to become an American citizen. (Might this be true?) Catherine is very upset and denies it: Rodolpho loves her, she says.

We can see love emerging as another theme: love between two young people, between husband and wife, between parent (and Eddie and Beatrice have taken the roles of Catherine’s parents) and child.

Once Eddie goes, Beatrice gives Catherine a little lecture: she must behave more circumspectly around Eddie now she’s grown up. She’s a woman – she should behave like one. Catherine is uneasy at the implication behind Beatrice’s words.

Homework - finish Close Reading 2005, passage 1, about comets and asteroids.