A view From The Bridge- Minor characters

WJEC may ask this question- here is my response :
Why are minor characters like Louis and Mike etc important in the play?

In the play ‘A view from the bridge’ by Arthur Miller even minor characters like Louis and Mike have a significant importance and involvement in portraying key ideas and themes. Although the minor characters are flat and many people may class them as unimportant they play a key role in acting as devices that move the plot forward as well as a device to highlight key themes and ideas that surrounded 1950’s Red Hook society.

Firstly, in the 1950’s it was illegal to be gay and Arthur Miller touches on this subject quite lightly through the character of Rudolfo,who is as we know is not gay but because of his appearance he is oppressed and is seen as ‘not right’ or ‘weird’ . Mike another longshore man and Eddie’s friends presents the homophobic and prejudices views of the society at this time. He describes Rodolfo as having a ‘sense of humour’, referring to him as the ‘blonde one’ and ‘grinning’ as he delivers these lines. It is obvious that its not Rodolfo’s sense of humour that’s funny its his appearance and the slight incline that because he ‘sings’ and can cook and ‘mend dresses’ that he is homosexual and the fact that he is ‘blonde’ which was unusual if you were Italian that he is different as is obviously died it to look more feminine. The long shore men on the boat also call him ‘paper doll’ because he sings on the ship, this cruel nickname is another way to outcast him from society and oppress him because he doesn’t fit the mould of modern man who was masculine and physically strong. Mike ‘grins’ because he finds it funny but quickly stops laughing when he realises he is embarrassing Eddie, which again emphasises the lack of respect and understanding given to homosexuals at the time, which might be hard for readers to stomach judging on how much more free and excepting society is now.

Louis and Mr Lapri who are only briefly introduced by Arthur Miller are also important because they represent Italian community’s reaction to Eddies ‘stool pigeon’ acts. Again Arthur Miller uses the play to advocate social change by lightly basing the events on his experiences. In the 1950’s America was run by McCarthy a president who greatly disagreed with communism and even called up Miller himself to give the names of people he knew that supported this cause, of course Miller refused because he believed In loyalty and honour. Although the people that did confess where seen in his eyes as traitors who had betrayed their fellow man and the rejection presented by these characters are much like his actions when he was in a similar position. After Marco has spit on Eddie and exposed him expressing ‘you’ve killed my family’ after he has snitched on immigration, Eddie calls out to Louis at this point, ‘Louis! Louis!’, he is met with no reply and Louis is described as ‘barely turns, then walks of’ as well as Mr Lapri who walks off with his arm ‘around’ his wife. Both of these moments represent the disproval from Italian society and how Eddies selfish acts are seen as unforgivable, just as Vinny Bolzano was seen ‘no more’, the men and women do not see Eddie any longer he is not worthy of their presence, he is dead to them. Also the stage direction carried out by Mr Lapri ‘arm around her’, suggests a means of protection but also compassion, it shows that Eddie’s selfish acts will have consequences around the neighbourhood- they are all immigrants and now are all in danger, therefore Eddie is greatly oppressed by them, just how Arthur Miller would have as easily discarded the people who betrayed the human race. It also shows again how Arthur Miller feels towards Eddie’s acts, his parents were immigrants there for the anger and empathy is also felt by him, which allows us to experience it to.

The immigration officers are also important because again key themes are symbolised through them. The 1st immigration officer addresses Catherine with ‘look girly’. This is a very patronising tone and seizes to be used in this manner. 1950’s America was very misogynistic and believed that women has to fulfil a role as ‘housewife’, the word ‘girly’is used for this use but also to show weakness and a lack of power, making him the dominant character. He also advises them to get a lawyer but then adds that would be ‘wasting money’ this is because no matter if they were not illegal they would still be seen as guilty and that justice has already been done, but also that the law is corrupt and if they really needed it they shouldn’t have cut it off for tribal justice which is ‘unjust’. Just like the people accused of being communists they were guilty regardless, so there are many strong links back to Arthur Miller himself but also the troubles of the 1950’s- the play is much more important and influential than we first thought, as if you dig deep you can discover many more social issues.

Lastly, Tony who we meet at the start of act 1 is another longshore man. He has helped the two submarines, Marco and Rudolfo of the boat and assorts them to the Carbones house. Unlike the other minor characters he has no other real purpose but to move the plot along and also that the phrase ‘even the captain gets a piece’ is true, Italian customs are strong in this community that you will all risk being caught to help others, showing there’s a lot of loyalty and family felt in Red Hook.

To conclude, I feel that it is unfair to say that the minor characters are unimportant in the play as I feel that Miller uses them to show his feelings and emotions towards parts of they play as he cannot express these through Alfieri as that would shroud the audiences judgement. He uses them as devices to move the plot along but as an effective way to move away from the key social themes presented through the main characters in order to advocate social change towards the other negative behaviour and views in the 1950’s that he has experienced. The minor characters are very emotive and intriguing as they help to expose how Miller feels, which makes him more involved in the play as well as complicit and empathetic in regards to the action.

I would give this an A********************

Great work Helen B, keep it up ))))))))))) XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

I did AQA today and Marco came up

Yupp! The questions were:
We were given an extract, from when they first arrive at the house in America, and it said: How is Marco represented in this extract?
& The second question was: How does Miller present Marco in the play as a whole?

It was alright, I was hoping for Eddie, but Marco was fine!
Hope your's goes well on Friday!

Those questions are so good!! Thank you,I'm praying it goes well!