A View From The Bridge: Themes (fate and destiny)
Unlock all answers in this set
Unlock answersquestion
You can quicker get back a million dollars you stole than a word you gave away.
answer
Eddie says this to Catherine after talking about Vinny Bolzano who \"snitched on his own uncle\". Act 1. Ironic in a way considering what happens later. May also foreshadow events. (talks about $$)
question
The truth is not as bad as blood
answer
Beatrice says to Eddie after she explicitly reveals what Eddie can't accept: that he \"wants somethin' else...and can never have her!\". Act 2. She is telling him that the truth is better than acting brashly and violently, which of course, he doesn't listen to.
question
Marco is face to face with Eddie...the chair raised like a weapon over Eddie's head
answer
Stage directions. End of Act 1. Foreshadows Eddie's death from the hands of Marco. Here, the it is clear that the power shifts completely from Eddie to Marco. Marco can be seen as silently threatening him as he later \"transforms what might appear like a glare of warning into a smile of triumph, and Eddie's grin vanishes as he absorbs his look.\"
question
This one's name was Eddie Carbone
answer
Alfieri says this. Use of past tense foreshadows his death, and the inevitability of it, and therefore fate. Act 1.
question
Run its bloody course.
answer
Alfieri says this in his beginning speech. The fact that he \"watched\" it shows how helpless and inevitable it is, and thus alludes to theme of fate. \"Bloody\" foreshadows violence and lack of the American Justice system Alfieri believes in.
question
Sat there as powerless as I
answer
Alfieri says this in beginning speech. \"Powerless\" elucidates the inevitability of fate and how nothing can be done to stopped it. Even a man with the power of justice and law cannot do anything to prevent the situation from unfurling.
question
Eddie Carbone had never expected to have a destiny
answer
Alfieri says this after Rodolpho says \"I like sugar very much\", Act 1, about Eddie Carbone. Alludes to theme of destiny. Indicates that Eddie expected a 'normal' life, but now he has a destiny.
question
I was so powerless to stop it
answer
Alfieri, Act 1, after talking to Eddie about Catherine and Rodolpho. Theme of fate and inevitability of it. \"Powerless\" is repeated. Foreshadows Eddie's death. May also reflect audience's powerlessness to stop it as well, thus heightening Eddie's death, and making it more tragic.
question
A river will drown you if you buck it.
answer
Alfieri to Eddie, Act 2. Their final meeting before Eddie's act of betrayal. Theme of fate. \"River\" can be seen as fate. Alfieri's telling Eddie that the more he tries to mess with fate, the more inevitable it will become.
question
Alfieri with a certain processional tread
answer
Stage directions. Act 2. After Alfieri discusses with Marco about the terms of him bailing Marco out of jail. After he says \"only God, Marco.\" \"processional\" usually connotes with funerals, and thus foreshadows Eddie's death.