Identity Crisis of the Characters Escalate Protagonist’s Doom: A Psychoanalytical Reading of Arthur Miller’s A View from the Bridge

Abstract

The current research endeavors to provide a psychoanalytical analysis of Arthur Miller’s A View from the Bridge. The interaction of Id, Ego and Super-Ego, the theoretic components of Freud’s Psychic Apparatus, brings forth various conflicts among the characters of Arthur Miller’s A View from the Bridge. These conflicts imply most of the characters are confused, uncertain, biased or devious. Mainly the protagonist, Eddie, is aberrant of his supposed social, relational and familial roles. Even though, occasionally, Eddie’s ego drives him to act rationally, most of the time, he is id-ridden, which becomes one of the major reasons of his identity crisis. Erikson’s psychosocial theory of identity crisis also provides means to analyze the reasons of Eddie’s tormented identity. Moreover, nearly every character in the play is driven either by pleasure principle, reality principle, or morality principle. This invites psychoanalytical criticism for the exposition of the main concerns of the play, like: decreased marital intimacy, incest, irrationality, aggression, conspiracy and violence. These concerns are likely to be rooted in the behaviour of the characters who seem to be either careless of what they do, or hold some self-created justifications for their actions. The imbalance in their psychic apparatus worsens the odds against Eddie. In almost all the cases, they tend to escalate tragedy for the protagonist, who, himself, appears to be a victim of wrath, obsession, fears, apprehensions, inferiority complex and broken self-image etc