10. A View From The Bridge
Answer both parts of (a) and either part (b) or part (c).
You are advised to spend about 20 minutes on part (a), and about 40 minutes on part (b) or part (c).
(a) Read the extract on the opposite page. Then answer the following questions:
(i) What do you think of the way Eddie speaks and behaves here? Give reasons for what
you say. [5]
(ii) How do you think an audience would respond to this part of the play? Give reasons
for what you say. [5]
CATHERINE Did you ever hear of jazz?
RODOLFO Oh, sure! I sing jazz.
CATHERINE (rises) You could sing jazz?
RODOLFO Oh, I sing Napolidan, jazz, bel canto – I sing ‘Paper Doll’, you like ‘Paper Doll’?
CATHERINE Oh, sure, I’m crazy for ‘Paper Doll’. Go ahead, sing it.
RODOLFO (takes his stance after getting a nod of permission from MARCO, and with a high tenor
voice begins singing:
‘I’ll tell you boys it’s tough to be alone,
And it’s tough to love a doll that’s not your own.
I’m through with all of them,
I’ll never fall again,
Hey, boy, what you gonna do?
I’m gonna buy a paper doll that I can call my own,
A doll that other fellows cannot steal.
EDDIE rises and moves upstage.
And then those flirty, flirty guys
With their flirty, flirty eyes
Will have to flirt with dollies that are real –
EDDIE Hey, kid – hey, wait a minute –
CATHERINE (enthralled) Leave him finish, it’s beautiful! (To BEATRICE)
He’s terrific! It’s terrific, Rodolfo.
EDDIE Look, kid; you don’t want to be picked up, do ya?
MARCO No – no! (He rises)
EDDIE (indicating the rest of the building) Because we never had no singers here ... and all
of a sudden there’s a singer in the house, y’know what I mean?
MARCO Yes, yes. You’ll be quiet, Rodolfo.
EDDIE (he is flushed) They got guys all over the place, Marco. I mean.
MARCO Yes. He’ll be quiet. (To RODOLFO) You’ll be quiet.
RODOLFO nods.
EDDIE has risen, with iron control, even a smile. He moves to CATHERINE.
EDDIE What’s the high heels for, Garbo?
CATHERINE I figured for tonight –
EDDIE Do me a favour, will you? Go ahead.
Embarrassed now, angered, CATHERINE goes out into the bedroom. BEATRICE watches
her go and gets up; in passing, she gives EDDIE a cold look, restrained only by the
strangers, and goes to the table to pour coffee.
EDDIE (striving to laugh, and to MARCO, but directed as much to BEATRICE) All actresses they
want to be around here.
RODOLFO (happy about it) In Italy too! All the girls.
CATHERINE emerges from the bedroom in low-heel shoes, comes to the table. RODOLFO
is lifting a cup.
EDDIE (he is sizing up RODOLFO, and there is a concealed suspicion) Yeah, heh?
RODOLFO Yes! (Laughs, indicating CATHERINE) Especially when they are so beautiful!
CATHERINE You like sugar?
RODOLFO Sugar? Yes! I like sugar very much!
EDDIE is downstage, watching as she pours a spoonful of sugar into his cup, his face
puffed with trouble, and the room dies.
Your exams and how this blog works
In your English lessons, you are studying for TWO GCSEs.
English
and English Literature.
English
60% exam (2 2-hour papers, Paper One and Paper Two)
20% speaking and listening coursework
20% written coursework (four essays: creative writing, transactional writing, Shakespeare, poems from other cultures)
English Literature
70% exam (one 2.5-hour paper consisting of three sections - one on a play, one on a novel, one on an unseen poem)
30% coursework (four essays: Shakespeare, poems from other cultures, pre-1914 poetry, pre-1914 prose)
The exam board is WJEC, the Welsh board.
This blog has been designed to help you understand and revise for all three papers. There is lots of information, tips, practice questions and links.If you look on the right, there is a list of labels. Click on these and it will direct you to all the information about that particular label. For example, click on An Inspector Calls and you will get four posts about the play, how to answer a question on it, key quotes, etc. Or, if you are worried about answering Section B type questions, click on that and you will get all the posts helping with that.
