Both plays take place in an immigrant and working class
enclaves in American cities, thus contrasting the old-world values of the immigrants and
the American aspirations of social mobility. A View from the Bridge
focuses more on its immigrant setting (an Italian American community), while
A Streetcar Named Desire opposes Stanley (of Polish American
descent) to two Southern women, Stella and Blanche DuBois. Interestingly for your
comparison, in the different rewritings of the play, Williams considerably toned down
the immigrant component as the first version was all about an Italian family to which an
Irish brother-in-law was later added. None of these characters remain in the final
play.
In addition to the setting, both plays deals with
feelings of jealousy and challenges to the male authority posed by a newcomer. Blanche
challenges Stanley's authority in Streetcar and Rodolpho in
A View challenges Eddie Carbone's authority continuing to court his
daughter without his consent. Both Stanley and Eddie betrays their own families and
communities denouncing Blanche and Rodolpho to the authorities for their past crimes
(sexual promiscuity and a relationship with a young student for Stella, illegal
immigration for Rodolpho). However, the result of these betrayals is quite different in
the two plays. In Streetcar, Stanley initially horrifies his
neighbors and his wife as Blanche is locked away in a mental hospital. However, the
ending of the play leaves little doubt that he has reasserted his own masculine
authority. On the contrary, Eddie has committed a crime of honor, causing other illegal
immigrants to be arrested and he is despised by the community. In addition, his betrayal
does not affect Rodolpho as his prospective marriage to Eddie's daughter makes him an
American citizen. In the last scene, Eddie is (involuntarily?) killed by Marco, one of
the men who were arrested after his betrayal (momentarily out on
bail).
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