A View from the Bridge

COMTEMPORARY DRAMA - A View From the Bridge

Q. Explore the ways in which an important character is presented to the audience.

Use examples from the drama text in your response.

Eddie Carbone from 'A View From The Bridge' is a 40 years "husky, slightly overweight longshoreman" the typical immigrant living in New York City on the docks of the Brooklyn Bridge. He is an Italian-American who is portrayed as an ordinary working class man "Eddie Carbone has never expected to have a destiny...grows old and then he dies." Being from a Sicilian background builds up his character as a macho and pertinacious man. He is not only a well-respected man in the Red Hood Community but also the dominant male of his family.

Eddie comes from a Sicilian background. Coming from this background Eddie believes that the man should be the leader of the household and that everything goes by him first concerning his family and that he should be very manly and stand up for those who are close to him. This can be believed by the way he talks to Catherine. Catherine talks to him about her job as a stenographer and says ' why don't you ask me before you took a job?' This shows that he wants Catherine to ask for his permission before accepting the job. He wants her to ask for authorization so he feels as if he is the boss and because he wants to be consulted first; otherwise he feels threatened. This is one thing that leads to his downfall because he was trying to be so masculine he is unable to show any emotion.

As the protagonist of the play, Eddie is presented as having complex innermost feelings, especially his overwhelming love for Catherine. In the beginning of the play, Catherine respects Eddie like her own father. She shows such love that when he comes home from work, she "rushes and hugs him". However, as the play progress, Eddie's growing love for Catherine becomes ambiguous, close to jealousy as he is desperate to protect Catherine from Rodolpho. Eddie's obsessive love for Catherine not only ruins his family relationship with Catherine, but also causes Beatrice to become envious towards Catherine. Catherine betrays and defies Eddie, defending and loving Rodolpho, and denouncing everything Eddie has done for her. Eddie's strong love for Catherine also brings him to turn away from the unwritten codes of conduct of the Italians. In total despair, Eddie turns to act under the endorsement of the written law of America. Eddie's act of reporting Marco and Rodolpho as the illegal immigrants to the immigration bureau brings an end to his reputation and honor among the Italian community. Although it is not against the American laws to report illegal immigrants, living in an Italian community puts Eddie's life at risk for such an act. And it is because of his action, Marco turns away from Eddie, spitting in his face and yelling: "that one! I accuse that one!" and it is Eddie who "killed my children! ...stole the food" from Marco's children as well. Eddie immediately loses his reputation in Red Hook as his friends slowly turn around and walk away from him, leaving only Beatrice to his side.

The arrival of the illegal immigrants (Marco and Rodolpho) is at first, a joyful occasion for the family. Eddie is intent on providing them with the best and encourages them for taking up the job. But soon their arrival turns into a threat for none but Eddie. For he realizes that Rodolpho is attracted to Catherine, and she too takes an instant liking towards him. This brings out his begrudging nature and he soon devises ways to stop their potential marriage from happening. His 'ways' include trying to exploit Rodolpho's effeminacy, and initially showing his own 'manliness'.

Once Eddie is aware that one of Beatrice's cousins, Rodolpho, sings, cooks, makes dresses, he gets angry as for Eddie it is just bazaar behaviour for a man. Eddie is shocked of his feminine quality as it is completely against the concept of masculinity.

That's first where he begins to niggle away at him and then he goes a little bit further where he thinks he is not a man at all, maybe he is homosexual and that he shouldn't be with Catherine. He tries to show Catherine that Rodolpho is not the right guy for her as he notices that both of them are attracted to one another. Eddie kissing Rodolpho and then Catherine leads to a catastrophe. Eddie deludes himself into thinking that Rodolpho