A View From the Bridge - Characters
- Created by: Almaaz
- Created on: 12-03-20 16:29
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- A View From the Bridge - Characters
- Eddie
- Who is he?
- He has firm ideas on masculinity, and holds high importance with regards to honour, respect, justice and having his ‘name’.
- He is the ‘man of the house’, the dominant male. He makes all the decisions and has control over the house and the people in it.
- Overly possessive of Catherine, but cannot admit that this is due to his love of Catherine.
- He is the protagonist and tragic hero. His fatal flaw (hamartia) is his love for Catherine.
- Quotes
- ‘You can quicker get back a million dollars than a word you gave away.’
- ‘You’re runnin’, you’re runnin’, Katie. I don’t think you listening anymore to
- ‘Katie, he’s only bowin’ to his passport.’
- ‘… Like Vinny Bolzano, remember Vinny!
- He reaches out suddenly, draws her to him, and as she strives to free herself he kisses her on the mouth’
- ‘Now don’t aggravate me Katie, you’re walkin’ wavy!’
- ‘Then why – Oh B!"
- Language analysis
- His language is frequently ungrammatical, using elision: ‘Records he buys now.’ ‘It’s eatin’ me out Mr Alfieri'.
- Eddie’s dialogue is in complete contrast to Alfieri. His words are brief, short but powerful. His phrasing is uneducated, simple ‘you walkin’ wavy.’
- He is often monosyllabic when talking to Catherine ‘No. But I got other worries….yeah…why? What worries you got?
- Who is he?
- Beatrice
- Key Quotes
- ‘You want somethin’ else Eddie and you can never have her!
- I told you fifty times already, you can’t act the way you act. You still walk around in your slip’
- ‘He dies in her arms and Beatrice covers him with her body’
- ‘When am I gonna be your wife again, Eddie?’
- Language analysis
- The stage directions also reflect their emotional characterization almost in tears…almost weak from tension
- The dialogue of the female characters often reflects their position in the social hierarchy, they often ask questions ‘Why?’ and their speech is more placatory and less aggressive ‘I’ll get it for you.’ ‘I’m worried about you’.
- Who is she
- Warns Eddie about his unnatural feelings towards Catherine
- She’s assertive when necessary
- Tells Catherine to stop acting like a child
- Represents sanity and reason
- She is aware of her rights as a wife
- Beatrice is loving and caring
- She recognizes they all had a part in the final tragedy
- “ then we all belong in the garbage. You, and me too. Don’t say that. Whatever happened we all done it, and don’t you ever forget it, Catherine.”
- She knows Eddies unnatural feelings towards Catherine
- Key Quotes
- Catherine
- Who is she
- After the kiss scene, she becomes more withdrawn and quiet. Eddie, the man who has always loved and protected her, has scared and shocked her for the first time.
- She is torn between Eddie and Rodolfo but, in the chair scene, she rushes to Rodolfo’s side when she thinks Eddie has hurt him. This prepares the audience for the way she chooses Rodolfo despite Eddie’s disapproval later in the play.
- She completely turns against Eddie after he tells the authorities about Marco and Rodolfo. She shows a strength of character previously unseen. During the play, she turns from a child into a woman, capable of making her own decisions and gaining greater independence and maturity.
- She has had little experience in life and is excited when Rodolfo comes into her life and she has contact with people who are closer to her age. She quickly becomes infatuated with Rodolfo as she is attracted to his youth, energy and enthusiasm for life.
- In the end, she admits she is also guilty of playing a part in the final tragedy. She tells Eddie: “I never meant to do nothing bad to you.”
- Catherine is young (17), innocent and naïve. She enjoys her close relationship with Eddie, is constantly looking for his approval but genuinely does not realise there is anything wrong in it.
- Language analysis
- dialogue of the female characters often reflects their position in the social hierarchy Untitled
- often ask questions ‘Why?’ and their speech is more placatory and less aggressive ‘I’ll get it for you.’ ‘I’m worried about you’.
- The stage directions also reflect their emotional characterisation almost in tears…almost weak from tension
- Quotes
- ‘Here! I’ll light it for you! She strikes a match and holds it to his cigar. He puffs’
- ‘Eddie, I wish there was one guy you couldn’t tell me things about’
- ‘He’s a rat! He belongs in the sewer!’
- Catherine, almost in tears because he disapproves: “What do you want me to do?’
- ‘Eddie I never meant to do nothing bad to you’
- Who is she
- Marco
- Key quotes
- ‘The law? All the law is not in a book’
- ‘Marco, as he is taken off, pointing back at Eddie: ‘That one! He killed my children!
- “Animal! You go on your knees to me!”
- Marco is face to face with Eddie, a strained tension gripping his jaw, his neck stiff, the chair raised like a weapon over Eddie’s head’
- Language analysis
- His language is extremely economical
- He is serious, never playful, and always direct ‘I see it’s a small house but soon…’ ‘I tell you the truth, if I stay they will never grow up’.
- He barely speaks throughout the play.
- Who is he
- He is close to his brother and feels a sense of responsibility and protectiveness towards him. This is evident in the chair scene when he defends Rodolfo after Eddie attempts to humiliate him by challenging Eddie to lift a chair. He shows his strength by lifting the chair and the scene foreshadows the ending.
- He is prepared to take the law into his own hands. He sees it as his duty to go to Eddie at the end and to kill or be killed in a final battle.
- Unlike Rodolfo, Marco has only come to America to make money to send to his family in Sicily. He is a hard-working family man and therefore gains respect from Eddie.
- He has a strong sense of justice and does not understand American law. He believes that Eddie should die because of his betrayal telling Alfieri “in my country he would be dead now.” “He would not live this long.”
- Key quotes
- Rodolpho
- Language analysis
- This echoes his character’s more flamboyant personality, but also his more romantic nature
- He is more descriptive, more metaphorical and much more symbolic ‘If I take in my hands a little bird. And she grows and wishes to fly. But I will not let her out of my hands because I love her so much, is that right for me to do?’
- Quotes
- ‘Catherine. If I take in my hands a little bird. And she grows and wishes to fly. But I will not let her out of my hands because I love her so much, is that right for me to do?’
- ‘Don’t! He pulls on Eddie’s arm. Stop that! Have respect for her!"
- ‘Rodolpho flies at him in attack. Eddie pins his arms, laughing, and suddenly kisses him’
- ‘It is my fault Eddie, everything. I wish to apologise.’
- ‘No, Marco, please! Eddie, please, he has children! You will kill a family!
- who is he
- Rodolfo is very different from his brother Marco. He is fun-loving, lively and enthusiastic. He loves America and everything it stands for: freedom, opportunity, possibility. Rodolfo loves fashion, music and culture. Catherine is attracted to the way he is different and how he is completely comfortable with the way he is.
- The roles played by Marco and Rodolfo change throughout the play. At first, Marco is seen as the sensible, mature one but, towards the end, it is Rodolfo who tries to stop Marco from going after Eddie. He warns Eddie, despite what Eddie has done to him and even attempts to kiss Eddie’s hand, a symbol of respect and apology.
- His views are not as black and white as Marco. He sees both Eddie and Marco’s points of view and attempts to mediate between them.
- He is honest. He loves Catherine but admits he would not marry her if he had to take her back to Italy. He describes to her the situation in Italy and how they would starve if they lived there.
- Language analysis
- Alfieri
- Language analysis
- He has a specific style of speech: when talking to the audience he is engaging, deep and meaningful ‘the flat air in my office suddenly washes in with the green scent of the sea’.
- When speaking to Eddie he is both formal and precise (his lawyer advice) and pleading, questioning (when trying to appeal to Eddie’s better nature) ‘you understand that, don’t”
- Key Quotes
- ‘watched it run its bloody course’
- ‘Now we settle for half, and I like it better’
- ‘He was a good a man as he had to be in a life that was hard and even’
- ‘Oh there were many here who were justly shot by unjust men. Justice is very important here’
- I knew, I knew then and there – I could have finished the story that afternoon’
- ‘In this neighbourhood, to meet a lawyer or a priest on the streets is unlucky’
- Who is he?
- He hints at the outcome at the very beginning and explains how he is unable to change the tragedy which is going to “run its bloody course.”
- Alfieri is the narrator, commentator but also a character in the play who can communicate with the audience.
- He symbolises the “view from the bridge”, he is a “bridge” between the audience and characters and yet can only “view” the action of the play and not influence it.
- Chorus role - chorus in tragedies explains to the audience what is going to happen and yet is unable to do anything about it.
- Language analysis
- Eddie
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