a view from the bridge

?

alfieri

  • a narrator
  • a lawyer who is deemed as a bad omen in red hook as it is an Italian community where they believe in an honour code 'You see how uneasily they nod to me?'
  • the first . and second page show alfieri explaining this
  • alfieri is seen as a member of the greek chorus as he can see what eddie will do but he is unable to persuade him to not do so 'his eyes were like tunnels'
  • 47 shows a greek chorus
  • pg 1,2,47,38
  •      pg 72 shows a  summary of what he thinks
1 of 9

Eddie

  • he is a tragic hero so we see his downfall
  • there is an element of sympathy for him as he is a surrogate father to catherine and he is willing to make space for the cousins 
  • key quotes 'believe me katie , the less you trust, the less you be sorry.' pg 9 'you think i got no feelin's? I never told you nothin' in my life that wasn't for your good. Nothin'1 And look at the way you talk to me! Like i was an enemy!' pg 60
  • pg 67 
  • adn the confrontation at the end
  • eddie shows generosity as shown on pg16
  • eddie seeks advice from alfieri and he begins to see that there is nothing he can do pg37
  • eddie sees a personal confrontation when beatrice confrontes him pg 57
  • eddie begans to have a downfall and pg 68 he has lost all respect and he wants it back
  • there is a sense of helplessness  as well as disbelief
  • eddie also dislikes it when catherine goes to work as she is beginning to turn into a woman
  • when eddie kisses catherine it is crossing the line as he has showed clear feelings but when he tries to kiss rodolpho we see something that has been going on the whole play and it is eddie trying to make rodolpho his inferior and to try and make him look gay
  • eddie is also shown as a family man at the start of the book as he said that he 'worked like a dog for 20 years' and he also says that he went to find work when there was no ships in brookly
2 of 9

beatrice

  • peacemaker
  • very kind and cares deeply for eddie traditional house wife
  • as the play goes on she confrontes eddie about his feelings for catherine 
  • tells catherine how to act
  • assertive at times
  • 'you want somethin' else, Eddie, and you can never have her!' pg 70
  • she tries to get eddie out of the house when marco is coming
  • beatrice starts to want to get catherine to go to work agains t eddie's point of view
  • pg 6, 7 25 50 40 10 
3 of 9

catherine

  • warm hearted and shows the optimism and exxcitement of youth.
  • she is drawn to rodolpho straight away 
  • she is independant and shows ambition by wearing short dresses and 
  • eddie does not want her to go and work as he wants to provide for his family 'You sound like i'm going a million miles' pg 14
  • at times more of a wife than Beatrice to Eddie
  • rodolpho love for her questions eddies place in the family and in catherines life 
  • rodolpho asserting himself on pg 50 towards the end shows that he wins and that catherine is hers 'little girl'
  • 'i'm afraid of Eddie here.' pg 48
  • 'you think you're a baby.' pg 32
4 of 9

marco

  • silent strong working man 'a square built peasant' . pg 15
  • he is a provider only in america to make money to send to his wife and kids
  • on pg 26 he is described by mike as a 'regular bull' showing he will work hard and louis says 'he's a regular slave,'
  • marco also knows not to overstay his welcome ' eddie- when you say go, we will go.' pg 16
  • the act of raising a chair above eddies head shows to eddie that marco is the strongest in the house and that eddie should not bully or push around rodolpho
  • 'He degraded my brother my blood. he robbed mty children, he mocks my work.'
  • 'All the law is not in a book.'
  • 'Animal! You go on your kneees to me! pg 71
  • 'To promise not to kill is not dishonourable' pg 66 ( honour code)
5 of 9

rodolpho

  • a very honest and naieve persona
  • he stand out with his blond hair and his singing voice. 
  • he describes italy as poor so it says why they are here to work or at the least it is a reason to do so "the horses in our town are skinnier than goats.' pg 1
  • Eddie raises the supsicion that he is marrying catherine to stay in America and miller makes this an ambigous point
  • 'rodolpho is crazy' pg 48
  • when he asserts himself it becomes a little more obvious that he wants to stay in america when he says that 'I will not marry you to live in Ital.'
  • Rodolpho and Eddie's personalites clash a lot and miller has done this deliberately
  • Rodolpho is a catalyst for revealing eddies true feelings
  • rodolpho believes in the american dream and at the start of the play we see that he wants to make money
  • 'I want to be an America. And then i want to go back to Italy when i am rich, and i will buy a motorcycle.' pg 18
6 of 9

themes(love)

  • one of the main reasons of conflict in the play is love
  • The family love between Beatrice, Catherine and Eddie turns toxic as marco and rodolpho come to stay but as Beatrica has family in scicly she wants them to stay
  • The fatherly love from eddie shows that he raised her as one of his own but as the play progresses these feelings become bad feelings
  • the brotherly love shows marco as the elder and he wanted rodolpho to stay under the radar not sing etc. marco then breaks the promise that rodolfo made when he posted marcos bail by going to kill eddie which was a broken promise
  • The love between Eddie and Beatrice is not as strong as it seemed as eddie will not make love to his wife. eddies love for his neice takes away the love from beatrice but as the play draws to an end we see that it was always beatrice that he loved
  • the love between catherine and rodolfo is young and they fall deeply in love and we know that they had sex 
  • both marco and rodolfo love italy and describe its beauty but rodolfo's love for america makes him want to become an american citizen and eddie thinks he is going to marry catherine just to become an american citizen
7 of 9

themes(honour and justice)

  • the honour code of scicily is an eye for an eye but this does not agree with the law and the story that eddie tells at the start of vinny bolzano is what he becomes 
  • the law (alfieri) is the voice of reason as well as someone who will serve the law justice 
  • the italian community in red hook is seen to be scared of a lawyer as they believe in an eye for an eye sort of mentallity 
  • the fact that alfieri likes it best when people settle for half disagrees with the idea of an hounour code 
8 of 9

brooklyn

  • brooklyn bridge is shown to be Alfieri's point of view of events in the play but from the richer side of the bridge.
  • This is the link between rich and poor italian and white americans
  • brooklyn is seen as the place of law and order( America) and red hook is seen as the 'gullet' swallowing up the worlds cargo and it is also seen as a poorer place where the immagrants live (Italians)
  • Law and order is deemed to be more American and the honour code is deemed to be more Italian
9 of 9

Comments

No comments have yet been made

Similar English Literature resources:

See all English Literature resources »See all a view from the bridge resources »