A View from the Bridge Characters

General:

• At the start of the play, he is described as "a husky, slightly overweight longshoremean"
• Lives with his wfe Beatrice and neice Catherine
• He is portrayed as a family man with a sense of humour
• He is very protective of Catherine, and becomes jealous of Rodolpho when him and Catherine start dating
• In act 2, his protectiveness of Catherine turns into an obsession
• He turns Marco and Rodolpho over to immigration, hereby betraying the code of honour
• At the end of the play, he is killed by Marco in an attempt to regain his "name"

Relationships with other caharcters:

• Beatrice: wife
• Catherine: neice
• Marco and Rodlopho: lodgers at his home/relatives
• Alfieri: Eddie's lawyer for a part of the play

"You're a baby, you don't understand these things"- He views Catherine as a small child who always needs his guidance

"You ain't 'all the girls'"- Foreshadows his obsession with Catherine in Act 2

"You got too big a heart"- Showing his affection towards Beatrice, before his obsession with Catherine

"That ain't what I had in mind"- Showing how controlling he is over Catherine

"He is coming more and more to address Marco only"- Shows Eddie's respect in 'masculine' people, or it shows he already shows dislike towards Rodolpho

"His smile goes: 'You like him?'"- He is upset that Catherine chose Rodolpho, even though he knows he can never have her

"A wife is supposed to believe the husband"- showing he expects respect and honour, especially from his own family

"You walk out that door to that wedding you ain't comin' back here"- Showing his jealousy towards Rodolpho and his anger at being disrespected

"Which he said I killed his children"- Obvious anger at being disrespected infront of the neighbourhood, even if he knows what he did was disrespectful to Beatrice's cousins

"Like in the Bible?"- Trying to justify his actions by associating them with a religious story, showing value of religion in society at the time the play was written

"My B.!"- Showing how he did love his wife, as his final words are directed to her, demonstrating how he managed to keep some of his dignity intact

General:

• Lives with her husband Eddie and her neice Catherine
• Throughout the play, she is portrayed as a loving and caring character, but can be assertive if her family is involved e.g. when she suspects Eddie has unconventional feelings towards Catherine
• Is there to give advice to Catherine about dealing with how to act around Eddie, or about her feelings towards Rodolpho
• In Act 2, she shows more dislike towards Eddie, after (in her view) he has been criticising Rodolpho too much, and after Eddie called immigration
• Is shown as a family person throughout the play, and even after everything Eddie has done wrong, she still loves him

Relationships with other characters:

• Eddie: husband
• Catherine: neice
• Marco: cousin
• Rodolpho: cousin

"I didn't even buy a new tablecloth; I was gonna wash the walls"- showing how she takes great care in the comfort of her family and the welfare of others

"I'm just afraid if it don't turn out good, you'll be mad at me"- showing early signs of her fear towards Eddie, and her eagerness to make him happy

"She is angering. 'I don't understand you'"- showing immediately her and Eddie's differing views on how Catherine should be treated and how free she should be to make her own choices

"When am I gonna be a wife again, Eddie?"- showing her care towards Eddie and her worry about whether she is not being a good enough wife

"You're not a baby anymore, what are you going to do with yourself?"- showing how she has spotted Eddie's feelings towards Catherine, and showing her warning to Catherine to grow up, or to stay controlled by Eddie

"I wish I'd a drop dead before I told them to come"- showing how it would have been best if the cousins didn't come (in her opinion), to avoid the problems with Eddie and Catherine

"With fear, going to Eddie"- showing how even Eddie's own wife has become scared of him and his actions towards the other characters in the play

"The we all belong in the garbage"- Beatrice's selfless nature is shown, as she doesn't want Eddie to feel worse from Catherine's comments

"The truth is not as bad as blood"- showing how she wants Eddie to realise he can never have Catherine so she can go back to being his wife, or so she can help him get over Catherine

"He dies in her arms and Beatrice covers him with her body"- showing that in spite of everything Eddie has done to ruin their lives, Beatrice still loves him

General:

• Lives with her uncle  Eddie and aunt Beatrice
• Gets engaged to Beatrice's cousin, Rodolpho
• At the start of the novel, she is naive and acts like a child towards Eddie
• She is constantly worrying about how Eddie views her
• Her attitude changes when Beatrice confronts her and tells her to 'grow up' and stop acting like a child around Eddie
• Her attitude changes further when Eddie hands Rodolpho and Marco over to immigration
• At the end of the play, she feels sympathy for Eddie and takes back what she said about him

 Relationships with other characters

• Eddie and Beatrice: neice
• Rodolpho: Fiancee
• Marco: Lodger/relative

"You like it?"- repetition of this phrase shows her eagerness to impress Eddie

"He's practically blonde!"- her wonder at Rodolpho's hair colour shows her childlike nature and reflects how Eddie views her (as a baby)

"With an edge of anger, embarrassed before Rodolpho"- early signs of her later turn against Eddie, and also showing her obvious adoration towards Rodolpho, as she doesn't want him to think badly of her

"He thinks I'm a baby"- showing how Catherine feels restricted by Eddie and what he thinks of her

"I'm afraid of Eddie here"- showing how her fear of Eddie has grown, and how she wants to be as far from him as she can

"I think I can't stay here no more"- same as above

"I'm going with him, Eddie"- showing how she is starting to stand up to him, which acts as a build up to her later excursions

"I don't want nobody else"- shows her loyalty towards Rodolpho and her growing anger and resentment towards Eddie

"To hell with Eddie. Nobody is gonna talk to him again if he lives to a hundred"- shows how she has had enough of his criticising and controlling nature, but also shows how she doesn't want Marco to hurt him either (protective)

"Who the hell do you think you are?"- shows her anger at him and her character transformation from a naive baby to a more independant woman

"I never meant to do nothing bad to you"- Shows how she did always respect Eddie, even after he took away Rodolpho and disrespected the family 

General:

• Lawyer
• His character remains the same throughout the play
• He is "The Bridge"- one foot in Italy, one foot in America (fairly judging the values of both countries)
• Acts as a chorus- common in Greek plays, they say the events as they happen (like a narrator)
• Helps mainly Marco and Eddie in the play, acting as a "voice of reason"

Relationships with other characters

• Eddie: client
• Marco: client

"Sat there powerless as I"- aware that he couldn't do anything to prevent Eddie's death and feelings, showing how he can be accepting of bad things

"My first thought was that he had committed a crime, but soon I saw it was only a passion that had moved into his body"- portrayed as an observant character and aware of people and their needs, especially if said person needs help

"I'm only a lawyer"- accepting of the fact all he can do is help, but he can't change inevitable outcomes

"There is too much love for the daughter, there is too much love for the neice"- aware of Eddie's situation before he is, and is further aware of his position to warn and advise

"Morally and legally, you have no rights"- he is very concious of Eddie's feelings and he is trying to help Eddie get over them by forcefully warning him

"Only God makes justice"- further demonstrates Alfieri being powerless and hsi power only to advise, but also shows importance of religion

General

• One of Beatrice's cousins
• Illegal immigrant from Italy
• Becomes engaged to Catherine
• There is little character change in Rodolpho throughout the play
• He expresses his thoughts and feelings freely
• He is turned over to immigration by Eddie, along with Marco for being an illegal immigrant

Relationships with other characters

• Beatrice: cousin
• Marco: brother
• Catherine: fiancee
• Eddie: lodger/relative

"I want to be an American. And then I want to go back to Italy when I am rich"- showing Rodolpho is very ambitious, as he wants to become a citizen of a country he wasn't born in and get lots of money

"Indicating Catherine: 'especially when they are so beautiful'"- showing that him and Catherine will soon get together, but also revealing Rodolpho as having a flirty nature (he is not scared to flirt with others around)

"I have respect for her, Eddie"- showing that he cares for Catherine and wants Eddie to deem him worthy to marry his neice

"In deference to Eddie"- showing how he is scared of Eddie, making Rodolpho seem weak (as he is male)

"You are not a horse, a gift, a favour for a poor immigrant"- showing his respect for Catherine and showing that Eddie's views on Rodolpho are wrong

"You will kill a family"- awareness of Eddie's strength, but also showing how Rodolpho cares for his brother and his families wellbeing

General

• One of Beatrice's cousins
• Illegal immigrant from Italy
• Doesn't speak much, but when he does it is for a purpose (never much small talk)
• At the start of the play he shows respect for Eddie allowing him and Rodolpho to live with them
• He is turned over to immigration along with Rodolpho after Eddie let the govornment know
• At the end of the play, he disrespects Eddie and kills him with a knife

Relationships with other characters

• Beatrice: cousin
• Rodolpho: brother
• Eddie: lodger/relative

"Marco comes with a certain formal stiffness to Eddie"- showing Eddie respect at the start of the play, also showing how Marco is trying to make a good first impression

"Marco shakes him affectionatley"- showing that he cares for and respects his brother (Rodolpho), but also showing potential sympathy, knowing his brother may not achieve his goals

"Nobody kids Marco"- showing that marco is respected, even among people that he doesn't necessarily know e.g. colleagues

"A glare of warning into a smile of triumph"- showing how Marco is stronger than Eddie, and showing that Marco is aware of Eddie's issues, knowing he can stop them

"Marco spits into Eddie's face"- showing that honour is an important value to Marco, and that he disrespects Eddie for taking his honour away

"He killed my children"- showing that family is important to Marco, and that he further disrespects Eddie for preventing him sending money to them