A view from the bridge character

Characters

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  • Created by: Hannah
  • Created on: 02-05-11 17:05

Eddie Carbone 1

  • Eddie is 40 years old, an American of Sicilian decent. He is described as "a husky, slightly overweight longshoreman
  • generous to offer a home to Beatrice's cousins, but slightly wary and self-protective or selfish - he reminds Beatrice not to let them sleep in his bed.
  • doesn't trust people easily. tells Catherine, "the less you trust, the less you be sorry."
  • concerned about his honour and protecting his good name. ends the tale of the Vinny Bolzano, "a guy do a thing like that? How's he gonna show his face?"
  • protective of Catherine, brought up as if she were his own daughter. paid for her typing lessons, had ambitions for her to rise to a different class. proud of her looks, concerned about the attention of men and her new job. finds it hard to admit that she has become a woman. "I guess I just never figured... that you would ever grow up."
  • feelings for Catherine become more obsessive,try's to prevents Rodolpho from marrying her. He tries to undermine Rodolpho.
  • mocks Rodolpho's skills at cooking, singing and sewing, claims he is homosexual and tells Catherine that he only wants her to gain US citizenship.
  • tries to get the law involved amazed when Alfieri says that nothing can be done.
  • tries violence: he 'teaches' Rodolpho to box as an excuse to hit him, then fights with Rodolpho when he knows Rodolpho has slept with Catherine.
  • He calls the Immigration Bureau is a last desperate attempt to stop the wedding: he cares so much for Catherine that he is prepared to break his code of honour.
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Eddie Carbone 2

  • end, he loses everything: Catherine, his wife, his name. no option but to fight Marco- death. Ironically, his death restores some of his lost honour because he does not try to escape his fate.
  • Eddie wants his name similar to John Proctor In the Crucible 'I want my name'
  • conflict that ends his life recalls other conflict:
  • Verbal conflict with all the other characters at some point. Even jokes are bitter. Difficult for any characters to be completely at ease with Eddie
  • Physical conflict with Rodolpho.
  • Conflict within himself as he grapples with his love of Catherine.
  • Eddie emotion to Rodolpho demonstrates how emotionally unstable and irrational he.
  • when own relationship with Catherine is threatened-breaks code of honour
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Beatrice Carbone

  • loving, caring person. She is excited by the imminent arrival of her cousins and worried that everything is not just so for them, yet also "nervous"
  • defers to Eddie and lets him control things in the home. Before the arrival of her cousins, she is anxious not to upset him: "I'm just worried about you."
  • aware of Eddie's feelings for Catherine, such as when she avoids Eddie's gaze when Catherine fetches his cigar. This becomes more obvious when she confronts Eddie about the state of their marriage: "When am I gonna be a wife again, Eddie?"
  • supports Catherine and encourages her to be independent. She helps Catherine persuade Eddie to let Catherine go out to work and, later, tells Catherine she must stand up for herself. "It means you gotta be your own self more."
  • brave enough to tell Eddie the truth: "You want somethin' else, Eddie, and you can never have her!"
  • remains loyal to Eddie, choosing to stay with him rather than attend Catherine's wedding. She is rewarded for this with Eddie's dying words - "My B!"
  • 'If you act like a baby and he be treat in you like a baby. Like when he comes home sometimes you throw yourself at him like when you was 12 years old' `(32)
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Catherine

  • 17 years old, the orphaned daughter of Beatrice's sister Nancy.
  • attractive, energetic and cheerful. Yet she is also naive - she has never known anything of life outside the Carbone household.
  • She loves Eddie like a father.
  • She wants his approval for everything that she does: right at the start, she is desperate for him to admire her new skirt.
  • she is too familiar with Eddie now she has grown up: Beatrice tells her 'You cant act the way you act still walk around in front of him in your slip' - shocks and saddens Catherine - the stage directions say, "She is at the edge of tears, as though a familiar world had shattered." She had never before imagined there was anything wrong with her relationship with Eddie.
  • tries to encourage Eddie to talk to Rodolpho: "Why don't you talk to him, Eddie? He blesses you, and you don't talk to him hardly."
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Comments

Sonal

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This was really really useful. Thanks! But, a bit of the Eddie bit is cut off :) But otherwise it's really useful!

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