A View From The Bridge GCSE style questions

EDDIE: Just remember kid, you can quicker get back a million dollars that was stole than a word that you gave away.

What does this quote reveal about Eddie's character when taking into consideration the events over the course of the play?

This quote was said at the start of the play in act one, where Beatrice's cousins haven't arrived yet. Eddie is lecturing Catherine about the importance of not telling anyone that the cousins are illegal. It reveals the irony and and madness of Eddie's character. At the end of the play, he calls the immigration bureau on Beatrice's cousins, much like Vinny Balzano in the story that he tells. Miller sets up Eddie as furiously against betrayal that his transition from against betrayal to the betrayer seems completely illogical. This requires Eddie to go through a complete change within the play. The force of this change not only reveals his mad, self-destructive tendencies, but also how deep his unspoken love for his niece is.

The fact that he says this after the Vinny Balzano story reveals one key feature: he knows his own fate. He knows what would happen to him if he called the immigration bureau, and yet he still does this. Much like Alfieri, Eddie knows his own fate, but can do nothing but sit and watch it 'run its bloody course'. He knows what he will do at the end of the play will kill him…