Eddie is presented as a forceful, energetic and obsessive protagonist, How far do you agree?

Authors Avatar

English Essay – A view from the bridge

‘Eddie is presented as a forceful, energetic and obsessive protagonist’, How far do you agree?

In answer to this, I agree to a certain extent with the statement, the points about being forceful and obsessive especially.

Eddie is the main character of the play. He is husband to Beatrice, uncle by marriage and also the only fatherly figure to Catherine. Marco and Rodolpho are cousins of Beatrice, therefore family, but not by blood, to Eddie. Alfieri acts as both narrator and character in the play, he is Eddie’s lawyer.

Act one starts with Alfieri and his monologue, setting the play. It then moves on to a scene with Eddie and Catherine. Eddie has just arrived home to find Catherine dressed differently to normal, more grown up. Eddie is displeased by this, and tells her, when she is offended and responds, Eddie says ‘Now don’t aggravate me, Katie, you are walkin’ wavy! I don’t like the looks they’re givin’ you in the candy store’, the way Eddie says this, with an exclamation mark, suggests that he is annoyed and angry, he is acting very protective about Catherine, even though she is 17 years old and not his real daughter, this shows that he is being very forceful. The next stage directions are ‘Catherine almost in tears because he disapproves’, this shows that the way that Eddie said this, angrily and forcefully, was upsetting to Catherine. Eddie persists through the scene about Catherine’s appearance, showing that he can be obsessive, but drops it when Beatrice enters and he reveals the news of the cousins’ arrival. Eddie is then told about Catherine’s job offer, he is reluctant at first, asking all kinds of questions such as ‘Where’s the job? What company?’ showing that he is disturbed about the possibility of Catherine taking a job, and needs to know more. He is eventually persuaded into letting her take the job, and he says ‘But believe me, Katie, the less you trust, the less you’ll be sorry’, this shows that Eddie maybe has trouble trusting people, and he is obsessive about Katie, and her safety where she is experiencing new situations and people, such as in work.

Join now!

The point about trust is also emphasized when the cousins arrive, at first Eddie seems energetic, he is laughing shaking hands, making friends with the cousins. Marco is presented as the older brother, he is married and has three kids, whilst Rodolpho has no plans to marry and consequently has no children.  Whilst they are talking about money, the stage directions say ‘Eddie, coming more and more to address Marco only’, which shows that Eddie has decided that Marco is the more responsible out of the two cousins, the one with more authority. Because before their arrival, Eddie was ...

This is a preview of the whole essay