Discuss Eddie Carbone as the tragic hero of the play

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Discuss Eddie Carbone as the tragic hero of the play

 

One who is neither villainous nor exceptionally virtuous, moving from happiness to misery through some frailty or error in judgement.”

    The above opening quotation is from Aristotle, which is his view of what elements a tragic hero contains. This essay will investigate the destiny of the main character Eddie Carbone also known as a tragic hero, as illustrated by Arthur Miller in ‘A view from a Bridge’ against Aristotle’s view of a tragic hero. The play takes place in Brooklyn in a working-class Italian-American neighbourhood which is hooked by a social code.

    Eddie Carbone a husband and supposedly father who raised an orphan niece as a daughter due to a death bed promise. A longshoreman working on the docks, working hard in life that was hard; on the other hand a good man not intentionally trying to be mean, but the downfall to his life faces him when his niece falls in love with one of the immigrants, a young handsome man, which is hard for Eddie to cope as his inner thought of his love for the niece is too much that he does not admit but is persistently protective as he is obsessed with her and is scared of anyone stealing her, in other words it shows his jealousy.

    Eddie seems to have an obsessive love for his niece Catherine which he covers up and puts the situation across that he is responsible for what she does; the truth is he doesn’t want her to be in the company of other men or lose her to them:

“Katie, you are walkin’ wavy! I don’t like the looks they’re givin’ you in the candy store. And with them new high heels on the sidewalk – clack, clack, clack…I promised your mother on her deathbed. I’m responsible for you. You’re a baby, you don’t understand things.”

This is said by Eddie and the dialogue used does not seem realistic, as if he exaggerating his anger and the point he makes goes to an extent of using an onomatopoeia to explain the actual sound the shoes make and what it causes. It clearly indicates he is angry and is using all these excuses to avoid the fact that he is jealous if she is in company with other men, but doesn’t want the truth to be revealed so he continually protects her:

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Eddie:       That ain’t what I wanted, though.

Catherine: Why! It’s a great big company –

Eddie:       I don’t like that neighborhood over there.

Catherine: It’s a block and half from the subway, he says

Eddie:     Near the Navy Yard plenty can happen in a block and a half. And a plumbin’ company! That’s one step over the waterfront. They’re practically longshoremen…I know she’ll be in the office, but that ain’t what I had in mind.’

 At this point we can see that Eddie is not very happy or impressed with Catherine’s decision, on top of that ...

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