By the end of Alfieri’s first speech, the audience knows that the events they are watching will be ‘bloody’ in their conclusion, “sat there powerless as I watched it run its bloody course”.
Alfieri identifies Eddie Carbone as a hero of this particular tragedy.
Eddie is a simple, straightforward man who ‘worked on the piers when there was work, he brought home his pay, and he lived.
He is seen to be funny and kind. He is anticipating the arrival, illegally, of his wife’s cousins. He is also seen to be over protective of his orphaned niece, Catherine as her maturity is increasing. He is increasingly sensitive to the arrival of ‘the cousins’ especially Rodolfo to whom immediately Catherine becomes attracted to. The sexual part of Eddie’s relationship breaks down and Beatrice continues through the play to make him face why this may be, “when am I going to be a real woman again, Eddie?”
Beatrice has reason to be jealous but is generous to Catherine at all times. She knows Eddie has done a terrible thing in calling the authorities, but stands by him.
Beatrice talks to Eddie and to Catherine, but her relationship to Eddie seems more that of a friend than a wife and lover.
Catherine brings him a beer or lights a cigar; Beatrice tells us that she sits on the edge of the bath while Eddie shaves, and walks around in her slip and Catherine explains to Rodolpho how she can sense Eddie's moods: "I can tell a block away when he's blue in his mind and just wants to talk to somebody..." Catherine is, seventeen, but socially inexperienced, both little girl (Rodolpho calls her this) and adult woman; to Eddie she acts both as daughter and as lover; she is a simple, pretty girl from Brooklyn but Eddie sees her as a "Madonna". Madonna literally means "my lady", in Italian - the language of Eddie's native land.
Western drama originates in the Greek tragedies of Sophocles, Aeschylus and Euripides, all of whom wrote in Athens in the 5th century B.C. Drama, theatre, actor and tragedy are all Greek words. In these plays the tragic hero commits an offence, often unknowingly. He must learn his fault and suffer.
Eddie is a very normal man, decent, hard working and charitable, a man everyone liked but, like the tragic hero of ancient drama, he has a weakness. This, in turn, causes him to act wrongly. The consequences destroy him. After Eddie, Alfieri is probably the most important role in the play. Miller has said that he wanted to make this play a modern equivalent of classical Greek tragedy. In the ancient plays, an essential part was that of the chorus: a group of figures who would watch the action, comment on it, and address the audience directly.
In A View from the Bridge, Alfieri is the equivalent of the chorus. He speaks of events in the (recent) past. This is often mixed with comments: "He was as good a man as he had to be...he brought home his pay, and he lived. And toward ten o'clock of that night, after they had eaten, the cousins came". We also trust a lawyer to be a good judge of character and rational. Alfieri is quite involved. His connection with Eddie is casual: "I had represented his father in an accident case some years before, and I was acquainted with the family in a casual way". But in the next speech, Alfieri tells us how he is so disturbed, that he consults a wise old woman, who tells him to pray for Eddie. He repeatedly tells Eddie that he should not interfere, but let Catherine go, "and bless her", that the only legal question is how the brothers entered the country "But I don't think you want to do anything about that". As Eddie thinks about the betrayal, Alfieri reads his mind and warns him: "You won't have a friend in the world...Put it out of your mind". In the dramatic events we may forget, as Marco lifts the chair, or as Eddie kisses Rodolpho, that Alfieri is narrating. We sum up if Eddie appeals to us; Alfieri makes sure we also judge carefully.
The structure of the play is quite simple. Originally a one-act drama, he tries to keep Catherine from falling in love with Rodolpho; in the second, he finds he has failed in this, and first throws Rodolpho out of the house, then tries to have him deported as an illegal immigrant, which begins the fatal scene with Marco. Action is most important in this play. Sometimes this is apparently minor detail, but at times it is highly symbolic. When we see Catherine serve food (p. 11) or offer Eddie a beer (p. 5) or light a cigar for him (p. 15), when we hear of how she sits on the bath as he shaves and walks around in her slip, we read about their relationship. Without being lovers, they have the kind of vibe only lovers should have. Later in Act One, we see Eddie sitting, reading the paper, while Marco reads a letter; Rodolpho helps Beatrice stack the dishes and then reads a movie magazine with Catherine. What this suggests is that sometimes moments of high drama. Rodolpho teaches Catherine to dance, this action suggests physical closeness; Eddie, to "win back" his Madonna, humiliates Rodolpho in a boxing "lesson" The two kisses at the start of Act Two are effective in the book: one of them illustrating Eddie's mistake in questioning Rodolpho's sexuality.
One very important prop is the record player. Which is used in the dancing episode, to play Paper Doll. At the start of the play a foghorn tells us where we are. Lighting is used theatrically, as the phone booth glows brighter and brighter, symbolising Eddie's idea, then and determination, to call the immigration officials. Eddie uses Brooklyn slang ("quicker" for "more quickly", "stole" for "stolen" and so on). His speech is simple, but at the start of the play is more colourful, as he tells Catherine she is "walkin' wavy" and as he calls her "Madonna". Rodolfo speaks about vivid details of his life in Sicily, as when (p. 46) he uses metaphorical language to compare Catherine to "a little bird" that has not been allowed to fly. Marco says little, which, on stage, gives two ideas: that Marco is thoughtful, causing him to think rather than speak. There is symbolism in the play's title. After we see have seen the play, we wonder why the play is named what it is. I read the book with enthusiasm and thoroughly enjoyed the first scene however within the next couple of pages I was physically yawning which leaves me thinking that he has also begun writing like I have, firstly with much enthusiasm and care with words but as time drags on and your hand and back begins to ache it goes down hill from there, it seems to me that the first act has been carefully and lovingly written however the second act feels like for some reason it may have been rushed I am left wondering what this is, but I suppose I will never know. I strongly feel that this ruined all the characters and the uniqueness of the play, it ruined the feeling.
I can relate to Beatrice but none of the other characters strangely. Thinking of the characters as real people that I vaguely knew I would never talk to Catherine I cannot relate to naïve people I see the world as I see it and to me she gives of a weak feeling. I do however believe she has an evil streak I believe she is perfectly aware of Eddies ‘crush’ and although she wouldn’t ever do anything about it I think she loves the idea of experience and to have somebody to love other than friends therefore never pulls away or fails to please him. Rodolfo, I believe is taking advantage of her naivety he wants a quick romance and I’m perfectly adamant that he knows full well that in the near future he will be gone.
But things go wrong when he realises how much he feels to Catherine. Its one of those relationships that which goes round in circles, one minute its all great and the next its over! However the impact of Eddie’s Death may break the cycle leaving another mystery. Beatrice is the only character who makes sense to me, she is a normal woman, and she has what seems like real feelings, jealousy, love and depression.
To conclude conclude, I wouldn’t suggest this as an interesting read although the end and all the mysteries left for the reader to consider leaves me feeling rather confused.
