Why and How Does Eddie Carbone Change As The Play Progresses? What Leads to His Death? How Do You Think an Audience would respond To the Changes in his Personality As They Watch Him Destroy Himself?

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A View from the Bridge

Why and How Does Eddie Carbone Change As The Play Progresses? What Leads to His Death? How Do You Think an Audience would respond To the Changes in his Personality As They Watch Him Destroy Himself?

        Arthur Miller’s A View from the Bridge is set in the 1950s, when communities were forced to reconcile between American culture and the Italian community culture that surrounds.

The cultural and moral difference between the two provides one of the great conflicts in the play. Eddie is made to choose between the two, which questions his loyalty to his family. The play explores relationships. Eddie Carbone is a tragic protagonist who needs to believe that his masculinity denies any sexual desires. To him, being homosexual is “not right”; this shows his insecurity of being a dominant character. His strong emotions for his niece suggest incestuous desires. Becoming suspicious of his own motives, Eddie doesn’t realise these feelings until at the very end.

        His feelings for Catherine are suppressed. He transfers this sexual frustration into a hatred for Marco and Rodolpho, which causes him to act completely irrationally. Eddie’s fear need to secure his good name from Marco is a result of his failure to ‘protect’ Catherine. The community witness his loyalty die away due to his commitment to keeping Catherine to himself, and turning his vengeance into a need for acceptance by spending his last moments fighting Marco for his good name in the community.

        According to Eddie, men should protect the innocent and provide a better life for their family. Because of this devotion, he believes that men should be respected and not told what to do.

“I do what I feel like doin’ or what I don’t feel like doin’”.

This concept stays in Eddie’s mind throughout the play. He exercises his authority. He believes that loyalty should stay strong, not only within a family, but the whole community. The neighbours look out for each other. The audience notices that he’s a character with passionate beliefs.         

        Eddie’s father was a poor immigrant from Sicily. He thinks that he has worked hard to get to where they are now.

“I worked like a dog twenty years so a punk could have her”.

He feels that immigrants should work as hard as he had done. This is why Eddie is seen as a proud man; he has reached so far in life, without any failures as of yet, and is determined to maintain his earned respect. Again, he believes the tight neighbourhood he resides in shouldn’t betray one other, especially if the Italian culture is questioned.

        He lets illegal immigrants stay with him

“They’ll be thankful”.

Readers believe that he’s a generous character at the start, even when he uses this generous act to prove that his loyalty is still strong at the end.

        When suggested that the only thing he could do to get back at Rodolpho was to betray the family, he reclined at first.

“Oh, Jesus, no, I wouldn’t do nothin’ about that, I mean-“.

His beliefs for a strong community stayed persistent, until he became confused over his motives. Even when believing that Rodolpho is “stealing” from him, he doesn’t do this because he’s already losing his respect, due to his feelings for Catherine, and fears that his desires could be revealed. The audience already see that he’s changing from an over-protective father-figure to a jealous, bitter man who isn’t going to give up on what he wants. When suggesting that Rodolpho had stolen from him, we see that he isn’t generous anymore; readers wonder if his act of generosity was genuine.

        He even demands that Marco apologise to him in the presence of his community. He thought that having his neighbours – ones who had once respected him – watch the illegal immigrant he had taken in apologise to him, he would still be appreciated. This would also stop the accusation of betraying the community.

“You gonna apologise to me, Marco!”.

He’s determined to earn back his honour when his paranoia made him believe that all respect was lost even before it actually was. He had completely forgotten his beliefs of keeping a tight-lipped community.

        “Well, you kept her a baby”.

He prevented Catherine from discovering independence because he had wanted her for himself. His feelings were stronger than that of a father-figure and niece. The relationship between Eddie and Catherine seems harmless at first; it just seems as though Eddie is an overprotective guardian of his niece in her increasing maturity, because he and Beatrice don’t have a child of their own.

“I think it’s too short”.

He puts Catherine down for many reasons: to show he cares, to prove his superiority, masculinity and to prevent her from growing up so she can remain his.

        Through his actions and various clues from other characters, Eddie’s romantic feelings toward Catherine are revealed.

“…stares at the smoke flowing out of his mouth”.

The first indication of Eddie’s sexual desires is Eddie’s delight as Catherine lights his cigar. Eddie’s great attention to his attractive niece and impotence in his own marital relationship makes this association clear. The audience realise his love for Catherine is overpowered by his incestuous desires. We begin to wonder what these desires will teach Eddie, or make him become.

        He becomes increasingly sensitive to the presence of Beatrice’s cousins, especially Rodolpho, because of his obsession with Catherine. Consciously unaware of his feelings for Catherine, he suppresses his urges.

“You want somethin’ else, Eddie, and you can never have her!”.

As an inarticulate man, the readers see that Eddie’s unable to realise, speak or comprehend his own feelings for Catherine. The suppression of feelings devastates Eddie as he has no outlet for them, even in his conscious mind. His feelings manifest themselves into fierce protectiveness and eventual rage at Rodolpho, who has caught Catherine’s attention.

“He’s practically blonde!”.

Because of his inability to deal with his feelings, Eddie becomes jealous. He feels jealous because he has failed in ‘protecting’ Catherine from discovering independence.  This jealousy towards Rodolpho (who is actually another uncle to Catherine) causes him to reveal the illegal immigrants, which ruins his reputation and destroys his own rules for loyalty. He knows he can’t do anything more for Catherine to be his, but get rid of Rodolpho.

“I want to report something Illegal Immigrants”.

        Eddie betrays his family our of his sexual desire for Catherine, but he won’t acknowledge it as he may be afraid to – if he’s afraid of his sexuality then he isn’t going to attempt to reveal to himself any other hidden cravings.

“The guy ain’t right…”.

He accuses Rodolpho of being homosexual, hinting it many times to prove to Catherine that he isn’t ‘man enough’ for her. This suggests that she should stay a child, who should admire him immensely. Readers can see he is a very strong willed and protective person. It’s almost as if Eddie’s hidden feelings are becoming open to not only the readers, but other characters. He becomes envious of Rodolpho. Rodolpho triggers Eddie’s secret feelings to express. His feelings may not change (but develop), but his beliefs do.

        He’s so determined to stop the marriage that he begins to believe that calling the Immigration Bureau will have no repercussions.

“Morally and legally you have no rights, you cannot stop t; she is a free agent”.

His desire for Catherine destroys him as the play progresses. He grows jealous, which leads him to become blind to his own beliefs. After all this, the audience begins to think that Eddie should escape his dream world and let go of Catherine, but he’s too attached.

        Eddie’s death becomes inevitable. When we learn of his obsession for Catherine, we realise that he will eventually need to let go in order to move on.

“If I take in my hands a little bird, and she grows and wishes to fly. But I will not let her out of my hands because I love her so much, is that right for me to do?”.

Rodolpho, who tries to understand, convinces Catherine that he’s just an overprotective parent who loves her very much. Eddie refuses to let go of Catherine, so becomes committed to destroying Rodolpho – even if it hurts Catherine – in order to have her. When we notice how he isn’t going to give up on this, we take heed of the inevitable tragedy.

        Eddie, because of his self-interest, lives in his own world where decisions make sense. It’s as if he doesn’t want to be open to the problems that would have any effect on him.

“You used to be different, Beatrice…

I’m no different”.

It’s almost like he changes so much (or so much more is revealed about him) that he makes himself distant to those he cares for, so distant that they’re unable to help him. When readers realise that he has failed to protect Catherine and has failed to retrieve his good name from Marco, we start to wonder about how he will seek redemption and victory. He finds them in death.

        Readers remember that Eddie hasn’t yet realised his own feelings. Because he never really does deny his desires for Catherine to either Beatrice or Alfieri, but rather brushes them off, it seems he may be unconsciously aware of them. This unconscious knowledge of sexual taboo drives Eddie into a self-serving and destructive madness that he can’t control.

“I want my respect!”.

Eddie’s greatest fear isn’t Marco, Rodolpho, or even the loss of his name. What Eddie fears most is disclosure of his secrets – he fears his own being. Readers begin to wonder just when in the play he will face this fear. It’s then even more inevitable that it would be in his death, because then he wouldn’t have to fight for any respect, or Catherine. He can realise, or admit, to what he has been keeping secret all along.        

        Throughout the play, however, Eddie’s character is revealed. He isn’t as ‘innocent’ and selfless as the father-figure at the start.

“Katie, I promised your mother on her deathbed I’m responsible for you”.

It’s as if Eddie had to point out his responsibility to prove to Catherine what she should see him as. It’s innocent in a sense because he’s indirectly denying any sexual desires for her. The readers can see that the struggle to admit his emotions to Catherine will destroy his self-belief. Keeping the promise proves that Eddie’s a man who keeps strong beliefs, and that he thinks people should stick to what they believe.

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        At the beginning, Eddie’s relationship with Catherine seems as though Catherine looks up to Eddie.

“I just got it. You like it?”.

She expects to get his approval. This shows that Eddie inspires the way she acts. Having such control over a young woman suggests that Eddie must enjoy the power of masculinity. The audience can see that Catherine admires his father-figure. Some of the audience could agree with the attitude, as it proves that Eddie has respect.

        Catherine’s admiration for her father-figure could suggest a passion she’s not aware of, which unintentionally encourages Eddie’s behaviour (or her behaviour is ...

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