Write about Miller's presentation of Eddie Carbone in "A View from the Bridge" and consider the version of masculinity that he presents in contrast with the other men in the play and how he deals with his life in America.

Authors Avatar

Eddie is doing the best for his family: he is attempting to install positive values and support Catherine in her life.  He is merely misunderstood”

Write about Miller’s presentation of Eddie Carbone in “A View from the Bridge” and consider the version of masculinity that he presents in contrast with the other men in the play and how he deals with his life in America.  How are the audience meant to react to him.

The above quotation about Eddie Carbone is true to an extent, but then one could argue that it isn’t true.  To determine that the quotation is true, we need to look at the character of Eddie Carbone, to see whether he is doing the best for his family, rather than for himself.  It is also necessary to examine whether he is attempting to install values and support Catherine for her future life or is he just doing what he does for his own personal self.  After examining Eddie’s character, it will become clearer to us what Eddie’s motives are.  It is essential to see how Eddie behaves in different situations and depending on how people act towards him and whether they provoke him to behave in the manner that he does.

One of the main themes in ‘A View from the Bridge’ is Eddie’s masculinity.  It is clearly seen that Eddie’s masculinity is very important to him. He has many expectations of how a man should behave, it seems that if any men behave differently from him he dislikes them.  The fact that he comes from a Sicilian background is another reason for the version of masculinity he presents in ‘AVFTB’.  As Eddie comes from a Sicilian background, he believes that the man should be the leader of the household and dominate over women.  He has an idea in his mind that there is a way to be Italian looking and a way to behave in the “Italian Manner”.  He believes that a man should be strong both physically and emotionally and that they should indulge in typical manly activities such as sport, drinking, women etc.  Eddie’s name and reputation in the community are also very important to him.  

From the moment Rodolpho and his elder brother Marco arrive in New York, Eddie dislikes them.  He is resentful towards Rodolpho, this is because Catherine seems to like him and he can’t accept this and also because he gets hints from the way in which Rodolpho behaves that he is gay.  However he dislikes Marco because he tries to protect Rodolpho.  We will look at his motives for this later on.  He soon realises that Rodolpho and Catherine are getting close.  It is clearly seen in ‘AVFTB’ that one of Eddie’s greatest motivations for his actions is his secret desire for Catherine.  It seems that he can’t accept the fact that Catherine is growing up and becoming a woman.  He tries to protect Catherine in every way possible. He doesn’t just to try to protect her when Rodolpho arrives, it starts from the beginning of the play.  You could say that his desire to protect Catherine when Rodolpho arrives becomes much greater, that’s all.  In ‘AVFTB’ we realise that Eddie has a secret desire for Catherine because of the way he acts towards her and the way he talks to her, but it seems that she just thinks that he is acting in a fatherly manner towards her.    

Eddie: “ I think it’s too short…… you’re walkin wavy…...you ain’t all the girls”

Here it is clear to see that Eddie is trying to protect Catherine.  He explains to her that he doesn’t like the fact that she wears revealing clothes and the way she walks because she gets male attention. Eddie says “You ain’t all the girls” by this he is trying to imply that you are not all the girls you are my girl.  He still thinks that Catherine belongs to him and again he can’t accept the fact that Catherine is growing up.  In ‘AVFTB’ one could say that because Eddie is attracted towards Catherine his desire to protect her is so great he tries to control her life.  But it could also be said that the reason why Eddie tries to protect Catherine is because he doesn’t like the male attention that Catherine gets.

“What job she’s gonna finish school”

“Eddie you won’t believe it”

“No, no you gonna finish school, what kinda job? What do you mean?..”

“Listen a minute.”

“…Why didn’t you ask me first before taking a job”

Join now!

In this particular extract, we see that Eddie insists that Catherine should finish school, because he knows that if she goes to work she will meet new people and Eddie is scared that he will lose her and also because he feels threatened by this. In this extract there is another example of Eddie’s manhood because he believes that he should have been consulted first.  This also proves the point that he is overprotective towards Catherine before Rodolpho arrives and becomes close to Catherine.

     

In ‘AVFTB’ it is seen that Eddie treats Beatrice very differently ...

This is a preview of the whole essay