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 in the way in which he treats Catherine. Beatrice tries to distance Catherine and Eddie, this is why he treats Beatrice badly. She explains to Catherine that because she is beginning to become a woman she should act in a different way towards Eddie. She says things like “You still walk around in front of him in your slip”. Beatrice may believe that if Catherine didn’t do these things any more, then maybe Eddie will stop liking Catherine and begin to like her again. It seems that Eddie begins to realise what Beatrice is trying to do. As a result of this he tries to portray Beatrice as a woman who is stupid. He does this so that Catherine does not listen to Beatrice’s advice and views. The family have a discussion about whether or not Catherine should go to work.
Beatrice: “Be the way you are, don’t listen to him”
Eddie: (to Beatrice strangely and quickly resentful)
“You lived in a house all your life, what do you know about it?” Act one
This clearly shows that Eddie does not like the fact that Beatrice is giving advice to Catherine. He says to Beatrice that because she has lived in a house all her life, she doesn’t know anything about the outside world. This is again also being prejudice towards women. Another thing that Eddie seems not to like and which makes him angry is Beatrice disagreeing with him. Eddie is trying to make the point that, because Beatrice is a woman and that she is domesticated she doesn’t have a clue what the world is like outside of the house. But then one could argue that she is not stupid at all because she realises that Eddie likes Catherine and the way in which he treats her is not as a father but as a lover and he does this for his own personal pleasure.
In ‘AVFTB’ Eddie has vicious suspicions that Rodolpho is homosexual, this probably would have not bothered him as much if Catherine wasn’t fond of Rodolpho. He comes up with the most ridiculous reasons for why he thinks Rodolpho is some what feminine. It seems that he will go to any extent to prove what he thinks. He does this because he believes that if Rodolpho is not in the way then he can get closer to Catherine. Basically one could say that Eddie is jealous of Rodolpho because Catherine is attracted towards Rodolpho and not him.
Eddie: “And that wacky hair, he’s like a chorus girl or sump’m” Act one
This shows us that just because Rodolpho doesn’t have black or brown hair Eddie believes that he is effeminate. This statement proves how ridiculous Eddie’s view’s are.
Beatrice: “Well it’s good he could always make a living”
Eddie: “It’s wonderful he sings, he cooks, he could make dresses…..” Act one
At this point in ‘AVFTB’ it is clear to see that Eddie is being sarcastic about what he says, however Beatrice is very serious and she praises Rodolpho. It seems that Eddie is some what jealous that Beatrice is praising Rodolpho. The statement tells us that Eddie believes that these activities are only meant to be for women. Eddie believes that a man should not do anything in the least which is domesticated. It could be said that he is some what jealous that Rodolpho has all these skills, but he is too frightened to carry them out because he might lose his respect from the neighbourhood. Eddie is very stereotypical and sexist and some what backwards, it is because he has no solid proof or evidence that Rodolpho is gay he tries to take snide digs at him and try to humiliate him.
When all Eddie’s plans fail in trying to prove and hint that Rodolpho is homosexual and effeminate to Catherine, so that she is put off Rodolpho, Eddie consults Alfeieri, the lawyer. Alfieri explains to Eddie to let Catherine do what she wants to do. But he ignores his advice and decides to report the two illegal immigrants Marco and Rodolpho to the immigration, because he believes that this is the only way in distancing Catherine and Rodolpho. But instead of distancing them from each other, he manages to distance himself from Catherine. This is because Catherine realises what kind of a man Eddie really is.
We know Eddie’s name and reputation in the neighbourhood are very important to him because he totally forgets about what he is doing to the people close to him and all he is bothered about is getting respect of the neighbourhood. This is shown when at the final stages Eddie keeps on demanding Marco to get his respect back “wiping the neighbourhood with my name.” One could argue that if he wasn’t bothered so much about respect he would have not been killed by Marco.
In ‘AVFTB’ it is clearly seen that both Rodolpho and Marco are very different to Eddie. It is also seen that from the moment the immigrants arrive Eddie attempts to demonstrate his manliness and to try and prove that he is just as Sicilian as them. Throughout the play Marco is seen as a quite, self-contained and polite person. However when Eddie tries to test Rodolpho’s strength by challenging him to a boxing match, things begin to change. It seems that Marco has realised what Eddie is attempting to prove, it also seems that Marco could accept it when Eddie made snide digs at Rodolpho such as “he cooks, he sings etc, but when he hits Rodolpho, we see the other side of Marco for the first time in ‘AVFTB’. Eddie challenges Rodolpho to a boxing match to try and hint to Catherine and Beatrice that Rodolpho is homosexual. This some what makes Marco angry, but because Marco is living under Eddie’s roof he doesn’t say anything. He tries to get revenge in some way because he cares about his family very much that is the reason why he came to America, so that his family could live a better life back in Italy. To get revenge and demonstrate his masculinity, Marco challenges Eddie to a challenge of his own. He asks Eddie to lift a chair with only one leg. He does this because he is trying to humiliate him, like he attempted to do to his younger brother. Eddie attempts the task.
“He tries again, but fails”
“Marco is face to face with Eddie, a strained tension gripping his eyes and jaw, his neck stiff, the chair raised like a weapon above Eddie’s head….”
Here we can see that Marco is questioning Eddie’s authority because Eddie had violated his. Marco wanted to demonstrate to Eddie that he has strength and he is there to protect Rodolpho. One could argue that Marco set this task for Eddie because he believed that no matter how many times Eddie will try, he will still fail. Marco is attempting to hint to Eddie that he is weak because he failed the task, and that he is not as manly as he thinks. At this point in ‘AVFTB’ one could say that Miller has used the word weapon in the stage directions, to make it clear to the audience that Marco is threatening Eddie. In other words one could say that Marco does not like to use his tongue as a weapon but he some what prefers to use his physical strength as his weapon. We can see that Marco contrasts with Eddie however he keeps his views to himself and does not open his mouth to show what he thinks, he demonstrates his views in other ways like threatening Eddie with a chair. The only point in ‘AVFTB’ when Marco argues or shouts is when he discovers the fact that Eddie was the one who reported him to the immigration Bureau, but this was because he was worried about his suffering family in Italy. Unlike Eddie who carries out actions for himself and not for the benefit of others e.g. his family.
Rodolpho is a man who is viewed by some people in the play as effeminate. This may be true in some ways but at the end of the day he is just as masculine as anybody else. It is because of his looks and the activities that he indulges in, is why people think he is gay, especially Eddie and his friends Louis and Mike. Eddie tried to prove in every way possible that he was gay, for instance by having a boxing match to prove that he was weak, but every plan failed. One could say that it may be that Eddie is the gay character in ‘AVFTB’ because he is not attracted to his wife and he may just use Catherine as an excuse, but who knows. Another thing that we can say about Rodolpho is that he is understanding and his intentions towards Catherine are sincere unlike Eddie. It is clearly seen that Rodolpho’s masculinity is of a different sort and he does not contrast with anyone in the play. It seems that he is just as masculine as Eddie, but in a different. Just because he doesn’t like fighting, drinking and being chauvinistic towards women does not mean that he is any less masculine than Eddie.
In ‘AVFTB’ it is clear to see that Eddie has come to America to flee from the starvation in Italy, like the majority of Italian immigrants do. This is clearly proven by the fact that Eddie says “Still bad there, heh?” then Marco says “Bad yes” and finally Rodolpho says “it’s terrible…” The situation in Italy of starvation and poverty must have been bad when Eddie used to live there that is why he must have come to America. From the play one could say that the other immigrants are hoping to live better lives in America and eventually move out of the area of Red Hook, which is a stop over area for immigrants before they move on to other areas of America. Most immigrants don’t just escape to America to flee starvation and poverty they come because they believe that they will live better lives in America and get a chance to be part of the American Dream.
Rodolpho: “Me? Yes, forever! Me, I want to be an American. And then I want to go back to Italy when I’m rich, and I will buy a motorcycle.” Act One
This obviously proves that other immigrants in the play are expecting much more from America, than Eddie wants. Rodolpho wants to be rich and he says that he wants to be an American, which indicates that he wants to be part of the American Dream and not struggle.
However in the play Eddie implicates that all he is bothered about is feeding his family and just surviving. It seems that he doesn’t want to have fun or enjoy himself in America and be part of the American Dream.
Eddie: “…If he’s here to have a good time then he could fool around! (to Marco) But I understand Marco that you was both comin’ to make a livin’ for your family…” Act One
At this point in ‘AVFTB’ Eddie is trying to implicate that you should only come to America for your family and to escape starvation and that you shouldn’t attempt to be part of the American Dream.
From the title ‘A View From the Bridge’ it can be seen that there are two aspects of the bridge. One for the immigrants who wish to move on from Red Hook and who see the bridge as a gateway to the rest of America to eventually become part of the American Dream. However there are the other type of immigrants including Eddie Carbone who see the bridge as a barrier between the nit Italian community and the rest of America. It seems that Eddie has lived in Red Hook for twenty years because feels comfortable around his Italian people, it may be that he senses Italy in America here.
It seems that in ‘AVFTB’ all the other immigrants accept that life in America is different for instance Beatrice and Rodolpho realise this. It seems that Eddie believes that because he lives in an Italian community people around him should live their lives how Italians do in Italy. In ‘AVFTB’ there are any examples of Eddie not being able to accept things are different in Italy. For example when Rodolpho takes Catherine out for the night.
Eddie: “I know but in your town you wouldn’t just drag off some girl without permission, I mean….”
Eddie is telling Marco to control his younger brother Rodolpho by telling him that he shouldn’t take Catherine out and bring her back so late at night. He compares America with Italy by saying in your town this would not happen. It seems that Eddie does not realise that he is in America, it seems that he still thinks he is in Italy, or it may be that he thinks if it doesn’t happen in Italy it shouldn’t happen in America.
As you know ‘AVFTB’ is seen as a play and not a text, so it is necessary to examine how an actor playing Eddie Carbone could be put across to the audience. It seems that an actor would have to be very talented to play the role of Eddie. The actor would probably have to take centre stage and dominate in the amount of performance space he has. The actor would also have to have a typical Brooklyn accent, have a high pitched voice and be extremely loud. All of the above things have to be taken into account to ensure that Eddie is seen to be the most masculine character in the play and the most important. His voice would have to be loud and he would have to take centre stage and have the most performance space to ensure that most attention is drawn to him in the play. The fact that he should have a typical Brooklyn accent is to portray him as an illiterate man. All of these things have to be done so that it is left up to the audience whether or not Eddie is a hero or not, because before the audience watch the play they may read a play guide in which it says that Eddie is the hero, so this is why it is necessary to dominate in the play.
From the text we can get clues into how an actor playing Eddie would perform, for instance facial expressions would be a very important aspect because Eddie is frequently asking questions for example “You mean a regular?” , so the actor would have to make it obvious to the audience that he is asking a question. The stage directions in the text need to be acted out in a way that creates atmosphere and excitement because without these the audience will not see the true side of Eddie. For example we wouldn’t realise that Eddie tries to kill Marco in the latter stage of the play. The actor would have to show all the aspects of Eddie Carbone i.e. Show his true colours by exposing himself to the audience as a perverted and wicked character, through facial expressions, speech and movement. Speech is an essential element of the performance of the actor, because without this element one can not see what Eddie’s intentions are, for example “It’s wonderful he sings, he cooks, he could make dresses…” , from reading the text it seems as though Eddie is being sarcastic, but if acted out as a play the actor would have to have a grin on his face for example to show that he is being sarcastic.
But towards the end of the play the actor would try and convince the audience to sympathise with him and make him look like a caring and loving man who just wanted his respect and was only thinking for the best for his family. He would do this by having less of everything like performance space, loudness of volume etc. which would make him look more kind and thoughtful. One could say that the audience would react to the character of Eddie Carbone as being an evil and self-centred character. It could also be said that the audience will not sympathise with the character of Eddie Carbone at all, after seeing what his intentions are (by examining his facial expressions and movement on the stage, and hints in the way in which he speaks), to see whether or not his motives for his actions are sincere or not, however some people may believe that he didn’t deserve to die. It could also be said that if the actor playing Eddie lacks in one particular area such as facial expressions, the audience may get the wrong impression.
After examining the character of Eddie Carbone, one could argue that he is not doing the best for his family at all. It can also be said that he is definitely not attempting to install positive values and support Catherine. If he wanted to support Catherine and install positive values in her life, he wouldn’t do things such as kiss her on the mouth or try to separate her from the man that she loves just because he dislikes him. It can be said that he is not doing the best for his family in anyway because he is too bothered about his respect from the neighbourhood and his status in the household that he doesn’t know what he is doing to his family and the way in which he is hurting them. The words that can sum up Eddie Carbone are selfish, ignorant and self-centred, this is because in ‘AVFTB’ all he is bothered about is himself and whatever he does is for his benefit and nobody else. From all of the above it can be clearly seen that Eddie is not doing the best for his family at all and he is without doubt not misunderstood.