A View From The Bridge

Eddie is a very prejudice person and is extremely stereotypical. “I want my respect. Didn’t you ever hear of that? From my wife.” He believes men are better than anyone else and they must look and act a certain way otherwise they aren’t manly at all. “Shocked, horrified, his fists clenching.” He believes that women should do as the men in their life say, “I heard enough! Come on, let’s go!”

Eddie is the protagonist of the play. He has a very particular view. He is adamant that men should be a certain way with their women and has very specific views on what they can and cannot do, “he is incensing himself and little bits of laughter even escape him as his eyes are murderous and he cracks his knuckles in his hands with a strange sort of relaxation.” When Rodolpho begins to treat Catherine how he feels to be right, a princess, Eddie refuses to accept the fact that he isn’t homosexual. “Rodolpho making you a dress?” and “Come on kid, put sump’m behind it.” Rodolpho asks Catherine to dance, does everything he can do for her and makes sure she is happy. “My heart dies to look at you.” This leads to conflict with Eddie. He makes out that this is the wrong way to treat a woman. He only acts in this way because he is jealous of the relationship between Rodolpho and Catherine. “Eddie stands there with tears rolling down his face as he laughs mockingly at Rodolpho.” He does his utmost to make Rodolpho out to be a thug who isn’t right for Catherine. He gets Rodolpho to fight him as he believes that’s what a man should be able to do, “Betcha you have done some, heh?” When Rodolpho refuses he becomes more and more adamant he is homosexual. “Well, I don’t know how to . . . I don’t want to hit you Eddie.” He continues to get him to fight and when he eventually does he prolongs it as long as he possibly can so that Catherine can come into the room to see her `love` hitting her uncle. “Look at him go!” However, when Catherine doesn’t see the situation Eddie wanted her to he gets more and more wound up which leads to him going to the immigration bureau so that Rodolpho is forced to leave the country. Eddie enjoys the fact that he has been able to be a proper man and fight and win. However, when Marco steps into confront him his views change and he doesn’t like the fact that he isn’t `King pin` and isn’t the best anymore. He feels threatened by Marcos behaviour which again leads to conflict. This again gives Eddie more incentive to go to the Immigration Bureau and report them for being in the country illegally.

Marcos behaviour proves him to be extremely cunning. He has a plan that will surely bring down Eddie’s confidence. He brings a chair into the scenario and puts it down in front of himself and Eddie. He asks Eddie to lift it. He does this as lifting a chair by its leg with one hand is the hardest thing for anybody to do. It is a fantastic way to prove exactly how much of a man you actually are. Marco believes that Eddie is bullying his brother, Rodolpho and therefore challenges him to see exactly how much of a man Eddie actually is. When attempting to lift the chair above his head Eddie fails miserably but when Marco attempts it he is very successful. “Marco is face to face with Eddie, a strained tension gripping his eyes and jaw, his neck stiff, the chair raised like a weapon over Eddie’s head – and he transforms what might appear like a glare of warning into a smile of triumph, and Eddie’s grin vanishes as he absorbs his look.” Now, the possessiveness Eddie had over Catherine seems to have deteriorated. Eddie doesn’t seem to be that confident anymore.