By repeating accusations of “walking wavy” and drawing men’s attention, Eddie describes his own feelings: she gives him “the willies” and “aggravates” him. He is being protective certainly, but it is something that disturbs him emotionally. He calls her “Madonna type”: trying to impose traditional values of chastity and modesty in a modern culture where short skirts and high heels are the style now and flaunting femininity and sexuality is not frowned upon. Eddie’s determination is fixated on an impossible and unrealistic goal: to keep Catherine in the role that he has envisioned for her as a “Madonna never counting on the fact that she” would ever grow up. Eddie reminds Catherine of the promise he has made to her mother on her deathbed. Eddie says, “Katie I promised your mother on her deathbed. I’m responsible for you. You’re a baby”.
Eddie still thinks of Catherine as a baby “You’re a baby” and this idea prevents Eddie from allowing Catherine to grow up. When Catherine tells Eddie that she was waving at Louis (Eddie’s friend), he gets overprotective and warns Catherine by telling her “Listen, I could tell you things about Louis which you wouldn’t wave at him no more”. He protects Catherine from marriage or any male relationship and wants her for himself.
Before the arrival of Rodolpho and Marco, his absurdly overprotective attitude to Catherine and his non-existent sex life with Beatrice briefly surface as subjects for arguments. Later Eddie’s problem are summed up by Beatrice’s questions, “when am I gonna be a wife again?”, and (to Catherine) “was there ever any fella he liked for you?” .
When Catherine lights Eddie’s cigar in the living room, it gives him unusual pleasure. This possibly warm and affectionate act between niece and uncle has phallic suggestions.
The arrival of Beatrice’s cousins, acts like catalyst, and fuel the rising action of this drama. When Beatrice’s cousins arrive Eddie attempts to be the man of the house and warns Beatrice and Catherine not to tell anyone about the two illegal immigrants, “It never comes out of your mouth who they are or what they’re doing here.” In addition he authorises an incident to Catherine about “Vinny” who snitched about his uncle who was an illegal immigrant to the immigration. He has been ousted by the communities ostracised for the rest of his life and regarded with scorn and contempt. A similar fate is inevitable for Eddie, who is prepared to give up his status in the community to make Rodolpho go back to Italy, as he sees that as the only option available to him.
Once Eddie is aware that one of Beatrice’s cousins, Rodolpho, sings, cooks, makes dresses, he gets angry as for Eddie it is just bazaar behaviour for a man. Eddie is shocked of his feminine quality as it is completely against the concept of masculinity.
That’s first where he begins to niggle away at him and then he goes a little bit further where he thinks he is not a man at all, maybe he is homosexual and that he shouldn’t be with Catherine. He tries to show Catherine that Rodolpho is not the right guy for her as he notices that both of them are attracted to one another. Eddie kissing Rodolpho and then Catherine leads to a catastrophe. Eddie deludes himself into thinking that Rodolpho “Ain’t right” to justify his efforts to discredit him in front of Catherine and does not care about the effect this has on his marriage.
Later on, when Rodolfo and Catherine still haven’t lost interest in each other, Eddie pretended to teach Rodolfo how to box, but is actually trying to humiliate his weakness and lack of masculinity, and he challenges his manliness in terms of strength that Eddie has but Rodolpho lacks. It is unbearable for Eddie not to punch Rodolpho because he thinks he is gay from his attitude and do things that longshoremen do not do. He punches Rodolfo and hurts him.
He believes Rodolpho to be an unsuitable match for Catherine and is trying to protect her from effeminate opportunist. His prejudice against Rodolpho is because he is not conventionally manly.
After all the attempts that Eddie has tried, he fails to change Catherine’s mind, so he has no other choice but to snitch to the Immigration Bureau. He creates a fictional fantasy world where his absurd decisions make sense. He loses all respect and must confront Marco to regain his name. “Now gimme my name and we go together to the wedding.” Eddie exists very much as a part of the community and this gives him his strength and brings about his destruction. As Alfieri says: “he is a victim of a passion that has moved into his body like a stranger. ”
Although Eddie seems unable to understand his feeling for his niece until the end of the play, other characters are aware. Beatrice is the first to express his possibility in her conversation with Catharine. Alfieri also realizes Eddie’s feelings until Beatrice clearly articulates his desires in the conclusion of the play: “you want somethin’ else Eddie and you can never have her.”
His conflict with Rodolpho also shows Eddie’s disapproval of the modern values, criticizing Rodolpho for his carefree attitude to life, spending his pay on “a snappy new jacket … records” Eddie’s determination to impose his traditional values youth immersed in American culture and modern values is doomed to failure as his attitude are shown to be backward and inappropriate and will never be accepted.
Eddie is keen to find any excuse to try and tear Rodolpho and Catherine apart, accusing Rodolpho of being “a weird” and then claiming that he is “looking for his break,” using Catherine to get his American citizenship. Ironically, Eddie’s effort to keep the couples apart only bring them closer together and serve to ostracise himself from Catherine. It also forces Catherine to become independent from Eddie and make her own decisions, saying “I think I can’t stay here no more… I’m not gonna be a baby anymore!”. Catherine comes to think of Eddie as a “rat” who “comes when nobody’s lookin” and poisons decent people.”
Eddie’s relationship with his wife also becomes tenuous, as Beatrice is anxious for Catherine to gain her independence while Eddie is striving for her to remain a “baby” under his influence. This creates a lot of tension between them. It is aggravated by the fact that Eddie expects Beatrice to “believe” him, saying “If I tell you that guy ain’t right, don’t tell me he is right.” Beatrice’s resistance to Eddie’s claims about Rodolpho leads Eddie to think that he has lost his “respect”. It is only at the end when Eddie comes to the realization that it is Beatrice and not Catherine who is most important in his life. By ringing Immigration Bureau, Eddie’s downfall is secured as Marco is set against Eddie, spitting into Eddie’s face and calling him an “animal” and the killer of his children. However, it is Eddie’s refusal to admit his mistakes and that he has disgraced his name by ringing Immigration Bureau that brings about the final confrontation between Eddie and Marco. Marco wants retribution against Eddie for forcing him to go back to Italy, ruining his family’s chances of ever escaping poverty.
While it is Marco that kills Eddie, it is the knife that Eddie drew that is the instrument for his death, signifying self-destruction. Eddie’s downfall is brought about through his own failings and mistakes, rather than the mistakes of others having an impact on him.
In A view from the Bridge, Eddie is portrayed as an over-protective, obsessive man, who does not know the boundaries and who’s logic is flawed when it comes t his feelings. He lives in a bubble, where he expects to get what he desires, thus keeping him away from reality. Only at the end does the bubble burst as he acknowledges his mistake in his last moment. His death in Beatrice’s arms justifies how he still values and seeks redemption and forgiveness from his wife after all he did.
