Given that Eddie Carbone only ever explicitly expresses his passions and desires once in the play, how does Arthur Miller make them so memorable?
Much of Arthur Miller’s play A View from the Bridge works to create the impression that Eddie Carbone is disgusted by Rodolpho’s effeminate appearance and supposed homosexuality. He uses this as an argument against Rodolpho’s suitability as a husband for Catherine. When Eddie’s own homosexual desires are revealed, then, they strike us as completely antithetical to these sentiments. It is this irresolvable and perplexing contradiction that makes his repressed homosexuality, rather than his incestuous desire for Catherine, so memorable for the audience.
Eddie lives in a community where intolerance greets any man who does not conform to the most parochial definition of masculinity, an intolerance that Miller clearly articulates through the minor characters Mike and Louis. While Mike and Louis reverently point out Marco’s physical strength when working at the docks, Rodolpho, “that blond one,” is instead said to have “a sense of humour.” This remark isn’t obviously pejorative, but Mike and Louis “grin,” “snicker,” and become “hysterical” as they voice it. The discrepancy between their speech and behaviour points to an underlying and unspoken insinuation. Of course, “a sense of humour” is a stand-in for what they see as Rodolpho’s difference compared to Marco. Marco conforms to their definition of masculinity: he is physically strong, and works quietly and diligently. Rodolpho does not, and they mock this difference, revealing their intolerance.
