How is Eddie an interesting character?

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 In what ways is Eddie an interesting character?

        Eddie Carbone is the tragic protagonist of A View from the Bridge written by Arthur Miller. He is forceful, hardworking and possessive of Catherine Eddie creates a fictional fantasy world where his absurd decisions make sense. He is a simple man who has little interests outside of work and family and is too protective of his orphaned niece, Catherine. He�s always laying down laws for her and expecting her to obey him, constantly self-obsessed, wanting to protect his innocence. Consequently as the play develops Eddie is finding it more and more difficult to accept that Catherine is growing up this leads Eddie to change to a more aggressive, angry and jealous person leading to his downfall and eventual death.

        Eddie is depicted as an interesting character by Miller right from the offset of the play as he is portrayed to be an ordinary, everyman figure. This is shown many times during the course of the play, and is highlighted particularly in the opening scenes. One example of this is when Miller first introduces Eddie after Alfieri�s speech, Eddie has returned home from working on a boat as a longshoreman and says �I�ll see ya fellas�.  This reveals that Eddie is a well-known person in the local community and is an everyman. Furthermore the use of language is very casual and slang is used, this contrasts with Alfieri�s speech which was only just previous in the play where he used very formal language. The fact that they are side by side puts more emphasis on the dialogue and slang of Eddie and further demonstrates that he is an ordinary guy. The fact that he is an ordinary person makes Eddie more interesting as a character because the audience can relate to him a lot more and therefore may feel more emotionally attached to Eddie and will take more of an interest in him.

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A further way that Eddie is illustrated as an ordinary person is the way he is protective of Catherine and the way that she is of great concern to him. This is emphasised when he says to Catherine �I supported you this long I support you a little more� I want you to be with different kind of people. I want you to be in a nice office.� This tells the audience that he cares greatly for Catherine, and although he may be overprotective of her, many fathers are protective of their daughters because they care for them and ...

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