Characters, Themes, And Settings sheet

A view from the Bridge

Beatrice
Quotes :

“I didn’t even buy a new tablecloth; I was gonna wash the walls” (to Eddie,
Catherine - opening scene)

➢ This quote demonstrates how houseproud Beatrice is, as she panics over
insignificant details such as a tablecloth. It also describes how appearance,
reputation, are important in this society, an idea that will be further developed
throughout the play.

“I don’t understand you...you gonna keep her in the house all her life?” (to Eddie -
opening scene - discussion about Catherine’s job)
 ➢ This comment informs the audience of Beatrice’s point of view of the situation:
she wants Catherine to grow into an independent woman, free of Eddie’s
controversial love for her.

“When am I gonna be a wife again, Eddie?” (to Eddie - Eddie and Beatrice’s fight
while waiting for Catherine and Rodolpho who went to watch a film)
➢ This is the first time she speaks up about her unhappiness in their union. She
snaps when her husband accuses her of indifference over Catherine and
Rodolpho’s relationship, as she wants Eddie to realise that he cannot continue
ignoring her.

“Eddie, I want you to cut it now, you hear me? I don’t like it.” (to Eddie - Eddie and
Beatrice’s fight while waiting for Catherine and Rodolpho who went to watch a film)
➢ She is fed up by Eddie’s behaviour, as he creates problems everywhere he goes,
and does nothing to stop them. She wants their relationship to go back to how it
was before he loved Catherine.

“He should let you go...if only I tell him, he thinks I’m just bowling him out or, or
maybe I’m jealous or something’” (to Catherine - their discussions about Eddie)
➢ She wants Catherine to grow up, no matter what Eddie says. She brings up his
love for her to make her realise that her behaviour affects her too, but she quickly
brushes it off as she doesn't want to create any trouble.

“Now go, go to your wedding, Katie, I’ll stay home”. (to Catherine - final scene)

➢ Near the end of the play, Eddie forces Beatrice to choose between him and
Catherine as he forbids her to attend his niece’s wedding. She chooses to stay
with Eddie, even though he has hurt her deeply. This shows just how much she
loved him.

“You want something’ else, Eddie, and you can never have her!” (to Eddie - final
scene)

➢ This quote further indicates that Beatrice knows Eddie’s true feelings. As he runs
after Marco, Beatrice tries desperately to stop him: she doesn’t want any trouble
and tries again to prevent any unwanted fights. She is stuck between defending
Catherine, Rodolpho and Marco, with whom she agrees, and Eddie who she
loves.

Key moments:
★ Discussion with Catherine about Eddie
★ Fight with Eddie about their relationship as well as Rodolpho and Catherin’s one
★ Final scene, as she confirms her love for Eddie
 Eddie
Quotes:

“I don’t like the looks they’re givin’ you in the candy store...The heads are turning
like windmills” (to Catherine - opening scene)
➢ This discussion introduces Eddie and Catherine’s relationship: he is criticising
her outfit, arguing that it is too provocative, even though she’s 17. He also calls
by names such as “baby”. The audience already suspects that something is
wrong, feelings that will be confirmed later on.

“You'll never see him no more ... How's he gonna show his face” (to Catherine,
Beatrice - opening scene)
➢ Eddie tells the story of Vinny Bolzano, when he reported his own uncle to
Immigration Bureau. It shows how reputation is important in Red Hook, as Vinny
is now considered an outcast, and foreshadows Eddie’s own tragic fate.

“Katie, he’s only bowing to his passport” (to Catherine - discussion with Catherine
after coming home from the cinema)
➢ Eddie is seeking to destroy Catherine and Rodolpho’s relationship as he wishes
her to be around him more, he is jealous of the time they spend together. He is
trying to influence Catherine into making her break up with Rodolpho.

“I don’t know, B. I don’t want to talk about it.” (to Beatrice - Eddie and Beatrice’s
fight while waiting for Catherine and Rodolpho who went to watch a film)

➢ This quote demonstrates that he doesn’t want to fix his relationship with his wife,
as he doesn't want to admit that there’s a problem and therefore that he’s in love
with Catherine.

“Wiping the neighborhood with my name like a dirty rag! I want my name, Marco!”
(to Marco - before getting stabbed)
➢ Here, fighting for his reputation is just an excuse to release all the anger he
accumulated throughout the play. He knows that he has gone too far to be
 accepted in society again, just like Vinnie, and he thinks that the only thing left to
do is take revenge on the brothers, perhaps to show that he is more powerful
than them.

“Something perversely pure calls me from his memory...he allowed himself to be

wholly known.” (Alfieri ‘s ending monologue)
➢ Here Alfieri is saying that even though Eddie had many flaws, he admires him for
his determination and commitment to his overriding feelings.He also appreciates
that, even though unintentionally, he was transparent about his thoughts and
opinions. He therefore remembers him with sympathy.

Key moments:
★ Discussion with Catherine about her job/future
★ Fight with Beatrice about their relationship as well as Rodolpho and Catherine’s
one
★ Visit to Alfieri
★ Discussion with Catherine about Rodolpho
★ Final scene, as he dies
 Rodolpho
○ → "It's wonderful. He sings, he cooks, he could make dresses."
○ → "He's a blond"
● The playwright insists on the femininity of Rodolpho which impacts the way the
reader sees him.

○ → “He’s a nice fella, hard working’, he’s a good-looking’ fella.”

● Beatrice thinks he’s kind, this tells us that Beatrice even though she is linked by
marital bond to Eddie, she will probably support Rodolpho in case there is a
problem.

○ → “with that wacky hair; he’s like a chorus girl or sump’m.”

● Eddie is extremely jealous of him. He says he sings too much, that he acts like a
girl, that he’s homosexual. Throughout the play, Eddie builds up on those
element to create a feeling of hate towards the poor Italian Brother, also making
the reader despise him for the things he says about Rodolpho

○ → “would you still want to [get married] if it turned out we had to live in Italy?”
● In love with Catherine
● She also wants to get married
● But Eddie made her temporarily suspicious, she then realizes it is the right thing
to do.

○ → “It is my fault Eddie. Everything. I wish to apologise”

● Rodolpho doesn’t really like Eddie but he doesn’t want it to affect his and
Catherine’s relationship. At some moments he does have to stand up for himself
to hold his ground, but he doesn’t like it either.
● Wants to make up for his brother’s actions at the end

○ “He dreams, he dreams”

● Marco finds Rodolpho too naïve especially when it comes to his dreams. With
this quote the playwright shows Marco’s Exasperation about Rodolpho’s
behaviour.
 Marco
➢ “He is a square-built peasant of thirty-two, suspicious, tender and quiet-
voiced”

➢ The playwright emphasises how Marco has authority over his brother “you
come early now Rodolpho” which shows how he feels responsible for keeping
his brother out of trouble and also feels responsible for what he does as we
see when he says“I’m sorry Eddie” when Eddie asks Rodolpho to back off of
Catherine.

➢ He has a wife and three children, the eldest of whom is “sick in his chest”.
He hopes to spend “Maybe four, five, six years I think”in America, working
and saving money. When he talks about his children, he tells his hosts that
“They eat the sunshine”.According to Marco it is his responsibility as a
father and husband to go to such lengths to provide for his family lest his
family quite literally starve to death.

➢ Marco has a great sense of honour, going as far as to theatrically spit in

Eddie's face to shame him for his actions and, in the final moments of the
play, killing Eddie in cold blood for his actions in a tragic greek style.

➢ Marco’s role in the play is a major one, he is Rodolpho’s protector, he serves

as a model of masculinity and a way of informing the audience watching this
play in the early 1950s of the terrible poverty striking Italy. Marco is the
honest, hardworking “Bull” who arrived in Italy with dreams of providing for
his family but finds himself crashing into the brick wall that is the reality of
being unwelcome in this false eutopia. And, eventually, after having been
reported and arrested, resorts to murder as the revenge of a despairing
father. Marco might well be the hidden protagonist of the play with it’s main
message being the story of the forbidden love of Eddie Carbone, but the
subconscious message being the situation of Italian immigrants. 70 years on
we remember the plot of treachery and murder, however, at the time, the
 theater that was mainly attended by the middle and upper classes would
have served as a means of putting the pour in the spotlight and making them
realise the sort of real-life drama that was occurring in their own country.

Alfieri:
Quotes:
❖ “Another lawyer, quite differently dressed, heard the same complaint and sat there as powerless
as I, and watched it run its bloody course”
➢ Extracted from the prologue. Indicates that the play will follow the footsteps of greek
tragedy because of the presence of a chorus, that being Alfieri himself. This isn't
speculation because the chorus cannot interfere with the events of the play and neither
can Alfieri.

❖ “Because there's no law Eddie; make up your mind to it; the law is not interested in this”
➢ This quote is extracted from the first meeting these two characters have in act 1. From
this quote we see that Alfieri is giving advice to not a client but a friend. Because there is
no reason for the law to be involved, this means that to Alfieri, Eddie is not just a client,
he’s a friend.

❖ “I could see every step coming, step after step; like a dark figure walking down a hall to a certain
door. I knew where he was headed for,, I knew where he was going to end. And I sat here many
afternoons asking myself why, being an intelligent man, I was powerless to stop it.”
➢ Extracted from after Eddie and Alfieri’s first meeting in Act 1. This reinforces the claim
that Alfieri is the chorus of this greek tragedy.

❖ “To promise not to kill is not dishonorable. No? No. then what is done with such a man. Nothing if
he obeys the law, he lives. That’s all.”
➢ Extracted from after he frees Marco and Rodolpho. This quote shows that despite being à
man who lives off the code, he is still a man of the law.

❖ “I tremble for I confess that something perversely pure calls to me from his memory not purely
good, but himself purely, for he allowed himself to be wholly known and for that I think I will love
him more than all my sensible clients. And yet, it is better to settle for half, it must be! And so I
mourn him I admit it with a certain … alarm.
➢ Extracted from the last paragraph of the play. Once again emphasises the fact that Alfieri
recites the last phrases of the play which explain the fate of the tragic hero.

Key Moments:
 ➢ Prologue
➢ Advising Eddie (Act 1)
➢ Advising Eddie (Act 2)
➢ Freeing and advising Marco
➢ Eddie’s death

Manliness/masculinity:
The theme of masculinity and manliness in A View from the Bridge, by Arthur Miller is
key. We can see that when the audience is introduced to the Carbone family in act 1, the
character with the most authority is Eddie Carbone, the breadwinner of the family and
the man of the house. This is because in the context of the 1950s, women were not men’s
equals therefore women were treated like objects by men and the decision of men was
not questioned. Seeing as Eddie is the only man in the family everything must be
approved by him, for example Catherine wanting to take up a job. However his
unchallenged authority came to an end with the arrival of Beatrice’s cousins Marco and
Rodolpho. This is because Marco’s masculinity rivaled his own when it comes to family
roles; Marco and Eddie both have a family to provide for and they both do so by working
as longshoremen. In addition to that, Marco’s physical strength surpasses Eddie’s as we
can see in the end of act 1 when he is able to lift the chair over his head when Eddie was
not able to. Furthermore, Eddie’s authority is also rivaled by the presence of Rodolpho.
This is because he is Catherine's love interest and he influences her a lot and Eddie feels
that he is losing his control over his niece. This forces Eddie to question Rodolpho’s
manliness by stating that he is a really blond guy who likes to sing, cook and make
dresses. Overall, the theme of masculinity and manliness is mentioned many times in this
play.
Justice and law:
The fact that the audience’s guide through the events of the play is Alfieri, a lawyer, suggests
that issues of law and justice have a central importance in A View from the Bridge. Throughout
the play, the law fails to match up with various characters’ ideas of justice. From the beginning,
the presence of illegal immigrants questions the justness of strict immigration laws that force
Marco and Rodolpho to hide in Eddie’s apartment, after making a perilous journey to America in
the hopes of honest work. As Eddie grows suspicious of Rodolpho, he asks Alfieri for help, but
Alfieri tells him he has no legal recourse as Rodolpho has done nothing illegal. Eddie is then
upset because he feels that Rodolpho’s behavior simply isn’t right, and that he should have
some way of getting justice for Catherine and himself. When Eddie finally turns on Rodolpho
and Marco, he is behaving legally, and helping the Immigration Bureau enforce the law. But, in
doing so, he is also betraying his own family, and in this way not delivering justice.

After Marco is put in prison, he wants his own form of justice through revenge, but Alfieri warns
him not to violate the law and appeals to a higher form of justice when he tells Marco that he
should leave the question of justice to God. For Marco, the law is in conflict with his idea of
natural justice, and so he goes on to stab Eddie. If Eddie chooses the law over justice in turning
Marco and Rodolpho in, Marco chooses his own form of justice over the law in killing Eddie.

As these examples suggest, the play can be read as displaying the failures of the law to
guarantee real justice. Alfieri describes himself as powerless several times, emphasizing his
inability as a man of law to stop the tragic events of the play. However, those who try to take
action on behalf of their own ideas of justice regardless of the law end up causing themselves
and others harm. When he has no legal recourse to separate Rodolpho and Catherine, Eddie
turns Rodolpho and Marco in, setting off a chain of events that ostracizes him from his family
and neighborhood (and also leads to his own death). And Marco’s attempt to find justice by
killing Eddie results in only more pain for his family, with Eddie’s tragic death at the end of the
play. The play can thus be seen as rather ambivalent about the relationship between justice and
the law: the law does not necessarily cover all issues of right and wrong adequately. Not all that
is legal is right, and not all that is illegal is always wrong. But at the same time, the play cautions
against taking justice into one’s own hands, which both Marco’s and Eddie’s actions reveal to be
a dangerous, not to mention ineffective course of action.
Community/individuality:
While the community of Italian-American immigrants and naturalized citizens is largely in the
background except for Louis, Mike, and Alfieri, it is very clear that it is nonetheless an important
component of the story. Eddie isn't just hurting Catherine, Beatrice, Marco, and Rodolpho by
turning the brothers in to immigration officials; he is betraying his community by ignoring the
dangers of working with the government, getting Lipari's relatives deported, and generally
eschewing the unspoken rule that one looks out for one's own. In America, ethnic enclaves
were tightly-knit because they had to be; they needed to survive in a country hostile to them.
 Setting:
Red hook, Brooklyn, New York
➢ Working class, poor
○ “people in this neighborhood lack elegance” (prologue - Alfieri)
○ “slum”(prologue - Alfieri)
➢ Port - longshoremen
○ “gullet of New York swallowing the tonnage of the world” (prologue -
Alfieri)
➢ High criminal rate
○ “Al Capone … (learned) his trade on these pavements” (prologue -
Alfieri)

The Carbones
➢ Breadwinner = Eddie = longshoreman
➢ Live in a tenement building
➢ Working-class
➢ Have Italian origins
➢ Raised Eddie’s niece whose mother passed away

1950’s
➢ Post WW2
➢ Italy had a lot debts to pay off

Catherine:
Physical Description and Background:
Attractive, 18 years of age,
Relation Towards other Characters:
Eddie:
● He was like a father to her and treats him in a childish and affectionate way:
“talkin’ to him when he’s shavin’ in his underwear.” This only fuels Eddie’s
overprotectiveness even more.
● Doesn't feel like an adult yet and still feels dependent on Eddie’s decisions about
her own life. Doesn't feel comfortable making her own decisions Even though she
knows it is best for her: “See, He looks so sad now and it hurts me.”
● She later becomes more conscious and starts to understand what Eddie is doing
and defies his overprotectiveness: “(flushed with revolt) You wanna dance
 Rodolfo”. She does this to seem more independent and make Eddie understand
that he can no longer intervene in their relationship.
● Completely detests him at the end of the play for his unjust actions: “How can
you listen to him? This rat!”
Relations with other characters:
Catherine:
● Possessive and overprotective towards Catherine even though she is already a
woman: “And with them new heels on the sidewalk [...] The heads are turning
like windmills”
● Always tries to find a reason for her not to be in a relationship with men (cynical):
“Katie, he’s only bowin’ to his passport.”
● Secretly has feelings for her since he treats his relationship with Rodolfo as a
competition: “Of him? Boy, you don’t think much of me.”
● Refers to her as a possession: “he’s stealing from me” —> misogynistic society