A View from the Bridge by Arthur Miller. Eddie Carbone
To what extent is Eddie Carbone responsible for his own fate?There is no doubt that Eddie Carbone suffers an unfortunate end especially when we think that he is being shown as a, hard working, law-abiding citizen at the beginning of the play. The play starts to unravel Carbone's character by showing how circumstances can control the actions of a human being to the extent that wrong-doing becomes justified in the person's own mind.This is what happened to Eddie Carbone and his unchecked behaviour leads sadly to his ultimate death. His obsession with Catherine and his opposition to her needs as a human being, eventually destroys him.It starts from small criticisms relating to her appearance and attitude:'Where are you going all dressed up?' and 'you are walking wavy' and 'bringing attention to yourself'. (Act1 pp13/14), and ends with him refusing to recognise her as his 'daughter'.The play circles around Eddie's wife Beatrice, who realises how fortunate she is to live in the USA. She wants to help her relatives in Italy who are living in poverty at the end of the Second World War. This dates the play to the end of
They have looked after Catherine since she was young and brought her up as their own daughter. When he eventually betrays his own family he does so in his desperation to stop Rudolfo marrying Catherine. He can justify his actions in his own mind because he feels that he has been betrayed himself by Catherine and Beatrice's cousins. Eddie has no right to influence Catherine in this way because she has no experience of life yet and cannot make important distinctions, and as Alfieri says,' it is against natural laws'. Arthur Miller with the assistance of the narrator Alfieri makes all of this clear and in the early part of the play gains the sympathy of the audience/reader for Eddie. What if he should lose his reputation as a law-abiding citizen? The audience/reader has some sympathy with this point, but when it becomes clear that Catherine is in love with Rudolfo, the sympathy turns to doubt. He has lost Catherine in every respect and although his wife may still love him she has lost a great deal of respect for him too. Eddie's determination to stop this from happening leads him to tell the immigration authorities about the two men. "You lied about me Marco, Now say it, come on say it!'. As a final act of remorse he ends his own mental torture at the point of a knife and at the same instant seeks absolution from his wife with a word of love. They are both young men and the older of the two, Marco, needs to earn money to support a wife and children back in Italy. She thinks that this is possible because Eddie has shown himself to be a good family man caring for her and Catherine. At this stage the audience is on Eddie's side and feels sorry for him. Other problems follow but they are all related to his changed relationship with Catherine.
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Acceptance Essays
