A View From The Bridge

Character Analysis (Act One)
Alfieri:
* He is very wise – he knows exactly how things will happen.
* Overlooks his connections to the law and allows the illegal Italians to stay hidden.* When helping Eddie, he sticks to what the law dictates.
* With his choric function, he acts as an agony aunt to Eddie, advising him.

Eddie:
* Mocks Rodolfo to boost his own ego andundermine him.
* Possibly has a latent homosexual feeling for Rodolfo.
* Constantly picks on Rodolfo’s feminine traits to cover up his own sexuality and hidden feelings.
* He rarely losescontrol of the women in his life – the control helps to reinforce his manliness.
* Quite a sexual man – takes pleasure in Catherine lighting his cigar and cigars and newspapers are phallic.

Beatrice:* Trys her best to support Catherine.
* More confident than she realises
* She surprises herself when she retaliates to what Eddies says/does
* Knows where a woman’s place shouldbe but wishes for Catherine to break away from this stereotype.
* She doesn’t mind that Rodolfo may only want Catherine for his papers – she just wants Catherine to get away from Eddie.
* Sheis tenacious and very frank in the way she speaks to Catherine – she doesn’t baby her.

Catherine:
* Idolises Eddie and naively believes his feelings are limited to just an uncle/niecerelationship.
* She is suspicious of Rodolfo – Eddie has raised doubts.
* She hints at some form of abuse from Eddie.
* She could be seen as quite manipulative (possibly lying to Rodolfo about theabuse to see if he would take her to Italy.)
* She is extremely emotionally connected to Eddie; her emotional intelligence is higher than a lot of people.
* She shares the traditional view ofwhere a woman’s place is and what a woman must do.

Rodolfo:
* He makes dresses, cooks and sings – all feminine activities.
* Does not want to take Catherine back to Italy; he wants them to...