Who’s Responsible for the final tragedy in ‘A View from the Bridge’?

Nowadays, family loyalty is not as common in families as in used to be. Think about your family, does it revolve around loyalty or something else? In the play, ‘A View from the Bridge’ written by Arthur Miller their whole family life revolves around loyalty and is an everyday duty. But evidently shown the pressure of family loyalty can push you to do things that might not be in your nature to do. It begins when Eddie and Beatrice give refuge to two Italian immigrants, whom are Beatrice’s cousins named Marco and Rodolfo. Once they arrive everybody’s feelings of lust, jealousy and anger begin to become stronger and stronger. But this still leaves the question open†¦Who or what is responsible for the final tragedy? Catherine joined the Carbone family when her mother died; they willingly took in and dedicated their life to take care of her. Eddie shows to be a caring and protective father especially when Catherine wants to go out in a short skirt, Eddie is not very impressed and says ‘You’re walking wavy’ and he doesn’t like they way men look at her in the candy store (‘I don’t like the looks they’re givin’ you in the candy store. . He seems to have this lead on Catherine over what she does and how she does it. But when Beatrice (Eddie’s wife) has her cousins come over illegally from Italy Catherine’s childhood days and behavior seems to slowly be drifting away as Catherine and Rodolfo begin to realize their love for each ot her; but not if Eddie has anything to do with it. At the beginning of the play, Eddie is clearly shown as an over-protective father figure over Catherine. At first his relationship with Catherine is publicized as a typical father-daughter relationship; he disagrees with things she says and he’s never content with her personal relationships. But Catherine also shows that she feels quite close to him when Beatrice reveals ‘You still walk around in front of him with just your slip’ and ‘you sit of the edge of the bathtub talkin’ to him when he’s shavin’ in his underwear’ This shows that Catherine is very comfortable with Eddie but it may be that its her being that comfortable that leads Eddie to want more than a father-daughter relationship with her. When Marco and Rodolfo arrive there is a clear attraction between Catherine and Rodolfo and this is only the start of a big problem in Eddie’s eyes. When Beatrice says â€Å"if it was a prince came here for you it would be no different† This shows that even Beatrice knows what Eddie’s doing but she said it’s going to be like this with every guy Catherine is with. Also that he will always love her, no matter who she loves. Beatrice is shown as a sensitive woman in a view from a bridge, she may not be shown as a must needed character but in fact there is more to Beatrice than we think. In the play we get the feeling that once Rodolfo and Marco arrive she wants everything to be perfect so when Eddie gets upset with the relationship with Catherine and Rodolfo she starts to snap at Eddie a lot more. I know this from when Eddie says 2you didn’t used to jump me all the time† but it kind of shows a caring side to Beatrice; she wants her cousins to have a comfortable and loving home to live in while they stay in America. Beatrice suggests that recently Eddie hasn’t been treating her like a wife and their love life hasn’t been all that it could be when Beatrice snaps at Eddie saying â€Å"When am I going to be a wife again, Eddie†. This lack of loving for his wife is probably because of his recent obsession with his niece’s relationship, he wants to be noticed by her because he detests that she has someone to love. Beatrice slowly starts to realize what Eddie is trying to and his involvement with Catherine when Beatrice says â€Å"You want somethin’ else Eddie and you can never have her! † (Catherine) By this point in the play it is pretty clear that Beatrice is telling the truth. But I don’t think Beatrice is stating what needs to be said, I think that she is attacked Eddie with this statement because she is annoyed of Eddie and jealous of Catherine because she is getting the loving from Eddie that Beatrice tries so hard to get, just a little bit of. Beatrice has a habit of laying out the truth to her loved ones, but in the end she sucks up to Eddie and does what he tells her to do; I see this when Eddie doesn’t want to go to the wedding and Beatrice makes her â€Å"own† decision to stay at home with Eddie and not go. At the beginning of the play Marco is shown as quite a chilled out person. As the reader we now he is a man devoted to her family and the loyalty that keeps them so close. He is so devoted that he had to leave his wife and children back in Italy to come and work in America. One of Marco’s first good qualities we see is a peacemaker; he is constantly trying to calm the tense atmosphere between Eddie and Rodolfo and in Eddie’s eyes his other good quality is being masculine and Eddie’s friend Louis describes as â€Å"A regular bull† and says â€Å"He’s a regular slave† I think this means he works hard. He tells Rodolfo to be respectful to Eddie when they have arguments but I think this is only because he wants to makes his welcome as long as possible so he can work for his wife and children. But when Eddie snitches to immigration Marco’s innocent feelings and peacemaker quality disappears. He almost turns into a completely different person. In the eyes Eddie, Rodolfo is an evil man who has only traveled to America to steal Catherine from him. When in fact he is just there to get money for his brother’s family and falls in love with Catherine. We know that Rodolfo can sing but he tends to sing in inappropriate places, such as; the house and down at the docks (these are places were they could easily get caught). We know a lot of good things about Rodolfo but not any bad things†¦and that’s what drives Eddie mad. So Eddie accuses Rodolfo of only wanting a relationship with Catherine to become an American Citizen. But when Catherine asks him (â€Å"Would you still want to do it if it turned out we had to go live in Italy? †) he replies â€Å"No; I will not marry you to live in Italy. I want you to be my wife, and I want to be a citizen†Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ if Rodolfo really just wanted to be an American Citizen why would he reply with such an honest answer? His masculinity is tested when Eddie decides to â€Å"teach† Rodolfo how to fight (â€Å"come on, I’ll teach you. †) but Eddie takes advantage of him and boxes him straight in the face. Eddie thought that this showed that Rodolfo was gay but maybe he just didn’t want to fight? But then Eddie kisses Rodolfo to try and say that he is gay, but it didn’t work. In my opinion it made Eddie look quite silly because there was no reaction. Catherine, the beautiful seventeen-year-old girl; She is in the middle of the love triangle. She is portrayed as a loving daughter. She loves Eddie; He took her in a brought her up as his own and they are shown with a good father daughter relationship. Eddie Notices everything about Catherine her hair, new out fit (at the beginning of the play), she likes that he’s noticed but she doesn’t no that it’s really his secret desire fore her; Whereas Beatrice notices this when her cousins arrive. This is when we see a different side of Eddie, when he starts to get really jealous. Eddie becomes persistent I finding ways and excuses with stopping Catherine from going out with Rodolfo; this puts a strain on their relationship. But when Eddie kisses Catherine it just ruins the relationship, Catherine realizes what has been happening and is fuming at her uncle. Reputation is a big thing through this play and there are many things which let us know about this. When Eddie has a convosation with Beatrice and he talks about Rodolfo, he says â€Å"I’m ashamed. Paper doll they call him. Blondie now† this shows that Eddie is worried and doesn’t want to ruin his reputation down at the docks. Next big clue that respect and reputation is a big thing in this family is when Eddie shouts â€Å"I want my respect! † Eddie says this after he has turned in Marco and Rodolfo; in my opinion he has probably lost all respect for himself and is asking respect from other people in order to feel better. When Marco and Eddie are fighting in the street Marco shouts â€Å"That one! He killed my children! That one stole food from my children! † when he says this in front of the whole neighborhood this destroys Eddie’s reputation with the community. Eddie replies â€Å" Gonna take that back or I’ll kill him! † this shows Eddie will do anything to get his reputation back and he is not joking. The long lasting respect Catherine has for her uncle in lost (â€Å"You got no right to tell nobody nothing’, Nobody! The rest of your life, nobody! †).