A View from the Bridge
Overview
A modern tragedy about a Brooklyn longshoreman named Eddie Carbone,
who is driven to his self-destruction by an obsessive love for his niece and
his betrayal of his family’s honour
Themes
Key themes include:
Justice and the law
Honour and respect
Love and desire
Betrayal and loyalty
Context
The play is set in the 1950s in Red Hook, Brooklyn, the “gullet of New
York”
Main characters
Eddie Carbone
Beatrice (his wife)
Catherine (their niece)
Marco and Rodolpho (Beatrice’s cousins, Italian immigrants)
Alfieri (a lawyer)
Key quotes
“And watched it run its bloody course”
— Alfieri, page 2
“The guy ain’t right, Mr. Alfieri”
— Eddie, page 34
“How can you listen to him? This rat!”
— Catherine, page 68
Key moments
Marco lifts the chair over Eddie’s head (page 46)
Eddie’s violent kiss of Catherine (page 52)
Eddie decides to report Marco and Rodolpho (page 55)
Justice and the Law
The play explores the difference between what’s legal and what’s
truly fair or just
1
Overview
A modern tragedy about a Brooklyn longshoreman named Eddie Carbone,
who is driven to his self-destruction by an obsessive love for his niece and
his betrayal of his family’s honour
Themes
Key themes include:
Justice and the law
Honour and respect
Love and desire
Betrayal and loyalty
Context
The play is set in the 1950s in Red Hook, Brooklyn, the “gullet of New
York”
Main characters
Eddie Carbone
Beatrice (his wife)
Catherine (their niece)
Marco and Rodolpho (Beatrice’s cousins, Italian immigrants)
Alfieri (a lawyer)
Key quotes
“And watched it run its bloody course”
— Alfieri, page 2
“The guy ain’t right, Mr. Alfieri”
— Eddie, page 34
“How can you listen to him? This rat!”
— Catherine, page 68
Key moments
Marco lifts the chair over Eddie’s head (page 46)
Eddie’s violent kiss of Catherine (page 52)
Eddie decides to report Marco and Rodolpho (page 55)
Justice and the Law
The play explores the difference between what’s legal and what’s
truly fair or just
1
