A View from the Bridge York Notes

At first there is a lively, intimate relationship between them. Beatrice, however, believes Eddie is smothering Catherine. His jealousy of Catherine’s relationship with Rodolfo leads to tragedy.

Eddie sees manliness as knowing where the boundaries are. Other men are the enemy if they intrude. He feels Rodolfo is a ‘weird’ because he has ‘feminine’ interests.

The Red Hook community knows that the law does not provide justice. Eddie and Marco want justice but Alfieri warns that the law cannot help.

Part of the community code is that illegal immigrants will be protected. Eddie emphasises this. Yet he breaks the code when he betrays the cousins.

Alfieri says that when full justice is demanded it often leads to disaster. He believes that most times people should ‘settle for half’ and accept that the law is satisfactory.