Fatal flaw essay

• Protagonist


  Eddie Carbone
• Eddie Carbone


  • His fatal flaws are self-interest and self-denial which stem from his niece Catherine
  • These cause his downfall
• Eddie Carbone does this (goes against the community) and, in so doing, betrays all his own beliefs</b>
• Miller's key message


  The importance of being able to understand and compromise your own desires with those of around you
• Eddie Carbone


  • An overprotective father figure of his niece Catherine
  • He tries to look out for her in any situation
  • He makes comments about how Catherine looked beautiful in her new skirt and heels
  • He feels uncomfortable that men would be giving their attention to Catherine in a provocative manner
• Eddie tells Catherine "Now don't you aggravate me, Katie, you're walkin wavy"


  He is showing his possessive nature towards Catherine and how he does not like other men being able to see her and gain her attention
• Eddie embarrasses Catherine in front of their family when she is clicking around the apartment in heels


  He questions her heels, representing his controlling over Catherine as he disapproves of her femininity and growing womanhood
• Eddie refers to Catherine as "Garbo" and "Madonna"


  This creates a conflicting aspect to Eddie's ideas of Catherine - he does not want her to grow up and wants to keep her young and within his control
• Eddie Carbone


  • A hardworking man who is loyal to his family and his community
  • He is always willing to look out for people in his community
• When Beatrice tells the family that her cousins are coming over from Italy, Beatrice praises Eddie "You're an angle! God'll bless you." as he offers them to stay with them for a while
• Eddie teaches Catherine and Beatrice a lesson on what happens if you go against your community, using the story of Vinny Balzano who snitched on someone in the community and was cast out by them
• Eddie later phones the immigration bureau himself to report the illegal immigrant cousins


  This goes against his own ideals as the desire for Catherine is too strong and he cannot compromise his own feelings for hers
• At the end of the play, after Catherine and Eddie have fallen out and he refuses to come to her wedding to Rodolpho, Catherine insults Eddie saying, "He's a rat. He belongs in the sewer!"
• Eddie calls immigration on the cousins to get Rodolpho away from Catherine
• Alferi warns Eddie of the consequences, "you won't have a friend in the world."
• Eddie's downfall is a lesson to readers of the importance of compromise with others as his fatal flaw was due to him not being able to compromise
• Eddie's fatal flaw of self-interest and selfishness overrides his once proud former values, leading to his death
• In his last moments, Eddie is unable to recognise that his actions were wrong to Beatrice, begging for her forgiveness
• Alferi teaches the lesson that if you do not compromise your feelings, or consider the feelings of others, even as admirable or alarming as it maybe it will always lead to downfall
• 'The view from the Bridge' explores the themes of a fatal flaw through the character Eddie Carbone and how his self-interest meant that he was unable to compromise his feelings or to take account of the feelings of others which led to his downfall