A View from the Bridge characters

Appears from the start

A Sicilian-American longshoreman in Red Hook, Brooklyn, who supports his wife and her orphaned niece. Proud of his standing in the neighborhood and intensely protective of Catherine, he welcomes two undocumented cousins into his home. Her growing independence and interest in Rodolpho unsettle him in ways he struggles to acknowledge.

Appears from the start

Eddie's wife and Catherine's aunt, a practical and perceptive woman who helps shelter her newly arrived cousins. She loves Eddie but is troubled by the distance in their marriage and recognizes that his attachment to Catherine has become unhealthy.

Appears from the start

Beatrice's seventeen-year-old niece, raised by Eddie and Beatrice after her mother's death. Warm, eager to please, and newly trained as a stenographer, she is offered her first proper job. The arrival of Rodolpho encourages her to imagine an adult life beyond Eddie's household.

Appears from the start

A lawyer who serves the Red Hook community and also frames the action for the audience. Eddie consults him about stopping Catherine's relationship with Rodolpho, but Alfieri explains that jealousy supplies no legal remedy and warns him against taking a course the neighborhood will condemn.

Appears from the start

Beatrice's cousin, an undocumented immigrant from Sicily and the elder of the two brothers sheltered by the Carbones. Quiet, physically powerful, and devoted to the wife and children he has left behind, he works on the docks to send money home.

Appears from the start

Marco's younger brother, an undocumented immigrant who is lively, blond, and talented at singing, cooking, and sewing. He quickly attracts Catherine. His unconventional manner and apparent lack of interest in hard physical labor make Eddie suspicious of his intentions and masculinity.

Appears from the start

One of Eddie's fellow longshoremen. He and Mike meet Marco and Rodolpho at the docks and join in the neighborhood's friendly interest in the newcomers, especially Rodolpho's singing and high spirits.

Appears from the start

A longshoreman and acquaintance of Eddie who works alongside the newly arrived brothers. With Louis, he offers an outside view of Rodolpho's popularity among the dockworkers.

Appears from the start

A neighborhood contact who escorts Marco and Rodolpho to the Carbone apartment after their clandestine arrival from Sicily.

First appears in chapter 2

An immigration official who comes to the apartment building after receiving a report about undocumented residents. He arrests Marco and Rodolpho along with two other men who are being hidden upstairs.