Eddie Carbone
Longshoreman and tragic protagonist
Eddie is a hard-working, well-respected docker in Red Hook who has raised his orphaned niece Catherine as his own. His protectiveness toward her gradually reveals itself as something more possessive and darker — a repressed desire he cannot name. Miller frames Eddie as a flawed tragic hero in the Greek mould: a man of genuine loyalty and decency who is destroyed by the one feeling he refuses to acknowledge. His decision to call Immigration and betray Marco and Rodolpho is the play’s catastrophe, transforming him from community man to pariah. His final demand — "I want my name!" — shows that honour and reputation are the only currencies he understands, even as he has squandered both.
"I want my name!… Marco’s got my name"
Catherine
Eddie and Beatrice’s niece
Catherine is seventeen, bright and eager for independence. Her excitement about her first job and her growing love for Rodolpho represent normal adolescent development, but Eddie experiences them as abandonment and betrayal. Miller positions Catherine as innocent but not passive: she challenges Eddie’s authority with increasing confidence as the play progresses. Her affection for Eddie is genuine and uncomplicated — she loves him as a father — which makes his feelings all the more tragic. By the final scene, she has moved from dependence to a painful kind of autonomy.
"I’m not a baby. I know a lot more than people think"
Beatrice
Eddie’s wife
Beatrice is the play’s most emotionally intelligent character. She is the first to see what Eddie cannot admit about his feelings for Catherine, and she names it directly in the climax: "You want somethin’ else, Eddie, and you can never have her!" She is also the character who suffers most quietly — her question "When am I gonna be a wife again?" reveals that Eddie has withdrawn from their marriage. Miller gives Beatrice a double burden: she loves a husband who is emotionally absent and must protect a niece who is emotionally blind to the danger. Her presence in the final scene, holding Eddie as he dies, is the play’s emotional anchor.
"When am I gonna be a wife again, Eddie?"
Marco
Beatrice’s older cousin from Italy
Marco is physically powerful, quiet and driven by an absolute code of honour. He has come to America to earn money for his starving wife and children in Sicily — his motivation is entirely selfless. When Eddie betrays the cousins to Immigration, Marco’s response is governed by the Sicilian honour code: a wrong done to his family must be answered. His public accusation ("That one! He killed my children!") and the final street fight are the inevitable consequences of Eddie’s betrayal. Miller uses Marco to show that the old-world code Eddie once claimed to respect is also the instrument of his destruction.
"He degraded my brother. My blood."
Rodolpho
Beatrice’s younger cousin from Italy
Rodolpho is blond, cheerful, and talented in ways that make Eddie suspicious: he sings, cooks, sews and dreams of motorcycles. His un-stereotypical masculinity — he does not conform to Eddie’s definition of what a man should be — becomes the axis on which the plot turns. Eddie labels him "the guy ain’t right", using homophobic shorthand to rationalise his jealousy. Miller presents Rodolpho sympathetically: his love for Catherine appears genuine, and his desire for American citizenship, while real, does not cancel out his feelings. He represents a more flexible, less self-destructive model of manhood than Eddie can tolerate.
"I want to be an American so I can work"
Alfieri
Lawyer and chorus
Alfieri is an Italian-American lawyer who functions as the play’s narrator and Greek chorus. His opening and closing speeches frame the action as a tragedy whose end is already known: "This one’s name was Eddie Carbone." He attempts to counsel Eddie within the limits of the law but cannot prevent the catastrophe. His phrase "settle for half" — meaning the compromise between old-world honour and American legality — is the play’s central moral formula. Alfieri’s final speech refuses to condemn Eddie, instead offering the ambiguous tribute: "He allowed himself to be wholly known." Miller uses Alfieri to hold judgement and compassion in tension.
"He allowed himself to be wholly known"