How does the audience' view of Eddie Carbone change from the beginning to the end of A View from the Bridge?

As the play opens, Eddie is a sympathetic character.
Though he remains somewhat sympathetic to the very end, his behavior, his moral
standing, and his persona all suffer a fall. Eddie becomes more a vehicle for pathos
than sympathy. 

When the audience is introduced to Eddie,
he is a caring man taking care of his family, willing to raise an adopted niece and to
harbor two cousins who are immigrating from Italy. These generous impulses quickly
degenerate into selfish impulses however, even in the opening scene as Eddie doles out
heavy-handed advice to Catherine. 

Eddie's greedy and
improper affections for Catherine become clear over the course of the play, yet Eddie's
attempts to find an acceptable way out of his predicament suggest that he is still not a
bad person.

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Eddie visits Alfieri, the lawyer, seeking some
legal protection for his
family.

He wants to free
himself of his conflict by finding a way to avoid it. 

This
weakness in his character eventually comes to dominate, rendering Eddie a pathetic
character in the eyes of the audience, powerless over his own passions and
impulses. 

Ultimately, it is not Eddie's feelings for
Catherine that will characterize the view the audience holds of him. His morally low
actions regarding Rodolpho (and Marco) become the final
comment.

 In
desperation, Eddie places the call to the immigration office, an act he soon comes to
regret.

This act effectively
removes Eddie from a position allowing real or pure sympathy from the audience and
places him instead in a position of pathos. The audience is sorry for him in the end,
but would not imagine doing what Eddie has done.