Carmela Soprano

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Carmela Soprano

First appearance	The Sopranos (episode 1.01)
Information
Aliases	Carmela De Angelis (née)
Gender	Female
Age	42
Occupation	Housewife
Family	Hugh De Angelis (father) Mary De Angelis (mother) Livia Soprano (mother-in-law) Johnny Boy Soprano (father-in-law) Janice Soprano (sister-in-law) Barbara Giglione (sister-in-law) Christopher Moltisanti (cousin)
Relationships	Tony Soprano
Children	Anthony Soprano, Jr. (son) Meadow Soprano (daughter)
Portrayed by	Edie Falco
Created by	David Chase

Carmela Soprano née DeAngelis is the wife of fictional mafia boss Tony Soprano and lead female character on the HBO television series, The Sopranos, played by Edie Falco.

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Carmela tries to maintain the Soprano household while Tony is out working. At times, she seems to be the stereotypical mob boss's wife: supportive and friendly, even strong at times, while rarely asking about details of her husband's work. Tony has trusted his wife enough to confide in her, to a degree, about some of his Mafia dealings, notably the failed attempt on his life and the death of Richie Aprile. However, the years of having a husband missing at all hours, coupled with his constant infidelity, have put a serious strain on their relationship at times and they even separated for a period. Carmela is also an observant Roman Catholic and has difficulty rationalizing both her husband's profession and her subsequent separation.

Carmela's resentment of her husband's infidelity has often driven her to the brink of breaking her marriage vows during some sexually charged moments with her priest, Father Phil Intintola, and painter-decorator Vic Musto. During the fourth season, Carmela had a mutual romantic infatuation with Furio Giunta, one of Tony's men. Carmela had reached a low point with Tony's constant string of affairs and the two had a romantically-tense but "arms-length" relationship for a period. Each confided to separate friends that they were falling for each other but Furio, fearing for his life if he loved the boss' wife, sold his house and moved back to Italy.

By the end of the fourth season, Tony and Carmela separated after she learned of his latest indiscretion, although Tony continued to provide for her and the children. Carmela even began dating AJ's guidance counselor, Robert Wegler, and pursuing divorce procedings against Tony, but was drawn back to her husband by financial concerns and difficulties in rearing AJ, as well as a difficult breakup with Wegler, who accused Carmela of manipulating him into special treatment for her son. At the end of the fifth season, Carmela agreed to reunite with Tony after he agreed to purchase a $600,000 investment property in Montville, under Carmela's name, so she could build a spec house. Despite some initial awkwardness, the two were firmly reunited after Tony was shot by his uncle, Junior Soprano, both during his coma and after his hospital release. The crisis seems to have strengthened their bond.

Carmela's willingness to look the other way regarding Tony's numerous infidelities over the years, as well as her acceptance of the fruits of Tony's labor without regard to how they were earned, combined with her decision to get back together with Tony in exchange for his purchasing the investment property, have led some fans to believe that Carmela is primarily motivated by greed. She has admitted she is not sure whether she loves her husband in spite of his criminal lifestyle, or because of it, but she rationalizes it by saying that "there are far bigger crooks than my husband."

Carmela's materialistic nature, however, is never far from the surface. After Tony surprised his delighted wife with a Porsche Cayenne, Carmela proceeded to flaunt her new car in front of Ginny Sacrimoni and Angie Bonpensiero. Carmela was somewhat embarrassed when Angie informed Carmela that she recently purchased a Corvette, which she paid for herself.

Carmela's own efforts to become financially independent have been less successful, as Tony neglected to intervene for a long period when an inspector determined that materials used on her spec house were not up to code, thereby halting construction and straining her relationship with her father, who was building the house for her. Tony later recanted, however, and ordered Silvio Dante to lean on the inspector to change his mind. Around this time, Carmela was concerned for the whereabouts of Adriana La Cerva, who seemingly had disappeared. When she questions Tony about this, he tells her that Adriana had broken up with Christopher Moltisanti and ran off with another man. Carmela's concern intensified when she encountered Adriana's mother, Liz La Cerva, at the Feast of St. Elzear (Episode 74, The Ride). Liz tells Carmela that Christopher is responsible for Adriana’s death, going on to say the FBI told her so. The next day, Carmela confronts Tony, who dismisses her: "Let me school you on domestic violence," he says. "First and foremost, there is always a body."

She didn't know that Adriana was a low-level informant for the FBI and that Christopher, who had learned the truth from Adriana, informed Tony, who in turn had her executed by Silvio.