Despite this, Eddie begins as a caring, simple ‘longshoreman’ who cares little for anything outside his work and family. We immediately see his good side as he offers his hospitality to those in need of it. He is already taking care of his niece, and allows Marco and Rodolpho into his home. He puts his family first, even when it does mean that he “ends up on the floor”(8). The fact that Eddie starts off as a good and generous man helps give him the ‘tragic hero’ image, and helps make his downfall more dramatic.
Miller also presents Eddie as a tragic hero by suggesting that the play is going to “run its bloody course” (4), foreshadowing the horrific ending of the play. Eddie describes Vinny Bolzano who “snitched to Immigration” (13) early on in the play, which led to him being isolated from his own community. Since such a great importance is put on this fact early on in the play, it suggests that something similar is fated for Eddie as well, and since Eddie is aware of how much shame this act would bring him in his community, it shows how prepared he is to ruin Catherine and Rodolpho’s relationship.
Eddie’s adherence to his traditional Sicilian values as opposed to the modern lifestyles that Catherine and Rodolpho prefer to live suggest that there will be much conflict between the characters, which can only result in Eddie’s demise. Eddie criticises his niece for “walkin’ wavy”(6) and is hesitant about her getting about a job, despite him now being in a society where short skirts and high heels are widely accepted and are even “the style now”(5). Conflict between Eddie and Rodolpho in this matter is also evident when Eddie condemns Rodolpho’s spending: “a snappy new jacket he buys, records, a pointy pair of new shoes” (28).
It is evident as the play moves on that Eddie’s feelings for Catherine go much beyond a parental love, and are clearly inappropriate feelings; he is determined to pursue the impossible. These feelings, when realised by other characters, only worsen the situation. When Beatrice realises his feelings for Catherine, she claims: “You want somethin’ else, Eddie, and you can never have her!”(62) His relationship with Beatrice, understandably, dramatically worsens due to this. Eddie’s love for his niece is further suggested by his hate for Rodolpho, and his constant determination to separate Catherine and Rodolpho. He immediately dislikes Rodolpho as suggested by his “concealed suspicion”(22), which
coincides with Catherine’s immediate attraction to Rodolpho, and her obsession with his good looks and blond hair: “he’s practically blond”(17). Eddie is constantly criticising Rodolpho, even suggesting that he may be homosexual, in efforts to pull him and Catherine apart: “and with that wacky hair, he’s like a chorus girl or sump’m” (23). However, the more Eddie tries to tear them apart, the closer Catherine and Rodolpho become, and his refusal of living in a world in which the outcome is not the one he desires, means that the conflict between Catherine and Rodolpho and Eddie can only be resolved with his downfall.
As Eddie lets his feelings for Catherine overpower his actions, he begins to become less in contact with the real world. His constant outward and obvious hatred for Rodolpho leads to a severely weakened relationship between himself and Catherine: “I can’t stay here no more” (47). The relationship between them becomes so weak that Catherine even says that Eddie “comes when nobody’s lookin’ and poisons decent people” (61). His relationship with Beatrice also deteriorates, as they argue over Catherine, as Eddie refuses to give her the independence Beatrice believes she deserves.
Eddie’s presentation as a tragic hero is an evident one: although he starts off as a decent man, as any tragic hero would, the hero’s flaw, which in Eddie’s case, is his uncontrollable love for his daughter, leads him into taking disastrous measures, and eventually, taking his own life.
