Alfieri
Alfieri is the commentator in the play. He sets the scenes and comments on justice and the importance of family. The title of the play is significant to Alfieri’s role in the play. He could see everything that was happening. He also represents the bridge connecting the audience to Eddie. He warns the audience that there is going to a tragic ending: “Now we settle for half”.
The drama revolves around Eddie and his reactions to events, some of which are within his control, others however are not. In this scene we can see how Eddie’s character is such that he cannot leave situations alone. We also see how Eddie brought about his own downfall; he was given many chances to amend the situation but his stubbornness wouldn’t let his take those chances.
Verbal conflict
Much of the tension in this scene is created through conflict. Eddies rocker is a very important prop in this scene, it symbolises his position as head of the household. Whenever he feels uncomfortable he goes to the rocker as he feels safe there. He feels that he is being undermined by Rodolpho so he provokes arguments to take place. “I betcha there’s plenty surprises sometimes when those guys get back there, heh?” He was implying that women in Italy are unfaithful; he passes comments that make others feel uncomfortable. Eddie confronts Rodolpho verbally throughout the scene. The stage directions show Eddies disapproval towards Rodolpho. “Eddie looks at him now”. Eddies anger is shown through the volume of his voice. “[rises, paces up and down]: It ain’t so free here either, Rodolpho, like you think”. The stafe directions tell the audience that Eddie feels agitated. Eddie sees Rodolpho as a threat, Louis and Mike like him and so does Catherin. Eddie thinks Rodolpho is slowly taking Catherine away from him.
His hatred towards Rodolpho is seen through the way Eddie speaks to him. “Well, I always have respect- Eddie: I know”. Sometimes Eddie ignores Rodolpho and directs his speech towards Marco. “[He turns]: You know what I mean Marco?” Eddie also belittles Rodolpho and passes patronising comments, “Look kid, I ain’t her father, I’m only her uncle”. However, Eddie has respect for Marco as he is similar to Eddie himself. He sees himself in Marco.
Conflicts within himself
His actions and words reveal his feelings towards Catherine. He doesn’t realise it at times because he doesn’t understand them. He makes excuses to prevent Catherine going out with Rodolpho, “till he came she was never out on the steer twelve o’clock at night”. Eddie complains about Rodolpho to Marco and implies that he is a bad influence on Catherine. At times like this it makes the atmosphere uncomfortable and the audience feel uneasy. The conflict is clear to see on stage. Eddie doesn’t know how to deal with his emotiond, Catherines attraction to Rodolpho brings out increasingly aggressive reactions which starts to break the family apart.
Eddie finds it very hard to watch Catherine dancing with Rodolpho. The dancing symbolises Rodolpho taking Catherine away from Eddie. Dancing requires the two to be physically close and intimate. Catherine feels as though she is rebelling by dancing with Rodolpho because of how overprotective Eddie is of her. “You wanna dance, Rodolpho?” Catherine teases Eddie by flaunting that she and Rodolpho are together and he can’t do anything about it. “She has taken his hand and he stiffly rises, feeling Eddie’s eyes on his back, and they dance”. This is a dramatic device, it makes the audience feel the tension in the room, “Eddie turns his head away”. He can’t bare to keep watching them dance, This causes anticipation because the audience don’t know Eddies next move.
The phonograph is another important prop in this scene. Catherin has taken Beatrice’s advice to grow up so she rebels against Eddie by turning the phonograph on. He conflicts within himself as he grapples with his love for Catherine. The song, Paperdoll, is significant because of its lyrics. “And it’s tough to love a doll that’s not your own….I’m gonna buy a paperdoll that I can call my own”. The doll represents Catherine. Eddie is adamant to prove that Rodolpho is gay. He finds out that Rodolpho can cook, sing and make dresses. “He’s a cook, too! He sings, he cooks”, “It’ wonderful. He sings, he cooks, he could make dresses”. Eddie repeats this several times to emphasise the fact that he’s quite feminine. He says it in a jealous, bitter way.
Newspaper
“He has been unconsciously twisting the newspaper in a tight roll.....he has bent the rolled paper and it suddenly tears in two”. The newspaper represents his family; he is slowly breaking them apart. It also gets Eddies anger across to the audience. He releases all of this bottled anger out in this one event. The other actors on stage now realise just how angry he is about the situation.
Physical Conflict
Eddie tells Catherine to make some coffee. “Make it nice and strong”. The metaphor represents him being manly and strong, “He weirdly elated, rubbing his fists into his palms”. At this point there is a strange sort of tension, the audience are worries because it is obvious Eddie has had an idea and the audience realise by now that he’s not the best at making good choices.
Eddie then starts to teach Rodolpho how to box, this sumbolises Eddie trying to win Catherine back. Throughout the scene Marco is quiet which adds to the tension as the audience wait to see what he will do, “Well, come on. I’ll teach you”. Eddie wants to assert his authority and discredit Rodolpho whilst Eddie teaches him, there is a sense of anticipationg to see what is going to happen amongst them. Eddie wants to hit Rodolpho to make him look weak infron of Catherine. When Rodolpho is punchd by Eddie everyone rushes to help. The irony in this is that, Rodolpho being punched by Eddie brought Rodolpho and Catherine closer. Eddies attempt to belittle Rodolpho failed.
The author uses this technique to degrade Eddie by showing him up to the family. Face is very important in their culture; losing face is seen as losing power. Although he may be wrong he must always stick to his point and by his side of the argument to ensure that he cannot be disrespected by members of the family. Catherine sticks up for Rodolpho, whereas Marco does not but slyly gets into the family circle by making out to be on Eddies side. Eddie falls for this trap and trusts Marco but he soon realises his mistake when he gets stabbed by Marco outside his own home in front of the community which means he loses face. In the Italian culture, this is very bad especially in that day and age. What time is it? Summer time. Let’s have a celebration. These words are there to symbolise the modernism of the time. The little things count in these essays which help to gain the marks required to gain the grade which the student would like to achieve. The photos in the mark help to give visual aids to help describe the situation to the reader therefore helping the reader to fully understand the story behind the play. To comprehend the meaning behind the play you need to read different versions to get a feeling of what the author is writing about. It doesn’t matter. It doesn’t help that the pictures in the book do not give a feel for the play at all, the pages in the book help divert the readers attention. The reader must give all attention to the book to gain all its facts and opinions otherwise it is a loss of the book. Look at the way the book is defined at the last paragraph; the finishing touches go the extra mile by creating the sense of feel.
