Focusing on the first scene, up to the arrival of Marco
and Rodolpho, show how Arthur Miller introduces the
main issues of the play and prepares the audience
for what is to come.
At the beginning of the play, from Alfieri’s monologue you can tell that there is constant tension between the people in the neighbourhood because of when he says how “I often think that behind that suspicious little nod of theirs lie three thousand years of distrust”. This shows that this “trust” hasn’t been broken recently, it has been going back generations upon generations. The comment “Oh, there were many here who were justly shot by unjust men. Justice is very important here” says to the reader that no matter how much violence it may lead to it will be done, and in the hands of the Italian civilians. They don’t go to the police and instead fight it out themselves. Things are obviously starting to calm down now though because Alfieri no longer keeps a pistol in his filing cabinet and says that people are “now quite civilized, quite American”.
When we first meet the Carbone family, we see an excited Catherine welcoming Eddie home from a long day of working in the docks. Catherine obviously has been waiting around for his approval of her new dress because she is very excited when she asks him what he thinks, “(running her hands over her skirt) I just got it. You like it?” and when he also asks about her hair change she wants his immediate approval. Eddie delivers with flattering comments like “oh, your mother was alive to see you now” and “you look like one of them girls that went to college” which is a complement in itself because it is saying she looks smart and sophisticated and not like any average person.
