The quiet moment I chose is when the whole family does not notice that Beatrice is being ignorant. Catherine brings up a subject about Rodolfo and Marco’s boat trips. When it is mentioned that sardines swim in the ocean. Beatrice takes this as a surprise,’ I didn’t know they’re sardines…’ and,’ Its funny y’know. You never think of I, that sardines are swimming in the ocean!’ This shows Beatrice is being ignorant but no-one is ridiculing or making sarcastic comments about her. When she leaves the room, tension begins to arise. Eddie says in Italy they would paint their oranges because he heard they grow like green. Eddie resents Rodolfo’s instructions when he says, ‘Lemons are green’. He feels insulted and then openly shows his dislike of Rodolfo, ’I know lemons are green, for Christ’s sake. When Beatrice returns, tension is cooled down because she diverts their attention onto Marco’s family.
A structure is shown, starting from a calm conversation, and then come a trigger which leads to intense conflict and tension. Finally, it is cooled down.
Another moment of intense conflict is when Eddie makes a big deal about what Rodolfo can do. He leans that Rodolfo can sing, cook and make dresses. ‘Its wonderful. He sings, he cooks, he could make dresses.’ Eddie feels uncomfortably shocked about this and he repeats his words, hoping someone would understand what he is saying.
Eddie criticizes Rodolfo by making stammering speech which explains that a man works and earns money whereas; Rodolfo’s abilities are not very manly. As he explains this, the stage direction show that, ’He has unconsciously twisting the newspaper into a tight roll…’, ’He has bent the rolled paper and it suddenly tears in two…’ This tells us that if Rodolfo was in the newspaper’s position, Eddie would have not hesitated to wring his neck and break it. This where the tension comes to its peak and then it is calmed down when Eddie ’suddenly gets up and pulls his pants over his belly…’ This shows he signals the conclusion of what he has been saying.
Miller uses various methods to create dramatic conflict such as outburst, sub-text and stage directions.
An outburst, which caused irritation, occurred when Eddie, Marco and Rodolfo talk about the fruits back in Italy. Eddie feels irritated when Rodolfo corrects him about the ‘lemons are green’. Eddie is then angered and goes saying,’ (resenting his instructions) I know lemons are green, for Christ’s sake!’ This shows that Eddie is deliberately resenting Rodolfo and that he is really angry and annoyed.
After this tension is cooled down, Eddie makes a provocative statement to Marco. ‘I betcha there’s plenty of surprises sometimes when those guys get back there, heh?’ Marco takes this as an insult because in Italy, ‘the women wait and there are ‘very few surprises’. Also because he is a respectable married man and is surprised to see Eddie think he had a lot of surprises.
Anger was revealed when Eddie ‘(holds back a voice full of anger)’. When Eddie talks of what Rodolfo has been doing ever since he came, Beatrice tries her best to stick with her cousins. So she takes Rodolfo’s side, which makes Eddie mad and enraged.
Subtext shows the underlying tension between characters which adds to their meaning. When Eddie learns that Rodolfo has other kind of abilities; he is taken aback and begins to make a big deal out of it. ‘He sings, he cooks…,’ this shows that Eddie is brings this up sarcastically but the audience know that he is really saying that he must be gay. This is an example of a verbal communication subtext.
There is a physical subtext where Eddie offers to teach Rodolfo boxing, ‘playfully’. ‘He is weirdly elated, rubbing his fists into his palms.’ this shows that he is overjoyed; he has thought of something which maybe a chance for him to sort Rodolfo out. When he offers him to teach boxing, Beatrice reassures him, not knowing what going on, that it is only playful. We know that Eddie really wants to hit Rodolfo so it may ease his rage.
A lot of stage directions were used in this dramatic conflict such as movement, facial expression, body language and actions. Stage directions show which character and how they would react at a certain situation. When Eddie says to Rodolfo, ‘Now I’m gonna hit you, so block me, see?’ Catherine, with be
Facial expressions were used when Catherine brings up the subject on Marco and Rodolfo’s journey around places. Eddie ‘glances at her’ to show disbelief and the facial expression from Eddie would have been a frown look.
When Rodolfo stacks the plates, Eddie’s macho point of view, he rolls his eyes down or frown how he thinks of Rodolfo. He thinks Rodolfo is gay because he has seen him sing and heard he sings at the docks.
Eddie walks up and down, showing movement, when talking to Marco. ‘(Rises, paces up and down)’ this is when he tells him that is not so free in this country to take a girl just when you want. This shows he is trying to calm himself when a tension is about to arise.
Body language is shown when Eddie is intentionally talking directly to Marco, when he is talking about the women in both countries. This also shows how much he dislikes Rodolfo and rather talks to Marco than him.
Action is revealed when Eddie makes a big deal that Rodolfo can sing, cook and make dresses. He twists his newspaper into a roll and it breaks in two.
This shows he is holding his frustration, not letting it go out.
By the end of Act 1, a lot has changed between the relationships of the main characters. The impressions we receive earlier in the play were; Eddie being a respectable, generous man, Catherine a young woman who dresses to please others and Beatrice an anxious woman. When Marco and Rodolfo come in, we learn that they are both brothers from Sicily, seeking work in America. Marco is a hard-working, married man and Rodolfo is person who has mixed abilities such as he can sing and cook.
The relationship between the main characters changes rapidly ever since Marco and Rodolfo arrived. The relationship between Eddie and Beatrice shows no intention of them being a proper husband and wife. Eddie has been paying more attention to Catherine than his wife; they tend to have countless number of arguments. The relationship between Eddie and Catherine shows he is still very over protective of her. When Rodolfo woos Catherine, Eddie refuses to accept that Rodolfo is with her. This shows that Eddie has deep feelings for Catherine and he acts very selfish, wanting her for himself. All this shows Eddie’s relationships are getting worse and quickly deteriorating. So the relationship between him and Rodolfo is very critical.
Miller makes clear that there is a generation gap between Eddie, Beatrice, Marco and Rodolfo, Catherine. Rodolfo and Catherine both like the song called, ‘Paper Doll’, and they both dance to this song, which infuriates Eddie.
Miller presents the two women in various ways throughout the play. He shows Beatrice’s role in the overall arguments, split into three different parts. She is part peacemaker when she tries to calm a tension down which may have lead to a conflict. Sometimes, she is against Eddie, taking Marco, Rodolfo and Catherine’s sides. She stands up for Catherine when telling Eddie, ‘be an uncle then…I mean.’ In other times she is on Eddie’s side, when she reassures Catherine that he and Rodolfo are only playfully boxing. She, herself, jus thinks this is playful. Basically, all this shows Beatrice is torn between her family, her husband and her niece, Catherine.
Eddie expects Catherine to behave as he dictates. He still treats her as a little child, he does not realise that Catherine has grown up and needs to seek her independence. Miller created his characters to take their own stand, as in firm entrenched in their place and this means adding tension every time. Also, every time the arising conflicts take place, he involves more characters in the argument creating tension.
Miller wants to show strain in the household in order to achieve a dramatic final scene, Act One. He wants to show something major will happen and there maybe a person taking the victorious lead.
Miller moves the situation from one of underlying tension to one of open physical conflict. This is shown when Eddie is sarcastically speaking about what Rodolfo can do. He literally tries to embarrass Rodolfo.
The final moments in Act One where Marco is holding a chair above Eddie’s head is shown to be very effective. This shows the real conflict will involve them two and it also shows that Marco will win the conflict. Marco is signalling a warning to Eddie which pre-figures the ending. The audience would feel a little sympathy for Eddie because he had just been humiliated from being a generous man to an uncomfortable, losing position.
The play is a tragedy in many ways. Eddie cannot accept Catherine’s relationship with Rodolfo, show shows he is jeopardising all relationships around him. He does this because he feels he is losing control over Catherine. If only he saw things the right way, the play would have not been a tragedy. The audience senses a loss of a good character and think, what a waste of a previously good, generous man.
