unfortunate lawyer sitting back, unable to do anything as the events, ‘run their bloody
course.´ yet again. . The community in the play respect Alfieri, and view him as the
authoritative figure in the play. As Alfieri reminds us in his introductory speech, Lawyers
are only thought of in connection with disasters. Alfieri is essential as he both opens and
closes the play.
Eddie Carbone is now introduced, a head-strong ‘slightly overweight longshoreman´ who
has helped raise his wife's niece, Catherine, but has developed an unwitting sexual
attraction towards her instead of remaining in the role of father figure. When his wife's two
cousins ( Marco and Rodolpho) enter the country illegally looking for work, the Carbones
take them in, but when Catherine begins dating the younger of the cousins, Rodolpho,
Eddie gets jealous, and his unnatural feeling toward Catherine shine through. Eddie tells
tragic story of Vinnie Bolzano who informs on his uncle, an illegal immigrant and staying
with them and was then disowned from the community which makes the audience aware of
the communities natural justice.
Later when Eddie visits Alfieri the main themes of the play come to light. Love, and
morality, and the way they combine. As a chorus character he knows what is going to
happen, but even so he tries to stop it, “She can’t marry you, can she?” Alfieri says when
Eddie claims that Rodolpho is stealing from him, that Catherine is his possession. Alfieri
tries to relate this to the audience, “There is too much love for the niece”. Eddie is also
trying to find a legal way in which to condemn Rodolpho. Alfieri, the lawyer is telling him
that the only legal way to deal with Rodolpho is via the illegal ‘means in which they entered
the country.´ Eddie denounces that idea swiftly. They get onto an argument as Alfieri is
trying to get Eddie to understand that he cannot have Catherine and that he has to let her
go. Now, the audience can see that Eddie is very possessive over Catherine. He says that
Rodolpho is stealing from him, that Catherine is his possession. Alfieri feels helpless and
he knows that something terrible is going to happen. This scene follows directly after the
scene where Eddie challenges the masculinity of Rodolpho and is counter challenged by
Marco who defends his brothers honour and so questions Eddie’s authority. Without the
Lawyer scene the audience wouldn’t have known exactly why Eddie was challenging
Rodolpho. After watching the Lawyer scene, the subplot becomes much clearer to the
audience.
At the start of act 2, Alfieri has a short speech setting the scene, it is nearly
Christmas and because a crate of wine ‘accidentally´ fell off a ship Eddie was likely
to come home drunk. Another warning. In this next scene, Catherine and Rodolpho
show their love for each other through words and they talk about Eddie. Rodolpho
knows that Catherine has to get away from Eddie. They make love. Eddie comes
home early in the morning and Catherine comes to the door to meet him. She is
wearing little. Rodolpho comes out of the same room and Eddie quickly realises
what hasa gone on. Eddie tries to force Rodolpho out of the house and Catherine
stands up for herself and tries to go too. As Catherine is trying to state her
argument perhaps due to the drink Eddie pulls her close and kisses her on the
mouth. Rodolpho is disgusted and then Eddie kisses Rodolpho on the mouth to
show that Rodolpho is gay.
The next scene is the last scene where Alfieri is seen in his office with Eddie and
helps to calm the tension. Again, the audience can see what Eddie is feeling with
the help of Alfieri, but this time Alfieri stresses that there is more than the law
written on paper, “When the law is wrong, it’s because it’s unnatural, but in this
case it is natural.” He tries to dissuade Eddie from what he knows will happen but
Alfieri is unable to help Eddie.
The phone box on stage is interesting. It is there from the start of the play, but it is
only lit after the 2nd lawyer scene. Alfieri realises that Eddie is a desperate man. So
desperate, he’ll do anything. In the 1st lawyer scene Alfieri told Eddie that the only
recourse in the law he had was the way in which the cousins entered the country.
It is at this point that Eddie realises it is the only way he can stop the marriage.
Alfieri knows that Eddie loves Catherine in a way he shouldn’t, but Eddie won’t
admit it. He thinks that Rodolpho must be in the wrong, because all the other
alternatives are too painful for him. It is at this point in the play that the phone box
starts to glow. In the past, the phone box has represented the outside world. It is
introduced slowly, with Alfieri trying to dissuade Eddie between each stage
direction to make it brighter. The rate at which it is shown to the audience give
them time to think about what it could mean. By the time they’ve worked it out,
Eddie is walking out of the office for the last time, and the phone box is the only lit
item on stage. Eddie calls the Immigration Bureau committing what is seen as an
the injustice, which he was so against at the start of the play. Eddie was on his last
legs and when the officers came for the cousins Marco knew, using the Italian
instinct, he knew that Eddie had called the Bureau. Marco therefore made a large
show, telling everyone in the street what Eddie had done.
In the penultimate scene, Alfieri is in the police cell after Eddie has gone to the
police. Alfieri tells Marco not to harm Eddie. I think this is because Alfieri likes
Eddie, as he says in the conclusion, “I think I will love him more than all my
sensible clients.”
After Eddie’s death, Alfieri is lit up so that the audience focus on him, and gives a
final soliloquy, which calms the audience down after another scene of high tension.
This is like a eulogy, as it looks back over Eddie’s life. A eulogy is usually a series of
memories from a persons life, rather like the play is a series of flashbacks. In the
end, the conclusion is inevitable, and ends in tragedy.
