In scene 6, and the tension follows when the stage directions hint, “A calm before the storm”, when Eddie goes to his rocker and picks up the newspaper. The short sentences that follow this show there all on edge. This makes the viewer feel the tension within the play. Furthermore this conveys the beginning of a big argument between everyone, when Marco and Rodolfo both “raise” to make their authority stand out.
As the scene progresses Eddie shows he is getting more frustrated, when Miller uses this stage direction, “resenting his instruction”. The tone of language used here, shows Eddie is trying to dig himself out of an ever-increasing hole, by showing his lack of knowledge in front of Rodolfo and Marco. “I said oranges they paint, I didn’t say nothing about lemons” This further conveys he doesn’t like being told what to do.
In the line after this, Beatrice becomes her typical self again by trying to change the subject; “Your wife is getting the money alright?” but even this ends in an argument between Eddie and Marco. This is when Eddie hints at Marco that his wife has been cheating on him, by saying, “I betya there’s plenty surprises when those guys get back, huh?” This is typical Eddie, by throwing his weight around to try and agitate Marco. But Marco quickly denies this. This shows the historic context of the play, because of the strict family morals back in the older Italian days. Eddie then “Raises and paces up and down” this shows that again Eddie is on edge and clearly annoyed at Marco and Rodolfo, this raises the tension.
Miller then raises the tension even more by Eddies dialogue when he says; “It ain’t so free her either” He is talking about Rodolfo just taking Catharine “away from Eddie”. Eddie then warns Rodolfo and gives him a veiled threat and basically saying he can’t get his own way with Catharine, Eddie also hints that because she “don’t where a black dress, she’s not strict”. He hints to Rodolfo that Catharine is strict and basically telling Rodolfo to back off, which raises the tension, and shows Eddie, really doesn’t want Rodolfo to have Catharine, and furthermore, it hints to the audience that Eddie wants Catharine for himself. This hint therefore raises the tension.
Rodolfo then says to Eddie, “Well I always have respect” showing he doesn’t want to upset Eddie. Furthermore it could be to try and win Eddie over and make Eddie ‘like’ him. Beatrice, then butts into the conversation; which is very untypical of Beatrice, and this creates tension because it is showing she is very uneasy about the fact that Rodolfo, Eddie and Marco are still arguing. Beatrice butts in saying, “Well, he didn’t exactly drag her of though Eddie!” This is Beatrice basically saying, hang on a minute! But Beatrice can’t say this directly to Eddies face, because Eddie wants his respect. This creates tension because it is so untypical of Beatrice, and she could be even be upsetting Eddie.
Miller is using dialogue and sentence structure to create tension, as shown in these next parts of the play. Now Rodolfo questions Eddie to ask weather he did, “anything wrong?” This conveys Rodolfo is confused at Eddie, in that Rodolfo doesn’t understand why he wont let him have her. Eddie then returns, “Look kid, I ain’t her father, I’m only her uncle.” But Eddie is clearly acting like her father and Beatrice knows this. This comment creates tension, because Beatrice returns, “Well then, be an uncle!” This shows there are a lot are clearly a lot of unsaid things between Beatrice and Eddie. The stage directions show Eddie looks at Beatrice with “criticising force” Which creates moving tension, because Eddie is pleading for Beatrice to be quiet.
Marco then says, “what does he do wrong?” this furthermore creates tension because Marco is making it worse, because the sentences are starting to fire out between everyone.
Eddie then bluntly says, “look kid, I’m only talking about her. The more you run around like that, the more chance your taking. I mean suppose he gets hit by a car, where's his papers, who is he?” This is Eddie politely saying he really doesn’t want them together, and this is very typical of Eddie’s character, that he’s trying to do it in the nicest way he knows how, but most of the time it isn’t. Rodolfo still doesn’t get Eddie, which is making Eddie more and more frustrated, which increases the tension. Eddie keeps on calling Rodolfo, “Kid” which is belittling Rodolfo, showing that Eddie wants to be the boss and come out on top. In the next sentence Eddie looks at both Beatrice and Marco. Which could mean he’s asking for their support, and he is know realising he is on a losing side. Which is why later on he moves to physical violence.
Miller uses stage directions to show that Eddie “holds back a voice full of anger” This is showing that Eddie is finding it hard to cope anymore with Rodolfo and Marco being in the house, and Rodolfo having a relationship with Catharine. Furthermore this can show he’s been proved wrong once again by Beatrice, who is now on Rodolfo’s side. Now there is an awkward silence and then Catharine makes the atmosphere worse, and increases the tension, by asking Rodolfo to dance. Eddie freezes at this comment, which shows he is angry and frustrated at everyone else for turning against him, and he needs someone to turn to. Rodolfo then in-differences Eddie and says no, this is because he may feel threatened by Eddie. However the tension is made worse when Beatrice encourages Rodolfo to dance, this maybe to get back at Eddie for acting too much like Catharine’s father. So Catharine walks over to Rodolfo and grabs him up. When the stage directions say that Rodolfo “could feel Eddies eyes on his back” This means Rodolfo is feeling threatened by Eddie. This creates an uneasy atmosphere between the people. Eddie is now getting more and more frustrated, and we, as the audience, wonder what would happened next.
Next Miller shows Beatrice as her usual self, and she changes the subject to deflect the tension, “Must be nice to go all over in one of the fishing boats” But even this ends in another argument, when Eddie finds out Rodolfo is also a cook, “He’s a cook, too! He sings, he cooks…” Miller shows Eddie as being sarcastic, because he finds Rodolfo very feminine, which is frustrating him more, and really doesn’t want Rodolfo with Catharine. Rodolfo doesn’t understand this, “Rodolfo smiles thankfully.” This is because Rodolfo thinks Eddie is happy for all of his skills, but acutely he is annoyed, because they could be feminine. This also shows the social and historical context, because these jobs where considered as feminine by some men in those days. Then Eddie continues his sarcasms when he says he can “make dresses…” This is because he’s annoying at Rodolfo because he’s not a ‘real man’. But then Catharine backs up Rodolfo, “They get some high pay” This is clearly to try and annoy Eddie and say to him he is basically wrong. But they would never say this to his face, because they may feel threatened by him.
Now Miller uses a turning point in the play, where there is a confrontation between Eddie, Marco and Rodolfo, and the atmosphere gets fiercer. Eddie now turns completely against Rodolfo, “That’s why the water front is no place for him” This is saying to Rodolfo, that he can’t do a mans job, and that Eddie is more of a man than Rodolfo is. Eddie is doing this a subtle as he can; this is typical for Eddie’s character. Now the stage directions show Eddie has been, “Unconsciously twisting the newspaper into a tight roll. They are all regarding him now; he senses he is exposing the issue and is driven on.” This could be an unconscious desire, to ring Rodolfo’s neck and to be the alpha male. Eddie also doesn’t want to back down after he realises what he is doing, this could be because he doesn’t want to back down. Furthermore, It could be to show Rodolfo his true desire to ring his neck and to get rid of him. Eddie continues bending the paper, “He has bent the rolled paper and it suddenly tears in two. He suddenly gets up and pulls his pants up over his belly and goes to Marco.” This creates tension, because it is like Eddie is getting ready to go into battle with Marco or Rodolfo.
Marco reply is “Uneasy” This is because he probably has no idea where Eddie is going. Eddie chooses to pick to go and watch a fight; he picks this because he knows this is Rodolfo’s weakness. This creates tension because Eddie knows this is Rodolfo’s weakness and Eddie wants to prove that he is a real man.
Miller creates tension in this final part of the scene, by using stage directions to show that the boxing match initially starts out as a play fight, but then ends in physical violence. When Rodolfo ‘parries’ Eddies first hit, it conveys that Eddie has underestimated Rodolfo. This is highlighted by the fact that Rodolfo ‘grazes’ Eddie’s jaw, which increases the tension. This is mostly because Eddie wants to take is anger out on Rodolfo and would probably like to kill him.
Miller continues to up the tension, when there is much more physical violence when Eddie mildly stagers Rodolfo. This shows Eddie means business, and shows Eddie would like to take this much further. Showing there could be more conflict later on.
To conclude, this scene sets up the atmosphere for the rest of the play. The techniques used are very effective, the most effective, being the dramatic tension. This leaves the audience hanging on edge, and sets them up for the rest of the play, willing them to watch what will happen, and wondering is Eddie’s action will cause his ultimate downfall.