Alfieri plays a very significant and important role in the structure of the play. He is like a pillar of a house, if you take the pillar away the house is going to fall, likewise, if you take Alfieri out of the play, it is going to fall apart. Alfieri is also very essential in the play because he needs to be there in between the scenes to glue the upcoming scene with the one that has just finished with some information so that the audience is not left empty. He is used to fill in the gap between the scenes and cover up the river as a bridge to join up two roads. Alfieri holds up the play by giving the target audience a series of frequent flashback mostly in between scenes. ‘I remember him now as he walked through my doorway’ was said by Alfieri then we see a flashback to the scene when Eddie goes to Alfieri for some advice.
Arthur Miller builds up tension in the play very cleverly. Beatrice, Eddie’s wife is always acting as the peace maker, but suddenly her anger rises as well when Eddie criticizes Rodolfo about how free America is. Beatrice reminds Eddie that Catherine, their niece is old enough to do what she likes and that Eddie is too free with her. The audience already knows that Eddie does not like being criticized especially by his own wife. ‘Well, then be an Uncle’ was said by Beatrice which was a crucial point because the audience would think that to be fair, Beatrice was right although she knew what Eddie’s obvious reaction is going to be. The unexpected turnouts of some characters create quite a bit of tension especially in this situation again the audience might think that Eddie might do something stupid but luckily he is cut off by Marco who this time acts as the peace maker.
Another character that has changed is Catherine. Catherine used to be too free with the family although she is old enough to do what she likes she is always being nagged by Eddie about her clothes and where she goes. When Catherine says ‘You wanna dance, Rodolfo?’ the audience should be very shocked and worried because this question is going make Eddie mad. Despite the fact that the situation is not going to be nice, Catherine gets back at Eddie for ridiculing Rodolfo by asking him to dance with her in front of the whole family. This is a real tester of Eddie’s temper. Catherine’s different attitude builds up tension in the scene and has quite a lot impact in the play. Here Arthur Miller uses a dance action (physical contact) to make it more dramatic and tense for the audience. He makes the audience think about the previous incidents and judge the characters response relating to it.
When Eddie calls Rodolfo by a nickname, ‘Danish’ in front of strangers it is going to sound as if he is trying to be friendly to him and that he is being nice. In reality someone like the audience who know the situation are going to feel worried because Eddie did not mean it like that. Eddie is tormenting Rodolfo by calling him soft and he is also trying to show Catherine that Rodolfo is not manly enough for her. Eddie’s grumblings does not break Catherine and Rodolfo’s relationship. On the contrary it becomes stronger because they both now trust each other and know that they can take things like Eddie’s behavior and grumblings to continue the relationship.
Right near the start of the scene Eddie makes an illogical grotesque comment about painting oranges in Italy which develops into a dramatically tense situation. ‘I heard that they paint the oranges to make them look orange.’ Marco responses by saying in a very shocked voice unlike his own ‘Paint?’ At this point the audience is going to be very tense because the situation now is very awkward and uneasy and so they are going to think that anything is possible. Rodolfo then tries to correct Eddie by saying ‘Lemons are green’ this time the audience is going to be more worried because they know that Eddie does not like being corrected. Naturally, Eddie gets angry saying ‘for Christ’s sake.’ he makes his point aggressively with inappropriate language to show that he is sick and tired of being corrected and accused of. Fortunately the situation is diverted by Beatrice the peace-maker by saying [sitting; diverting their attention] ‘your wife is gettin’ the money all right, Marco?’ The stage direction refers to exactly what Beatrice is doing; and that is diverting their attention from Eddie’s response.
The use of stage directions by Arthur Miller is a work of genius. It is very descriptive and builds up tension in the audience. Unlike most other famous plays Arthur Miller uses quite a lot of stage directions which is very useful because the actors know exactly how to say a particular dialogue with the help of the stage directions. Stage directions like ‘Eddie [holding back a voice full of anger]’ and ‘Catherine [flushed with revolt]’ is going to make the audience feel tense and worried because these are signs of someone starting to be angry and this would not cheer the audience up. Anger always builds up tense moments. Arthur Miller uses anger as a very useful device to make the audience see and feel what is going on within the characters.
The last stage direction used by Arthur Miller in Act 1 is very effective. ‘[Marco is face to face with Eddie … the chair raised like a weapon over Eddie’s head … and he transforms what might appear like a glare of warning into a smile of triumph, and Eddie’s grin vanishes as he absorbs his look.]’ This would definitely grab the audience’s attention because this symbolises a warning from Marco that Eddie should stop playing around Rodolfo’s life by leaving Rodolfo and Catherine alone and what if Eddie does not stop? This question is answered by the action done by Marco with the chair which is described by Arthur Miller in the stage direction. This shows us that Marco can also be violent if Eddie goes too far and the fact that Marco is very protective of his family and has his own strict principles.
Another effective stage direction is ‘Eddie [He has been unconsciously twisting the newspaper into a tight roll. They are all regarding him now … He has bent the rolled paper and it suddenly tears in two.]’ This action Eddie did was obvious for everyone else but not for Eddie because this shows that Eddie had been deeply thinking of something and his anger rose and he twists the paper with more force and it rips. This is a very good technique used by Arthur Miller to make the play dramatically exciting for the audience. At this point the audience is also going to be tense and they do not know what is going to happen next.
There are times in the play when the family has a good friendly chat which is blown up when someone, in most cases Eddie blurts out something offensive, illogical or irrelevant. These bomb blasts of good friendly chats turned into arguments is done by Arthur Miller to make it more exciting because obviously no one likes a boring play where there is no surprise, suspense or tension. The frequent surprises used by Arthur Miller are very effective and has a great impact on the tension rate of the play.
At the end of Act 1 it is really a very curious and worrying moment for the audience because this is the main climax part of the film where we see Marco holding up a chair one handed like a weapon towards Eddie with a threatening look and then a triumphant smile. The audience wants to know what is going to happen next. They want to know whether Catherine and Rodolfo are going to be married and how Eddie is going to react to this and what is Eddie going to do because Eddie is always suspecting Rodolfo so he might do something stupid which might be very expensive to him.
Audiences who watch Act 1 have to watch Act 2 because there is going to be absolutely no one who is going to go back watching only the first act. In my opinion Arthur Miller is a successful and talented modern playwright and his plays especially this one is a great success. He uses stage directions, dialogues and actions wonderfully to make the play dramatically exciting. In this play he uses an extra device, which is the narrator. The use of an extra device makes this play special and enjoyable to watch. He glues the audience to their seats and makes them watch it until it is finished. Very few can do that.
Abid Rasheek Amin
10S 20300
Ms. Basson Room 103
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