“Oh, there were many here who were justly shot by unjust men. Justice is very important here”
I think what is meant by this is that the people who were “justly shot” deserved to be so, but were shot “by unjustly men”, men other than the law who would not be in a position to carry out this justice in America. He says that the American way is more “civilised”, they now “settle for half” conveying that the law in America is more compromising, eradicating the violence in justice. This shows how a concept is treated differently by two cultures.
In the soliloquy he also talks about inevitability,
“every few years there is still a case . . . powerless as I, and watched it run its bloody course”
The use of figurative language in this passage shows he is “powerless” to stop anything that will happen and he knows it will end in death. It sets us up for the leading events that occur in the play. It also shows that this has happened many times before “every few years” which emphasises the inevitability, provoking the audience to empathise with Alfieri and his powerlessness.
The first step in the chain of events that leads to Eddie’s downfall is when Catherine gets offered a job as a stenographer, the audience can see that Eddie doesn’t like this idea of Catherine getting a job, as he is not too keen on the neighbourhood in which she will be working in,
“I don’t like the neighbourhood over there.”
This shows his over protectiveness of Catherine, as she takes her first step of independence. He doesn’t want her to do so as he wants her to stay his “baby”. Catherine is disheartened by Eddie’s disapproval which is shown in the stage directions,
“CATHERINE enters with food, which she silently sets on the table” and also,
“She doesn’t look at him, but continues ladling out food onto the plates”,
This type of behaviour is mainly shown by younger children when they do something to displease their parents and illustrates how strong the bond between Eddie and Catherine is. Eddie is trying to stop Catherine from growing up which is impossible, he is fighting the inevitable and this will only end in misery. On the other hand, Beatrice is keen for Catherine to start work as it will give her many new experiences and she knows that Catherine has grown up, “she’s no baby no more” and sooner or later will have to be married.
With the arrival of Marco and Rodolpho, Eddie’s reputation as the head of the family begins to diminish and so does his respect; Catherine often disregards him at times, for example when Eddie asks Catherine for some coffee she doesn’t get up till she has been asked twice. In the Sicilian culture this is seen as being disrespectful. He then tries the destroy the reputation of Rodolpho in Catherine’s eyes,
“That’s right, He marries you he’s got the right to be an American citizen . . . lookin’ for his break, that’s all he’s lookin’ for”
At first it seems that Eddie is just looking out for Catherine, trying to protect her, but as we know, his over protectiveness of Catherine is his fatal flaw, this can be seen as the beginning of Eddie’s journey towards his downfall. It also conveys that Eddie sees Rodolpho as a threat who will take Catherine away from him, the audience understands that Eddie acts in this manner for his love of Catherine and they sympathise for him.
The next scene is the first meeting Eddie has with Alfieri in the play. Alfieri is sitting alone in his office. When Eddie enters the room Alfieri describes his eyes as “tunnels”. This could show that he can only see one way out for Eddie’s situation, again repeating the idea of inevitability of Eddie’s fate. When Eddie sits he sits, “cap in hand” This shows that Eddie is a respectful man in front of authority following a hierarchy. In the conversation Eddie tries to justify his views by implying that Rodolfo is a homosexual. Before he says this he “glances briefly over each shoulder”, which suggests to me that Eddie knows what he is saying is wrong, it also seems that he is scared as they are both are alone and no one would hear what they are saying, conveying to me that Eddie is cautious and distrustful of everyone. Throughout the conversation Eddie cuts in when Alfieri is talking, showing he is desperate to find a way to get rid of Rodolfo for good, but to no avail we begin to sympathise for Eddie as we know he hasn’t got any other way.
In the conversation Alfieri seems to be able to talk more openly about the situation arising in Eddie’s life, he gets to the point where he can clearly see what is happening,
“She wants to get married, Eddie. She can’t marry you, can she?”
Being an intelligent man Alfieri can understand Eddie’s predicament and empathises with him, but he can also see that the love he feels for his niece is too strong and he feels that he should get over the fact that Catherine is growing up. However, he is also aware that any advice he offers will be discarded, as Eddie is set on his fate.
After Marco and Rodolfo have settled into the Carbone’s residence, the situation becomes tense between Rodolfo and Eddie. Eddie has become intolerant of Rodolfo and Marco at this point as he has expressed to the other characters that Rodolfo is using Catherine as a passport to America. However, the audience know that he really doesn’t believe this but is just finding an excuse. To get back at them Eddie makes a joke about Marco’s family,
“I mean, you know – they count the kids and there’s a couple extra than when they left?”
This comment made by Eddie sound like it would have been made by a woman, it shows us that Eddie is going against the Sicilian characteristics of being a man on the other hand Marco is quite the opposite at this moment,
“No – no . . . The women wait, Eddie. Most. Most. Very few surprises.”
Marco is quick to guard the reputation of his wife which any respectable Sicilian man would do in this situation.
The next major event in this scene is where Rodolfo and Catherine have been dancing to “Paper doll” The words “Paper doll” could represent Catherine, as Eddie is implying that Rodolfo only wants Catherine for his papers; his passport to the country. During this scene Eddie’s anger has been rising and he then makes an attempt to dishonour Rodolfo by making him look foolish and unmanly,
“I mean like me . . . would be like in a dress store.”
During this point Catherine and Rodolfo have stopped dancing and turned off the phonograph, showing that Rodolfo has taken notice of this remark and his pent up anger is shown when he unconsciously tears the newspaper in half.
Eddie’s jealousy and anger has been rising throughout this scene and in another attempt to make Rodolfo look unmanly and foolish Eddie asks him for a sparring match. Eddie hurts Rodolfo by punching him,
“He feints with his left . . . staggers Rodolfo. Marco rises”
He does this to illustrate his power over him and show to Catherine that he is weak and also to warn him this kind of behaviour is shown in animals where males fight each other for the right to mate. Marco has realised what is going on so he “rises” to have his presence felt by Eddie and to show him that he will back Rodolfo up. During this scene Miller has been building up tension through Eddie’s controversial joke to the sparring match as what seems to be “comradeship” and jokes, is really a way to get back at the two brothers.
At the end of this scene Marco and Eddie have a challenge to see who can lift a chair from one leg to above their heads. Eddie tries and tries but to no success the chair just, “leans over to the floor”. When Marco attempts this he raises the chair as if like a “weapon over Eddie’s head” this action is symbolic of Eddie’s fate as he dies because of Marco in the end. It is a gesture that foreshadows the future events yet to occur after this incident. This challenge of strength was also a more blatant warning to Eddie by Marco to show that he could out power and even defeat him in a fight, we know this because of the stage directions,
“ . . glare of warning into a smile of triumph”
These show Marco’s facial expressions. He is smiling because he knows Eddie is no match for him, Eddie also knows this as his, “grin vanishes” ending the scene and act with a dramatic climax. Eddie cannot defeat Rodolfo and Marco by being “more of a man” so he is left with one option, betrayal, which brings on his downfall.
The next time Eddie encounters Alfieri is his final meeting with him. Eddie comes to him desperate to do something about Rodolfo and Marco as he is immersed by his jealousy after seeing Catherine come out of the same bedroom as Rodolfo in the previous scene. In this scene Alfieri again describes Eddie’s eyes as “tunnels” this repeated use of the word “tunnels” suggests that his fate is inevitable as a tunnel has only one way out and so does Eddie’s fate. In fact in this paragraph there are numerous phrases and words that suggest the downfall of Eddie is inevitable such as,
“On December twenty-seventh I saw him next. I normally . . . sat around looking out my window at the bay”
It seems unusual for Alfieri to break from his routine by staying in his office as he is a busy man and staying just “looking out” the window is an illogical way to spend time, suggesting to me it was fate that made him stay in his office that day. Also the word “transfixed” shows the downfall of Eddie, the meaning of the word transfixed is to be fixed to the spot through fear. Alfieri is scared as he knows what is going to happen next and he is powerless to stop it from happening repeating this idea of inevitability.
Eddie uses the same excuses that Rodolfo is homosexual and that he is using Catherine as a way to stay in America. Alfieri tells him as he told him before, “you cannot stop it” but Eddie’s desperation drives him on. Alfieri warns him,
“the law is only . . . drown you if you buck it now”
Alfieri is trying to warn him about the implications that would arise if he was to go against the marriage of Catherine and Rodolfo when he says “law” he is also talking about the marriage however his warnings are futile as he “starts turning around” and goes to the phone booth. Eddie knows now that there is nothing more he can do than to call the immigration bureau, his hastiness and desperation impairing his morals, making him go against the things he stands for.
In the last scenes we see that Eddie has lost everything, as all of the community turn their backs on Eddie, “Lipari, the butcher, turns and starts up left”. He has informed the immigration about Marco and Rodolfo which is considered to be the most dishonourable thing a Sicilian man could do and so they have lost all respect they had for him. Eddie still maintains his innocence as he never gave up fighting for his niece till he died and he stuck to his ways.
Eddie is a tragic hero as he died because of his fatal flaw; his over possessive love of his niece Catherine. We see that he realises his mistake at the end as his last words are, “My B.!” this suggests that Eddie has now understood that his loyalties should have stayed with Beatrice his wife. It is Alfieri that recognises that the death of Eddie should persuade you to think that, “it is better to settle for half”. Alfieri also says that even though he knew that what Eddie did was bad there was still something in him that made him good,
“something perversely pure calls to me from his memory”
This conveys that Alfieri still thinks that Eddie is the “good guy” at the end of the play, as what he did was out of love a passion for his family, even though inevitably this would lead to his downfall and this was the reason why he died the way he did. At the end of the play we agree with Alfieri as the audience considers Eddie to have been hero in his own way.