Eddie: “ I think it’s too short…… you’re walkin wavy…...you ain’t all the girls”
Here it is clear to see that Eddie is trying to protect Catherine. He explains to her that he doesn’t like the fact that she wears revealing clothes and the way she walks because she gets male attention. Eddie says “You ain’t all the girls” by this he is trying to imply that you are not all the girls you are my girl. He still thinks that Catherine belongs to him and again he can’t accept the fact that Catherine is growing up. In ‘AVFTB’ one could say that because Eddie is attracted towards Catherine his desire to protect her is so great he tries to control her life. But it could also be said that the reason why Eddie tries to protect Catherine is because he doesn’t like the male attention that Catherine gets.
“What job she’s gonna finish school”
“Eddie you won’t believe it”
“No, no you gonna finish school, what kinda job? What do you mean?..”
“Listen a minute.”
“…Why didn’t you ask me first before taking a job”
In this particular extract, we see that Eddie insists that Catherine should finish school, because he knows that if she goes to work she will meet new people and Eddie is scared that he will lose her and also because he feels threatened by this. In this extract there is another example of Eddie’s manhood because he believes that he should have been consulted first. This also proves the point that he is overprotective towards Catherine before Rodolpho arrives and becomes close to Catherine.
In ‘AVFTB’ it is seen that Eddie treats Beatrice very differently in the way in which he treats Catherine. Beatrice tries to distance Catherine and Eddie, this is why he treats Beatrice badly. She explains to Catherine that because she is beginning to become a woman she should act in a different way towards Eddie. She says things like “You still walk around in front of him in your slip”. Beatrice may believe that if Catherine didn’t do these things any more, then maybe Eddie will stop liking Catherine and begin to like her again. It seems that Eddie begins to realise what Beatrice is trying to do. As a result of this he tries to portray Beatrice as a woman who is stupid. He does this so that Catherine does not listen to Beatrice’s advice and views. The family have a discussion about whether or not Catherine should go to work.
Beatrice: “Be the way you are, don’t listen to him”
Eddie: (to Beatrice strangely and quickly resentful)
“You lived in a house all your life, what do you know about it?” Act one
This clearly shows that Eddie does not like the fact that Beatrice is giving advice to Catherine. He says to Beatrice that because she has lived in a house all her life, she doesn’t know anything about the outside world. This is again also being prejudice towards women. Another thing that Eddie seems not to like and which makes him angry is Beatrice disagreeing with him. Eddie is trying to make the point that, because Beatrice is a woman and that she is domesticated she doesn’t have a clue what the world is like outside of the house. But then one could argue that she is not stupid at all because she realises that Eddie likes Catherine and the way in which he treats her is not as a father but as a lover and he does this for his own personal pleasure.
In ‘AVFTB’ Eddie has vicious suspicions that Rodolpho is homosexual, this probably would have not bothered him as much if Catherine wasn’t fond of Rodolpho. He comes up with the most ridiculous reasons for why he thinks Rodolpho is some what feminine. It seems that he will go to any extent to prove what he thinks. He does this because he believes that if Rodolpho is not in the way then he can get closer to Catherine. Basically one could say that Eddie is jealous of Rodolpho because Catherine is attracted towards Rodolpho and not him.
Eddie: “And that wacky hair, he’s like a chorus girl or sump’m” Act one
This shows us that just because Rodolpho doesn’t have black or brown hair Eddie believes that he is effeminate. This statement proves how ridiculous Eddie’s view’s are.
Beatrice: “Well it’s good he could always make a living”
Eddie: “It’s wonderful he sings, he cooks, he could make dresses…..” Act one
At this point in ‘AVFTB’ it is clear to see that Eddie is being sarcastic about what he says, however Beatrice is very serious and she praises Rodolpho. It seems that Eddie is some what jealous that Beatrice is praising Rodolpho. The statement tells us that Eddie believes that these activities are only meant to be for women. Eddie believes that a man should not do anything in the least which is domesticated. It could be said that he is some what jealous that Rodolpho has all these skills, but he is too frightened to carry them out because he might lose his respect from the neighbourhood. Eddie is very stereotypical and sexist and some what backwards, it is because he has no solid proof or evidence that Rodolpho is gay he tries to take snide digs at him and try to humiliate him.
At this point in ‘AVFTB’ Eddie is trying to implicate that you should only come to America for your family and to escape starvation and that you shouldn’t attempt to be part of the American Dream.
From the text we can get clues into how an actor playing Eddie would perform, for instance facial expressions would be a very important aspect because Eddie is frequently asking questions for example “You mean a regular?” , so the actor would have to make it obvious to the audience that he is asking a question. The stage directions in the text need to be acted out in a way that creates atmosphere and excitement because without these the audience will not see the true side of Eddie. For example we wouldn’t realise that Eddie tries to kill Marco in the latter stage of the play. The actor would have to show all the aspects of Eddie Carbone i.e. Show his true colours by exposing himself to the audience as a perverted and wicked character, through facial expressions, speech and movement. Speech is an essential element of the performance of the actor, because without this element one can not see what Eddie’s intentions are, for example “It’s wonderful he sings, he cooks, he could make dresses…” , from reading the text it seems as though Eddie is being sarcastic, but if acted out as a play the actor would have to have a grin on his face for example to show that he is being sarcastic.
But towards the end of the play the actor would try and convince the audience to sympathise with him and make him look like a caring and loving man who just wanted his respect and was only thinking for the best for his family. He would do this by having less of everything like performance space, loudness of volume etc. which would make him look more kind and thoughtful. One could say that the audience would react to the character of Eddie Carbone as being an evil and self-centred character. It could also be said that the audience will not sympathise with the character of Eddie Carbone at all, after seeing what his intentions are (by examining his facial expressions and movement on the stage, and hints in the way in which he speaks), to see whether or not his motives for his actions are sincere or not, however some people may believe that he didn’t deserve to die. It could also be said that if the actor playing Eddie lacks in one particular area such as facial expressions, the audience may get the wrong impression.
After examining the character of Eddie Carbone, one could argue that he is not doing the best for his family at all. It can also be said that he is definitely not attempting to install positive values and support Catherine. If he wanted to support Catherine and install positive values in her life, he wouldn’t do things such as kiss her on the mouth or try to separate her from the man that she loves just because he dislikes him. It can be said that he is not doing the best for his family in anyway because he is too bothered about his respect from the neighbourhood and his status in the household that he doesn’t know what he is doing to his family and the way in which he is hurting them. The words that can sum up Eddie Carbone are selfish, ignorant and self-centred, this is because in ‘AVFTB’ all he is bothered about is himself and whatever he does is for his benefit and nobody else. From all of the above it can be clearly seen that Eddie is not doing the best for his family at all and he is without doubt not misunderstood.