Eddie also claims that Catherine is “walkin’ wavy” highlighting the fact that he does not like her wearing high heels which are making her walk wavy. After Catherine realises that Eddie Disapproves of the clothes that she wears Catherine is “almost in tears” because she would like him too approve of what she is wearing. This portrays Eddie as being a fatherly figure to the audience. Miller wants to portray this at the start of the play as he wants the audience to see that Eddie is now acting like more of a father, even though there is no proof in this sequence that Eddie is Catherine’s father.
When Catherine gets upset about the way Eddie feels he claims that “heads are turning like windmills” when they are looking at her. He does not like this and he shows that he is overprotecting towards Catherine and that he feels Catherine is overdressed. This is still portraying Eddie as a fatherly figure; by showing that he is trying to look after her and is trying to do what he feels is best for her by looking after her and telling her how he feels. Arthur Miller is trying to get this fatherly figure of Eddie portrayed to the audience so that they will believe that Eddie is Catherine’s father or legal guardian.
The second sequence that shows another character of Eddie is also in Act 1 when Rodolfo sings “Paper Doll.” Eddie Gets jealous of Rodolfo and Eddie rises “with iron control” after making Rodolfo stop singing. He feels pleased with himself for doing this and manages to “smile,” but Catherine enjoys Rodolfo’s singing and she wants Eddie to “leave him finish” as she thinks that it is “beautiful.” This makes Eddie extremely jealous of Rodolfo portraying to the audience that Eddie may have feelings for Catherine even though he is related to her and a lot older then her.
When Catherine comes out of her bedroom wearing her heels again, Eddie becomes even more jealous and tells her to get changed. This made Catherine “embarrassed, now angered.” These words in the stage directions show how Arthur Miller is portraying to the audience that Catherine is interested in Rodolfo and is dressing up nice for him but Eddie is jealous about this and that’s how the audience now begins to see Eddie.
Arthur Miller is showing that Catherine is unhappy about having to change her shoes but does it anyway showing that Eddie is a highly valued figure in the house and people tend to do as he tells them to. He is powerful around the house. He is also getting very jealous of Rodolfo, as Eddie wants Catherine to be living at home with him all her life and Rodolfo is beginning to take Catherine away from him. The audience see that Eddie is jealous of the relationship that seems to be becoming of Catherine and Rodolfo and because of this Eddie dislikes Rodolfo and chooses to be horrible towards Rodolfo and to talk directly towards Marco rather then Rodolfo. The audience now see that Eddie’s relationship has changed as the audience can now see that Eddie has feelings for her as well as being the fatherly figure. Arthur Miller portrays this by the jealousy that Eddie is showing of Rodolfo from the way he acts towards him.
The third of the three sequences that shows another character of Eddie is in Act 2 when Eddie does not want Beatrice to go to the wedding of Catherine and Rodolfo. Beatrice is already fearful of Eddie at this point but she went up to Eddie “with fear” and told him that she was going to the wedding. When Beatrice says this to Eddie he talks to her “quietly, almost inaudibly.” He is angry at Beatrice for not listening to what he has said and he does not want Catherine to marry Rodolfo as he is jealous and does not want Catherine to leave his house, as he wants her all to himself. The audience here realize that Eddie’s feelings for Catherine are very strong and Miller portrays this by the way Eddie speaks to Beatrice when she tells him that she is going to the wedding.
Beatrice gets angry at Eddie and tries to talk to him nice and calmly telling him that she cause its Catherine’s wedding and she has to be there for her. Eddie becomes more aggressive and starts to con Beatrice into not going to the wedding by telling Beatrice that “You walk out that door to that wedding you ain’t comin’ back here” He is doing everything he can to stop Beatrice from going to the wedding and giving her blessing to the married couple as he does not want them to be blessed and does not want this wedding to go ahead because he has feelings for Catherine and doesn’t like the fact that another man is taking her away from him. This furthers the issue that Eddie has feelings for Catherine and the audience can see that again.
Eddie speaks to Beatrice about going to the wedding and he feels that he wants his “respect” feeling that if she leaves to go to the wedding then she has no respect for him, this is used by Arthur Miller to try and make Beatrice feel guilty. Eddie feels almost “hurt” about the fact that Beatrice wants to go to the wedding. This shows the audience that he tries to make people feel quite guilty and if he wants something he will try his hardest to get it and he will use whatever means are necessary to try and get what he wants. In this case he is using the guilt trick towards Beatrice to try and make her not go to the wedding which he knows will upset Catherine and he hopes that Catherine will perhaps call off her wedding.
Eddie is feeling humiliated by Marco from when Marco spat in his face and shouted for the whole street to hear and he wants Marco to apologize for this and he is trying to make Beatrice choose between himself or their niece, Catherine, which portrays to the audience that Eddie as being stubborn and selfish, he feels that if he is not happy then no-one can be happy. Arthur Miller shows that Eddie is not acting as a good fatherly figure as if he was acting as a good fatherly figure then he would be happy for Catherine and he should want her to move on with her life, but he does not and the audience begin to see this.
After what Eddie says to Beatrice, Catherine walks in and is aggravated by what he has said and she “suddenly” speaks out to Eddie, shocking everyone. Beatrice tries to calm things down a little and trys to shush Catherine but she does not succeed as Catherine is not happy about the way Eddie has been treating everybody as if he owns them and Catherine firmly tells Eddie “you got no more right to tell nobody nothing” This shows that Catherine is getting extremely wound up. Catherine calls Eddie “a rat” and says that “he belongs in a sewer,” this angers Eddie so much that he is “about to pick up the table and fling it at her” Eddie almost throws the table but Beatrice stops him and tells him to put it down. This brings Eddie out to the audience as if to be a selfish and easily angered man if he does not get his own way and he is very stubborn. When he does not want something to happen then he will try his hardest to stop it from happening. Arthur Miller is carrying on the fact that Eddie has feelings for Catherine although he is Catharine’s legal Guardian.
Throughout the play the character of Eddie changes. The audience first see Eddie as a kind of fatherly figure as he tells Catherine that he disapproves of the clothes that she has been wearing and the looks that men and boys have been giving her as she has been walking past them on the street. Arthur Miller shows this by showing that Eddie is trying to look after Catherine and look out for her best interests.
The second impression that the audience get of Eddie is that he is a highly valued figure around the house and people like to do as he tells them for example when he tells Catherine to go and change her shoes she does as she wants to keep him happy. He also seems to the audience to be powerful around the house and controls people and makes people act as he would like them to act. Also in the second sequence he is beginning to get jealous about the way Catherine is beginning to form a bond with Rodolfo therefore the audience realise that Eddie may have feelings for Catherine. Arthur Miller portrays this well as he shows how aggravated Eddie is getting of Rodolfo by Eddie focusing more on Marco instead of Rodolfo. Also in this sequence the audience start to see that Eddie has feelings for Catherine and loves her in a different way then he should. This is why he is getting jealous of Rodolfo.
The third impression that the audience get of Eddie is that he is a selfish and stubborn man and if he wants something to not happen then he will not let it happen whatever he has to do to stop it he will do. Arthur Miller portrays this by showing how Eddie does not want Beatrice to go to the wedding because he is jealous of Rodolfo and does not want Catherine to marry him. Eddie does not like the fact that Catherine has found a man as he has feelings for her but he can never be with her so the closest thing he could do then to get with her would be to keep her at home but now that she is marrying Rodolfo, Eddie can not do this as she will be moving out to live with her new husband and she will be starting a life away from Eddie. Eddie is also easily angered and can not always control himself. Arthur Miller shows this by when Eddie picks up the table almost throwing it at Catherine when she stood up to him but Beatrice stopped him just in time.
Eddie felt as though he was in control at the start of the play, he then became less and less in control of everybody throughout the play. Arthur Miller showed this by when Catherine began to stand up to him. Catherine told Eddie that he had been bossing everybody around for to long now and she told him that it must end and she showed him that she was not happy. By the end of the play Eddie is no longer in control of anybody and is finally killed at the very end so that he was definitely not in control of anybody any longer.
