‘Eddie: That ain’t what I wanted, though.
Catherine: Why! It’s a great big company –
Eddie: I don’t like that neighborhood over there.
Catherine: It’s a block and half from the subway, he says
Eddie: Near the Navy Yard plenty can happen in a block and a half. And a plumbin’ company! That’s one step over the waterfront. They’re practically longshoremen…I know she’ll be in the office, but that ain’t what I had in mind.’
At this point we can see that Eddie is not very happy or impressed with Catherine’s decision, on top of that Miller makes it seem worse for Eddie as he includes flashbacks:
‘[With a sense of her childhood, her babyhood, and the years]’
This helps us to understand how Eddie feels inside but disguises his feelings when Catherine announced she had been offered a plumbing secretary job. He feels in doubt that he got to protect her as she may be in contact with other men which he does not want to happen. He has to have a reason for everything and puts Catherine down as if she still too young to understand everything, and can not make the right choice for herself. He is too protective and this is shown by him making the decisions for her and deciding what he thinks she should do by saying ‘but that ain’t what I had in mind.’
Throughout the play we see happiness shed upon Eddie, while Catherine was in his control and was influenced by him:
‘[Eddie is standing facing the two seated women. First Beatrice smiles, then Catherine, for a powerful emotion is on him, a childish one and a knowing fear, and the tears show in his eyes – and they are shy before the avowal.]’
This feeling is shown by Eddie when Catherine tells Eddie when she will start work, it illustrates the point that he loves her so much and is proud and happy for her but on the other hand he fears just incase she is stolen from him. While Catherine was in Eddies control she could ‘tell a block away when he’s blue in his mind and just wants to talk to somebody quiet and nice…I can tell when he’s hungry or wants a beer before he even says anything. I know when his feet hurt him…’ From the vivid description and the details Catherine tells us about how she knows everything about Eddie, shows us how it is hard for Catherine to make a stranger out of Eddie, when she was so close to him and knew a great deal about him and that is why Eddie may have so much love for Catherine.
Eddie moves from happiness to sadness when Beatrice’s illegal immigrant cousins arrive from Italy as Catherine and Rodolpho seem to be attracted to one another, and start dating, and this worries Eddie greatly:
Eddie: They must’ve seen every picture in Brooklyn by now. He’s supposed to stay in the house when he ain’t working. He ain’t supposed to go advertising himself.
Beatrice: Well, that’s his trouble, what do you care? If they pick him up they pick him up, that’s all. Come in the house…
[Comes to him, now the subject is opened]: What’s the matter with you? He’s a nice kid, what do you want from him?
Eddie: That’s a nice kid? He gives me the heeby-jeebies.
Beatrice [Smiling]: Ah, go on, you’re just jealous.
Eddie: Of him? Boy, you don’t think much of me.
The dialogue used here consists of many rhetorical questions, and the use of colloquial language and an unusual word choice is used ‘heeby-jeebies.’ This therefore tells us a great deal of what Eddie actually thinks and how strongly Eddie seems to be in love with Catherine, but does not admit this at any point in the play, but he is concerned about Catherine and the fact she is with Rodolpho. He can not bear this, and his jealousy puts an affect on why he finds Rodolpho not right. Beatrice proves that Eddie is jealous but he comes in anger and shows how he can be jealous of someone like Rodolpho who sings on the decks with a whole song out his mouth, with motions. He feels Catherine is being stolen from him.
Eddie hates Rodolpho and since he is taking Catherine away from him, he eventually reports Mr. Alfieri the lawyer, to try and find a law that how ‘Rodolpho is after Catherine for the passports.’ Mr. Alfieri tells Eddie he can not do anything as Rodolpho is within his rights, and also tells Eddie ‘he can not marry Catherine and must let her go,’ which angers him as Mr. Alfieri is aware of his state of mind. Eddie does not intentionally mean to be evil; his possessive love for Catherine makes him annoyed at Rodolpho:
‘Eddie: […He is weirdly elated, rubbing his fists into his palms. He strides to Marco.] You wait, Marco, you see some real fights here. You ever do any boxing?
Marco: No, I never.
Eddie [to Rodolpho]: Betcha you have done some, heh?
Rodolpho: No.
Eddie: Well, come on, I’ll teach you.’
Arthur Miller sets this scene very well as we find out a lot and realise how Eddie is not in control with his actions towards Rodolpho. As Eddie in a sense does not on purpose mean to be evil to Rodolpho or hate on him, but the hatred towards Rodolpho is shown due to Eddie’s inner thoughts which are being hurt, how he hurt Rodolpho through the boxing scene but created the image as if he was teaching him boxing and it happened by accident. It in a way was to show Catherine that Rodolpho was weak and put him down but also hurt him at the same time.
Eddie is mainly jealous and his inner reality of ‘trouble that would never go away’ and ‘frailty’ makes him try to distance Rodolpho and Catherine apart:
‘[He reaches out suddenly, draws her to him, and as she strives to free herself he kisses her on the mouth.]
Rodolpho: Don’t [He pulls on Eddie’s arm.] Stop that! Have respect for her!
Eddie [spun round by Rodolpho]: You want something?
Rodolpho: Yes! She’ll be my wife. That is what I want. My wife!
Eddie: But what’re you gonna be... Come on, show me! What’re you gonna be? Show me!
Rodolpho [with tears of rage]: Don’t say that to me!
[Rodolpho flies at him in attack. Eddie pins his arms, laughing, and suddenly kisses him.]’
At this point the dialogue is short and simple sentences which contain only one verb and exclamation marks which communicate quickly and directly and sets a dramatic scene. Also the use of repetition ‘But what’re you gonna be... Come on, show me! What’re you gonna be? Show me!’ shows how angry Eddie is and not in control but on the other hand it was to provoke Rodolpho to get him angry to see what he can actually do.
This happens when Eddie returns home drunk, he sees Catherine and Rodolpho, and can’t bear to see them in love, therefore he tells Rodolpho to leave as he thought this would distance them both but instead Catherine suggests her and Rodolpho were both going to leave. Eddie strives to kiss Catherine to make Rodolpho jealous, and try to distance them apart. This is ironic, as he at the same time kisses Rodolpho to show that he has a feminine side or he can not have Catherine, to distance them, but they actually become closer to one another.
Eddie eventually wants his reputation and name back in the community, which had been destroyed; this was lost by his own self, as an error in judgment made him come to the wrong decision:
‘Eddie: Give me the number of the Immigration Bureau. Thanks. [He dials.] I want to report something. Illegal immigrants.Two of them. That’s right…’
The author creates the use of irony and shows how Eddie’s passionate opposition to the marriage between Rodolpho and Catherine forces him to make this decision to report them up. It is ironic as his actions backfire and he loses his own honour and respect in the neighborhood. Also Eddie told the story of Vinnie Bolzano as if it was a terrible thing, but Eddie is in the same situation.
Episodes after episodes occur of Eddie trying to cope with his inner violent reaction until he commits what his neighborhood consider the most shameful of crimes. This is a feature of a tragic hero as they always die in some way at the end. In this play Eddie dies by Marco coming back for revenge but Eddie approaches Marco with a knife, since Marco is strong, he turns Eddies arm and kills him with his own knife. The importance of the knife still in Eddies possession shows that he brought his own downfall, and the traces of his fingerprints are on it, shows he committed it himself. The image created is he brought his own death on himself, through his own error in judgment. Therefore Eddie is a tragic hero as he is not intentionally evil, his weakness of letting Catherine go causes him to suffer and move from happiness to misery eventually a wrong decision to his own death.