When Beatrice joins them and the conversation over dinner goes to Catherine’s job offer, our suspicions about Eddie being too protective is backed up. She has been offered a job for fifty dollars a week, Beatrice and Eddie are arguing about what she should do, Beatrice is saying she should take the job, but Eddie is reluctant to let her. He comes up with all sorts of excuses, which are stamped out by Beatrice. Miller is here confirming our thoughts about Eddie. Eddie agrees to the job but he tries to make Catherine feel guilty, which gives us the idea that Eddie perhaps likes Catherine a lot, a little too much maybe.
“And then you’ll move away…(grinning) …why not that’s life. And you’ll come to visit on Sundays, then once a month, then Christmas and finally New Years.”
Eddie here is trying to use reverse psychology. This is shown by the way Eddie is trying to gain sympathy from Catherine to make her think twice about taking the job. Beatrice again stops Eddie from doing this by telling Catherine to ignore him. Eddie now knows he has failed to stop this and he finishes the conversation. He then becomes slightly paranoid. Catherine asks what would happen if someone said something about Beatrice’s cousins that are being smuggled into the country as they speak. Eddie looks at her which makes he rephrase her question.
Eddie tells Beatrice to tell the story of Vinny Bolzano which the playwright uses to build up tension because after the story has been told, everyone who is reading or watching the play thinks that something like this might happen again also the purpose of Miller placing the story of Vinny Bolzano in the play is to back up the idea of a close neighbourhood that doesn’t snitch, or else!
Alferi now uses his narrator role to tell us more about Eddie.
“He was a good man as he had to be that worked in a job that was hard and even…”
This again makes the audience think about what is going to happen to Eddie. Miller knows that what he has put will build up more excitement in the play. Every word now of the play will keep the audience hooked on the story line.
The cousins arrive, Eddie greets them nicely but we can tell from the body language combined with the speech that Eddie feels awkward. But he notices, like we do, that Catherine likes the look of Rodolfo, and Eddie is not too please about this, showing again his likeness for Catherine and his jealously of Rodolfo. The evidence of this is how Eddie tries to keep Rodolfo out of the conversation and he addresses only Marco when speaking about things that affect both the brothers. When Catherine asks Rodolfo to sing Eddie interrupts him because he knows that Catherine is in awe with Rodolfo. Miller shows evidence of this by Eddie sternly telling Rodolfo and Marco about the risk of being caught by immigration. He subsequently gets Catherine out of the room by asking her what the heels are for and he tells her to take them off. Indicating that he does not want Catherine looking her best for Rodolfo. This scene is vital to the build up of tension in the play. The audience know will have some more thoughts about what will happen in the end.
At the end of this scene Alferi has another few lines to say. “Eddie Carbone had never expected to have a destiny.” Miller again builds up some more excitement to the play, that makes the audience even more hooked and looking forward to seeing what will happen.
The next part of the play is a few weeks later. Eddie is now letting his bad feelings about Rodolfo shown to Beatrice. “He gives me the heeby- jeebies,” these two words tell us that Eddie thinks Rodolfo is gay. Eddie knows that he is wrong; Rodolfo can’t be gay because he is out with Catherine. Eddie is obviously jealous of Rodolfo’s good looks. Beatrice then makes him shut up about Rodolfo and she switches to something else. Miller reveals that Eddie and Beatrice are having problems with their sex life, Eddie cannot probably relax with Beatrice when he knows that Catherine is out with Rodolfo. Eddie is then pleased to see her when she gets back so he can’t help but smile at her. This now makes the audience think that Eddie fancies Catherine. Eddie gets rid of Rodolfo and has a private conversation with Catherine. Eddie is trying to ay that he doesn’t like Rodolfo but he finds it hard to tell her outright. Beatrice breaks up this conversation when it gets heated up and it is obvious that Beatrice is angry with Eddie for giving her no freedom to do what she wants. When Eddie has left Beatrice tells Catherine to be herself, but act more like a woman in front of Eddie.
Eddie goes to see Alferi. Alferi is now playing a part in the play and the two meetings between them are key points in the play because Eddie is very different in the first one to the second.
The whole family is at home when Eddie gets back. Marco is there. Marco ahs not been used much in the beginning of the play but that all changes in act 2. Eddie begins to get very annoyed with Rodolfo. This leads on to Eddie challenging Rodolfo to a pretend boxing match where Eddie strikes Rodolfo hard. Eddie again tries to make Rodolfo look gay by asking if he hurt him. Rodolfo cannot say that he did because it would make him look weak. Marco suspects that this might get violent so he proves his strength to Eddie by lifting a chair above his head and Eddie cannot do it. The act ends in a tense moment. Marco has the chair above Eddie’s head and it looks like he has a weapon. So overall Eddie is proving that he is tougher than Rodolfo and Marco is proving he is stronger than Eddie. This is the end of act 1 and the audience know now that Eddie is a ticking time bomb waiting to explode after the build up of tension.
In Act 2 it begins with Eddie stumbling across Catherine and Rodolfo making love. Eddie is drunk here so he is slightly unsure of what he is doing. Eddie is furious and he tells Rodolfo to pack his stuff, Catherine tries to go too, but Eddie kisses Catherine. The audience watching this would be shocked. Eddie is showing his real feelings about Catherine so to save himself, and at the same time make Rodolfo look gay, he kisses Rodolfo too.
Eddie visits Alferi again to question the law, and he has said he wants to go to the police to get Rodolfo out of the country. Alferi becomes the closest person, apart from Beatrice, to say that Eddie fancies Catherine and he cannot have her. If Alferi was not a lawyer, Eddie would have punched him. Now on the scenery a phone box has been there through all the play. The audience must have questioned why its there, and now their questions are answered. The phone box lights up. Eddie furious leaves Alferi. Alferi protests but Eddie ignores him.
Eddie now has broken that one important rule in his community. Do not snitch. Eddie has betrayed his community and his family.
When he returns home he sees the error of his ways when he hears that another couple of Italians have been smuggled into the country and they are staying upstairs with Marco and Rodolfo. When the officers arrive. Marco realises what Eddie has done and he spits in his face. Beatrice finds out he has done this as well. So does everyone else in the community after Marco does this. Eddie thinks Marco has taken his name but Eddie has really lost it himself. There is nothing he can do to get his name back. Eddie knows this but he refuses to admit he is wrong.
Eddie is now at the highest point in his insanity and paranoia. Eddie is refusing to go, and refusing to let Beatrice go to Catherine’s wedding. Marco is now on bail. Miller ha let the audience now has a good idea how the bloody end is going to come. Beatrice says that Eddie fancies Catherine and he can never have her. This is one of the last things she will ever say to him.
The fight occurs in the street with the whole neighbourhood watching, Eddie wants his name back, even though he knows he cannot get it back. Eddie pulls out a knife but Marco uses his strength to push it back into Eddie. Alferi has the final words at the end. He comments on how he respected Eddie, and how he still does, and how everyone else should respect his strength.
Arthur Miller’s technique to present Eddie Carbone is mostly through the body language that Eddie has and also Alferi’s description of Eddie’s moods to show that Eddie is a respectable, yet hot-headed character that can cause a lot of trouble.
