When the cousins arrive in Act One we see a change in Eddie’s character and also in Catherine’s. At first they are all happy to see the two cousins and greet them with hugs and kisses, but Eddie’s attitude soon changes. He reacts badly to Rodolpho and shows his opinion of him by mainly speaking to his brother Marco. He disapproves of Rodolpho’s singing and is quite rude to him because he is jealous that Catherine and Rodolpho get on well. Eddie complains to Beatrice about his singing by saying “Right on the deck, all of a sudden, a whole song comes out of his mouth – with motions.” Catherine and Rodolpho show their developing attitudes towards each other by flirting a lot and by Rodolpho repeatedly complimenting her. Rodolpho is younger than Marco and a lot more outgoing. Eddie comments on Rodolpho’s appearance and behaviour, implying that he is effeminate. He says, “And with that wacky hair; he’s like a chorus girl or sump’m.” Eddie believes he is gay because he has blonde hair and sings. It is clear that Eddie does not like Rodolpho. Eddie is very possessive of Catherine and seems to suggest that Rodolpho is taking what belongs to him by saying, “and he takes and puts his filthy hands on her like a goddam thief!” and, “He’s stealing from me!” Catherine begins to have less respect for Eddie than she did before. She stays out late and decided to marry Rodolpho against Eddie’s wishes, when before she would have asked for his approval.
The scene in which Eddie offers to teach Rodolpho some boxing is very important when looking at his conflict with Rodolpho. Eddie uses this ‘play fight’ as a way to prove his male dominance and to try and humiliate Rodolpho. Rodolpho tries to avoid this offer because he doesn’t want to look a fool or anger Eddie. However Eddie bullies him into it. When Eddie encourages him to “come into” him Rodolpho says, “I don’t want to hit you, Eddie”. He does this out of respect for Eddie however Eddie throws it back in his face by making him feel guilty. He does this by saying “Don’t pity me, come on.” Eddie also uses this as a chance to give a hidden warning to Rodolpho, to prove he is the stronger man. Eddie begins to taunt Rodolpho more – “here I come Danish!” - as the ‘fight’ goes on. It becomes less friendly as they gently box and then Eddie hits Rodolpho quite hard so that Rodolpho staggers. This angers Marco so he rises as if to protect his brother if need be. Catherine rushes to Rodolpho at this point, choosing him over Eddie. We see from Eddie’s actions that he enjoyed hitting Rodolpho and he carries on using threatening actions towards Rodolpho such as rubbing his fists together and offering to teach him again. Rodolpho aggravates Eddie by getting Catherine to dance with him. He is ‘rubbing Eddie’s nose’ in the fact that she chose him over Eddie. Marco places a chair in front of Eddie and asks him if he can lift it. Eddie cannot however Marco lifts the chair high above Eddie’s head, glaring at him at the same time. He uses this as a way to make Eddie look stupid to get back at him for what he did to Rodolpho and to imply a threat towards him and warn him that he cannot treat his brother that way.
Eddie takes this unspoken threat very seriously and his jealousy increases over Rodolpho and Catherine being in love. He does not want Rodolpho to marry Catherine because he doesn’t want to lose her and feels Rodolpho is not good enough because he is an illegal immigrant. This shows just how much Eddie cares as his family were illegal immigrants too however he still feels that Catherine is too good to marry one. Eddie decides he must do something to stop this but Alfieri warns him of the consequences of defying the social law and going against natural order, meaning his feelings for Catherine. Eddie betrays the family by phoning the Immigration Bureau and reporting Rodolpho and Marco. He thinks about this action afterwards. I think he regrets doing it because after speaking to Beatrice about Catherine and Rodolpho he is less angry about them being together, but still tries to persuade Catherine against it with reason. He seems more anxious and scared than angry now. He then finds out about the other illegal immigrants that are staying with Marco and Rodolpho and says, “How do you know what enemies Lipari’s [one of the new immigrants] got? Which they’d love to stab him in the back.” He says this because he thinks that when the Immigration Officers come for them he won’t look like the main suspect. When the immigration officers knock on the door, Catherine looks at Eddie with horror. She knows it was Eddie and feels betrayed and hurt. Beatrice also blames him and refuses to look at him. This makes Eddie furious and he demands “what’s the matter with you?” He tries to act innocently by this and also by saying “What’re you, accusin’ me?” They then see the two officers with Marco, Rodolpho and the other two illegal immigrants descending the stairs followed by Catherine. Marco spits in Eddie’s face and Eddie lunges at him. Marco says in front of everybody, “He killed my children! That one stole the food from my children!” Everybody looks at Eddie with disgust now because of what he has done. He has lost everybody.
Marco is released on bail, on the condition that Marco promises not to do anything, and Rodolpho and Catherine still plan to marry against Eddie’s wishes. Eddie tells Beatrice that she is not allowed to go to the wedding – “Didn’t you hear what I told you? You walk out that door to that wedding you ain’t comin’ back here, Beatrice.” Eddie tells Rodolpho “I want my name!” and “he’s gonna give it back to me in front of this neighbourhood, or we have it out” Beatrice then says “You want somethin’ else, Eddie, and you never have her” This shocks Catherine, even though she knows Beatrice is right, and angers Eddie greatly. He can’t believe she would think that of him. When Marco arrives Eddie demands to be given his name back as he feels Marco made a fool out of him and caused people to lack respect for him. Marco replies “Animal!” and Eddie springs out a knife on Marco. Eddie is extremely angry with Marco and is full of fury. Marco feels the same about Eddie because of him turning him and his brother in. Not only has Eddie lost Catherine but also now he has lost his name and he wants it back as he’s a very proud man.
Eddie’s death is very tense and surprising. It is also symbolic and shows how proud Eddie is. Eddie will not give up until he forces Marco to apologise to him and give him his ‘name’ back but Marco refuses. Eddie is willing to kill Marco and betray his family to get his respect back. The fact that Eddie is carrying the weapon and intends to kill Marco implies he is responsible for his own death and overall downfall. Eddie begins the fight by attempting to kill Marco but Eddie is the one who is killed. This is what makes the play a tragedy. Catherine feels that Eddie’s death is her fault as she cries “Eddie, I never meant to do nothing bad to you.”
I feel some sympathy towards Eddie as he was only standing up for what he believed in and trying to protect Catherine, who he cared greatly about. He didn’t want to lose her. However I also feel he was too overprotective and judging as he disliked Rodolpho for totally wrong reasons, like him being effeminate. If he hadn’t of been so stubborn and against Rodolpho he needn’t have lost his life or betrayed the family because of his jealousy.