First of all I will examine the relationship between Eddie and Catherine. Eddie is like a father figure to Catherine, ‘I think it’s too short, ain’t it?’ Eddie referring to Catherine’s skirt, this shows he is over-protective, like a father figure. Also he might be jealous of her and want to see her as a lover, that maybe the reason why he was against her taking a job.
Eddie’s relationship with Beatrice contains a lot of tension; their marriage is ‘rocky’. Beatrice even stated to Eddie, ‘When am I going to be a wife again Eddie?’ she is referring to the physical part of their relationship, Eddie replies with an excuse which lays the blame on lays the blame on Marco and Rodolfo. But then she corrects him, that they have had problems long before their arrival. Beatrice is unable to get an answer about their relationship and its status. Beatrice also argues to Eddie about his views on Catherine and should not take a job, ‘She’s seventeen years old, you gonna keep her in the house all her life?’ Beatrice also believes Eddie is jealous of Rodolfo because he is with Catherine, ‘Ah, go on, you’re just jealous’.
Eddie’s relationship with Rodolfo is more about competition and Eddie’s hatred towards Rodolfo. Eddie is jealous because of Rodolfo’s relationship with Catherine, he claims, ‘He’s stealing from me’ he gets back with a hidden competition by teaching Rodolfo to box. When Eddie hit Rodolfo it’s the hidden message about not to ruin his life. That’s one of the main tensions in this act.
Lastly I will look at Beatrice and Catherine. There are three main points about their relationship; Catherine looking to Beatrice, Beatrice giving advice, and each other’s conflict with Eddie. Beatrice advises to Catherine to take control of her life, ‘Don’t tell me you don’t know…’ This shows Beatrice believes Catherine should let herself decide what to do. When talking about Eddie, Beatrice believes Catherine keeps flirting with him, ‘…you throw yourself at him since when you was twelve years old’. This is the main part that shows tension between them.
From character relationship, we can discover that they build up tension throughout the play.
Alfieri is the chorus of the play, reporting situations now and then. He reports the tension too, ‘A man works, raises his family…’ starting on a high note, ‘there was trouble that would not go away’, and ending on a low note.
So he starts by lightening up the tension then bringing the tension right at the end of his speech.
Stage directions play major parts on tension in this play. For example, at the end of act, when Marco lifts the chair, the stage direction reads, ‘like a glare of warning into a smile of triumph’, this shows that Marco is glaring which shows the tension involved. Without these stage directions, we would not know clearly, what tension was involved. How will the performers of the play be able to get an idea of what facial expression? How would we have known that Marco’s face was glaring with warning which signified tension? We would have to rely on the speeches, which isn’t a reliable source when the action is the tension. Stage directions can be actions, feelings or emotion, these can build the tension throughout the play.
Each character has their own language, which can tell us about their mood. From these moods we can see where there is tension.
Eddie’s language is commonly informal or colloquial, ‘Well, I’ll see ya, fellas’, this is because Eddie is not well educated.
Beatrice uses formal language when guests are around, ‘Beatrice. This is my husband Eddie…’ (introducing the family to Marco and Rodolfo), she wants to be polite and give a first good impression. But when getting close someone she talks informal, ‘What you’re gonna stand over her till she’s forty?’ she does this because she may find it easier to express or explain herself better with informal language.
Catherine uses formal language when she wants to be serious, ‘I’m the best student, he says…’ she is formal because she wants to present a case and sound serious. She rarely speaks informally.
Tension is also created it self, because of Italian traditions such as omerta.
Omerta means ‘silent’ in the Sicilian dialect, or in this case, not to inform to the authorities. This can bring tension because the idea about ‘snitching’ to the authorities about the two cousins could be done by Eddie, but Alfieri advises not to break old traditions. The Italian culture can bring tension it-self.
So where does all this tension lead to? It leads to the end of the act when Marco lifts the chair as a ‘glare of warning’ to Eddie. This is the main part that the tension builds up to during this act.
On relationship basis, Eddie creates most tension between most characters, which runs through the end of Act 1.
Alfieri’s report on the play gives us a better indication on what is happening, by also reporting on conflict.
Stage direction gives us a major indication of how people feel and react. It’s like a silent tension.
The language of each character, gives us the idea of how they feel without using stage directions. Within their language we can see when tension arises.
Lastly the idea of omerta, the Italian tradition of silence, can bring tension it-self.
So three main factors, the relationships, the stage directions and the language bring the tension of the play used. A small factor is the idea of Italian traditions.