Eddie continues to create conflict when he makes a comment about Marco’s wife back home in Italy. He says, “I mean, you know-they count the kids and there’s a couple extra then when they left”. This comment creates tension between the two characters, because this is extremely offensive towards Marco because he is a Catholic, and therefore he views sex outside of marriage as a sin. The comment that Eddie makes is to redeem himself after being embarrassed by Rodolfo. This insult from Eddie has shocked Marco, but he hasn’t reacted in the way you would expect him to, you would think that he would have been angrier with Eddie after such an insult. The way Marco reacts to the comments takes affect on the audience and makes them feel tense and more anxious to see what Marco is going to do next if anything.
When Rodolfo defends his brother wife’s honour, Eddie “rises and paces up and down”. The author Arthur Miller has used the stage direction to speed up the pace of the scene, and to communicate to the audience the degree of Eddie’s frustration. This helps create the tension for the audience. Eddie does this in response to a comment Rodolfo makes about it being “more strict” back home in Italy. This comment outrages Eddie he replies by saying “it aint so free here either”. Eddie is saying that Rodolfo should have asked permission to date Catherine and by not doing so he has not shown any respect towards Eddie. This reply by Eddie is a very significant part of the scene because it is the first time that he has directly confronted Rodolfo. In past confrontations Eddie has been reluctant to get into a full-blown argument with Rodolfo in front of Catherine and Beatrice. As a viewer I would feel very anxious when watching this scene because it’s as if you are jus waiting for Eddie to explode in fits of anger and cause himself more embarrassment.
Tension mounts even further when a furious Catherine, who is stuck in the middle of the argument, asks Rodolfo to dance with her. Straight away this has caused the audience so site right on the edge of their seats as the tension almost reaches boiling point between the characters involved. The chosen record is very significant because Catherine chooses to play “paper doll”. This song is seen as Catherine and Rodolfo’s song in the eyes Eddie, as earlier on in the play Rodolfo sings an impressive version of Paper Doll, which delights Catherine. Catherine’s mood when she asked Rodolfo to dance was described as “flushed with revolt” because she wanted to get back at Eddie for causing such commotion before. When Catherine asks Rodolfo to dance the stage direction towards Eddie is “Eddie freezes”, this shows the audience that he is shocked and angered by this, it’s almost as if he is paralysed with shock by Catherine’s outbursts. The stage directions for Rodolfo are to ‘stiffly rise’, this shows that he is embarrassed to dance with Catherine and is reluctant to dance, he may even fell that he is playing a pawn in a game of chess when he doesn’t want to. Throughout the exchange of actions made the audience would be feeling very amazed and shocked by Catherine’s act of defiance made towards Eddie. As a result of Catherine and Rodolfo dancing the audience would be felling nervous about what Eddie’s actions are going to be next, also the audience would be feeling sorry for Rodolfo as he is being used by Catherine like a puppet.
When it is revealed that Rodolfo can cook, Eddie cannot resist the opportunity to say something insulting. This is shown by Miller’s stage direction to Eddie to lower his newspaper. This shows the audience that Eddie is about to explode and vent his feelings. After Marco tells Beatrice that Rodolfo can cook Eddie says, “It’s wonderful. He sings, he cook, he could make dresses…” by saying this Eddie is implying that Rodolfo us gay. He says this in an almost sarcastic way, this creates and builds up an extreme amount of tension for the viewer. After Eddie sarcastic remark he then goes onto say “but if I could cook, if I could sing, if I could make dresses, I wouldn’t be on the water front”. By saying this he is implying that Rodolfo is not best suited for working on the waterfront, also by saying this he is enhancing his own image to make himself look stronger and more masculine. The stage directions used by Arthur miller in the scene are quite important, Eddie Is directed to roll up his newspaper. This is Eddie trying to make himself look strong to the audience and to the other characters.
The dramatic tension continues to rise when Eddie offers to take Rodolfo and Marco to the boxing match next Saturday. This will alarm the audience and make them become more suspicious of Eddie, because they will be thinking that he is up to something. The invitation from Eddie is also odd after the last few moments of the scene which where full of tension and conflict. Catherine is shocked by Eddie, this is shown by the stage direction that is given to her, “going to Eddie; nervously happy now! This is telling us that even though she is delighted about the men going to do the boxing, she cant help but think that Eddie is up to something, hence the “nervously” part.
The atmosphere on the stage has become increasingly uncomfortable, for all the characters in the scene as Eddie gives Rodolfo a lesson in boxing. This is a tense and dramatic moment for all on lookers rather than a light-hearted joke. At that moment the audience would be feeling nerves and worried that someone might get hurt or seriously injured. The whole reason behind the boxing scene-taking place is so that Eddie can prove that he was still the man of the house. During the boxing scene Eddie lands a punch on Rodolfo and mildly staggers him. At that moment we see Marco rise from his seat in defence of his brother. This is expected of him, as Italian family are very keen on family loyalty and trust. The way in which Catherine reacts takes affect on the audience and the way they react. For instance Catherine sees them boxing and says, “what are you doing?” this is said with alarm and shock, resulting in the audience feeling the same way.
In the final moments of the act Arthur Miller creates highlights tension in a jaw dropping dramatic climax. Marco challenges Eddie to pick up a chair by one leg, (which sounds easy enough to do unless you have tried it). Eddie tries to pick the chair up and ‘fails miserably’. Marco then has his turn and picks the chair up and claims victory over Eddie. By doing this Marco is saying that he is stronger than Eddie.
The final part of the act we see Marco and Eddie exchange significant glances at each other. Arthur Miller says in his final stage direction “he transforms what might appear like a glance of warning into a smile of triumph, and Eddie’s grin vanishes as he absorbs his look”. By writing this Miller is trying to say that what Marco’s unspoken threat to protect Rodolfo has finally hit home as Eddie “absorbs his looks”. Marco responds to this by changing his glare from a warning to a triumph as if he has just won an intense mental battle.
As the curtain drops at the end of act one we, the audience, are left feeling emotional and tense after the heroics of the scene just performed. To achieve this Arthur Miller uses extreme levels of conflict and tension, to create this he highlights issues that he knows will cause controversy and stun the audience emotions and leaves them lost for words. Miller also uses stage directions to get his point across and to make sure that the actors are sending out the right message to the audience. A theme that was ever present throughout the whole act was how family loyalty was perceived and used to affect the views of the audience.
