Catherine is very naïve and believes things, which are told to her. She’s young and attractive, and she likes to be the centre of attention. Eddie on the other hand has a split personality, sometimes he can be a really sweet and loving father figure and other times he just releases rage inside him, which he wants to let out.
When Marco and Rodolfo come to stay with Beatrice, Eddie and Catherine, Eddie’s attitude begins to change. He becomes even more protective over Catherine than he already is and becomes very defensive. On page 22, Catherine says to Rodolfo, “ you like sugar”, Rodolfo reply’s, “ sugar? Yes! I like sugar very much”. Rodolfo isn’t implying that he likes sugar literally, he was flirting with her in an indirect, subtle way, only he doesn’t realise Eddie realises what he is implying. Eddie notice the tone in which Rodolfo speaks to Catherine and immediately cuts in and says to Catherine in an agitated tone, “its after eight”. Eddie is not only aggravated at the fact that they are late, but the fact they went out in the first place. Eddie feels that Rodolfo and his brother are a threat on him and feel that he is being replaced.
When Eddie gets annoyed at Catherine and Rodolfo, Beatrice also notices the change in Eddie’s manner. She starts to become jealous but she doesn’t let on because Eddies is treating Catherine more like a wife than he treats Beatrice. At one stage in Act 1, Beatrice says smiling “ ah, go on, you’re jus jealous”. She says that like she’s joking but inside she knows that Eddie is slightly jealous of Rodolfo.
Beatrice thinks Catherine is a threat towards her relationship with Eddie. She confronts Eddie and asks him, “ when am I gonna be a wife again, Eddie?” when Beatrice asked this Eddie tried to avoid the subject and steps back using the excuse that, he “ don’t feel good”. Slowly Eddie is pushing Beatrice away.
Beatrice comments on how she saw Catherine in the bathroom when Eddie was shaving in his underwear, she tell Catherine she’s no longer twelve anymore she cannot throw herself at Eddie. Beatrice says on page 30 to Catherine, “I know, honey. But if you act like a baby he be treatin’ you like a baby”. She trying to tell Catherine to grow up a bit and act mature because she is around grown men. Catherine doesn’t seem to want to know and refuses to believe the idea even came into Beatrice’s head. Her ignorance takes the best of her.
Near the ending of Act 1, Eddie, Catherine, Beatrice, Rodolfo and Marco are all sitting in the living room, when Catherine decides to get up and put a record on the phonograph; ‘Paper Doll’ plays, Catherine flushed with revolt builds up the courage and asks Rodolfo if he wants to dance, (Eddie freezes at this moment in time) at first Rodolfo refuses but then stiffly excepts. As the couple dance, the other three are having a conversation about Rodolfo. When Marco tell ‘B’ and Eddie Rodolfo cooks. Eddie speaks in a sarcastic way, “ he a cook, too!” Eddie is trying to imply that Rodolfo is ‘gay’.
After a little while Rodolfo and Catherine stop dancing. Eddies becomes very annoyed when Catherine compliments Rodolfo, he starts twisting the newspaper unconsciously in a tight roll. He becomes so angry inside he rips the paper in two; he gets up and confronts Marco.
Eddie offers a boxing match with Marco, but Marco refuses at first, then he agrees to take him up on a challenge. At first its just a light boxing match but then Eddie becomes more serious and aggressive, this is when Beatrice and jumps in and stops him. Rodolfo grabs Catherine’s hand and requests that she dances with him. Eddie at this stage of the play is very angry and wants to get back at Rodolfo in some way or another. Eddie at this moment in time is very enraged at the fact the Rodolfo is acting like this under his roof. His emotional state at this point is very confused, he is feeling anger mixed with love for Catherine, and knowing that he cannot do or say anything to Rodolfo to stop him from dancing with Catherine, it makes him even angrier.
Marco gets angry because of Eddies reaction towards the boxing match and decides to get even and put his foot down. He challenges Eddie to lift a chair up with one hand kneeling down. Eddie thinking he can do it tries to lift the chair, he disappointedly fails. Marco becomes face to face with Eddies, you can see the tension building. Marco lifts the chair above Eddie like a weapon; he has a glare of warning on his face; (this is to show he is not afraid). The warning turns into a smile of triumph. Marco is warning Eddies in an indirect way to back off.
Eddie starts to grow anguished when Catherine comes out from the bedroom, adjusting her dress at the beginning of Act 2. Eddie assumes that Rodolfo and Catherine have just had sex but still says sarcastically, “ Rodolfo makin’ you a dress?” Seeing Rodolfo come out of the bedroom makes Eddies arm jerk slightly in shock. When Rodolfo nods testingly, Eddie becomes angry and tell Rodolfo to leave. Catherine immediately turns and walks towards the bedroom, when Eddie grabs her she tells him she needs to get out of there. Eddie grabs Rodolfo and kisses him; Eddie is trying to prove that Rodolfo is gay. Catherine shouts telling him to get off. She pleads Eddie and tells him she is not a baby anymore. Catherine at this stage is very angry and scared she just wants to find a way to get out of there. Eddies feeling are more transparent than before and he starts to show that through his anger, when he advances toward Rodolfo. Eddie trying to prove the Rodolfo was gay made it clearer how he felt about Rodolfo.
During the play Eddie and Catherine’s relationship changes dramatically. At first Eddie is portrayed as a fatherly figure that cares for Catherine a lot as a daughter, and an ideal husband that cared a lot for Beatrice. He tells her how he will look after her. This can be seen very clearly at the beginning of the play as he treats them very nicely. However when Marco and Rodolfo enter the play, Eddies character change drastically, in the sense that he becomes overprotective and defensive. He try’s to make excuses to stop Catherine going out with Rodolfo, only he fails to do so. So he then try’s to make it out as if Rodolfo is gal by kissing him, only this pushes Catherine even more and makes her scared. It seems as though every time Rodolfo spoke to Catherine it would rage him up, and he thought that Rodolfo was trying to make a pass at Catherine. Even though it was all-innocent, it turned Eddie into an arrogant and spiteful person, and despite all that he said to Catherine about treating her like a daughter, it led him to losing his life.
Eddies feeling started to show when he kissed Catherine and this pushed her away, his behaviour changed all for something he could never had. Eddies character changes in the sense that his feelings for Catherine become more clear and transparent. This just pushes Catherine even further away. Eddies jealousy took over his whole life for someone whose relationship was no more then platonic towards him.
