When Eddie starts to make a point he cannot control himself, even if it offensive to the wrong people. While they are talking about Marcos’s wife, Eddie says “ I betcha there’s plenty surprises sometimes when those guys get back there, heh?” He carries on to explain himself, “(laughing) I mean, you know – they count the kids and there’s a couple extra than when they left?” Eddie does not realise what he has said to Marco is very rude. He just assumes that Marco will laugh it off with him. He has been rude to Marco, who he believed up until that time, to be on his side of the group.
When Eddie begins to talk he addresses Marco rather than Rodolfo because he sees that he has more in common with Marco than with Rodolfo. When they are discussing the men’s trips in the boats, Eddie says “so how long that take you, Marco?” Eddie does not see Rodolfo as someone that he can talk to, as if he is on a lower level to him. Eddie can relate with Marco, because they are both family men and are older and haves wives. Rodolfo Is younger and he does not have a wife, Eddie cannot relate so much to him.
Eddie becomes very angry during the scene and it comes to head when he sees Catherine and Rodolfo dancing. Rodolfo and Catherine are dancing right in front of Eddie’s face and the stage directions say, “He (Eddie) has been unconsciously twisting the newspaper into a tight roll” Then after that it says, “He has bent the rolled paper and it suddenly tears in two.” Eddie has become so frustrated that right in front of his face he is seeing something that he does not like but has no control over. This is taking place inside Eddies house but it as like he is very uncomfortable where he is. To actually tear a newspaper in half is very hard, Eddie must have been using a lot of force to actually break it. The tearing of the newspaper shows how Eddie is feeling inside. Even tough everyone was watching him, he was not aware that he was actually doing it to the newspaper. Eddie was too busy watching Catherine and Rodolfo dance.
He uses the reason of teaching Rodolfo to box as an excuse for releasing some of the anger inside him. At first he appears to be nice to Rodolfo, he says “I’ll treat yiz, what do you say, Danish? Do you wanna come along? I’ll buy the tickets.” But then while he is supposedly teaching Rodolfo to box, the stage direction says “He (Eddie) feints with his left hand and lands with his right” after he has hit Rodolfo he “rubs his hands together”, as though he had gained a degree of satisfaction from what he had done. By this time in the play Eddie is very angry and he needs a way of releasing his anger, so he offers to teach Rodolfo to box. Eddie knows that he has never done any boxing before this, so he teaches him the basics of how to punch and then defend. Then he tricks Rodolfo, he pretends that he is gong to hit him with his left but then comes and hits him with his left.
Eddie knew that Rodolfo would be totally unprepared for his move, but he does it anyway and he seems very pleased after wards, like he has proved a point.
By the end of the scene Eddie is isolated. Everyone has turned against him, through every fault of his own. Catherine is against Eddie because of his attitude and behaviour throughout the whole scene, especially when he hits Rodolfo, she says, while rushing over to Rodolfo, “Eddie!!” Catherine has had enough of Eddie by this time; she knows that he is in the wrong. Beatrice has not been on Eddie’s side from the beginning of the scene. When Eddie is giving Marco a lecture about how Rodolfo is taking Catherine out too late, he says “im only her uncle”.
At the beginning of the scene Beatrice tries to keep the peace within the group. Beatrice loses her way with Eddie and his attitude and she tells him “to be an uncle then”. Beatrice has had enough of Eddie’s jealousy and she is telling him that his feelings for Catherine are not what they should be. If he were trying to be an uncle then he would not be acting the way that he was. Eddie was acting like children who could not get their own way, because that is the way that he feels. Here Eddie is in his own home and he feels like he is powerless to stop what he sees and doesn’t like.
Eddies relationship with Marco breaks down as Eddie’s behaviour in the scene becomes more aggressive and violent against his brother. Eddie also insults Marco, He criticises wife, implying that she is going to be unfaithful. When Eddie gets up to teach Rodolfo to box, he is really showing what a man he is, how strong he is and how tough. Marco is not impressed by Eddies boxing skills, he knows that Eddies has been sly and hit his brother hard in the face, so Marco decides to show Eddie how strong and tough he is. After Eddie hits Rodolfo and Marco has seen how pleased he is about it, Marco asks Eddie “can you lift this chair?” Eddie tries to lift the chair but is unable to. Marco can and the stage directions tell us “He (Marco) kneels, grasps and with strain slowly raises the chair higher and higher, getting to his feet now. Catherine and Rodolfo have stopped dancing as Marco raises the chair over his head.” Then is says “Marco is face to face with Eddie, a strained tension gripping his eyes and jaw, his neck stiff, the chair raised like a weapon over Eddie’s head- and he transforms what might appear like a glare of warning into a smile of triumph, and Eddie’s grin vanishes as he absorbs the look. Eddie has realised that Marco, who has remained fairly quiet during the scene, has had enough of him and his warning him to back off from his brother. Marco is showing Eddie how strong he really is, Eddie has picked on someone weaker than him and Marco is showing him that he is actually a lot stronger than Eddie is. This is Marcos warning to Eddie, and he doesn’t even have to say anything he just lifts the chair up, and lets it hover over Eddie’s head for a while. Eddie knows that Marco is capable of dropping the chair on his head, but Marco is only warning Eddie. This part of the scene is what a warning to what is going to happen at the end of the play, when Marco kills Eddie.
During the beginning of the scene Rodolfo looks up to Eddie and tries to impress him. When Catherine first asks Rodolfo to dance he declines and says “(in deference e to Eddie) No, I – I’m tired” Rodolfo doesn’t want to do anything to annoy Eddie because he looks up to him, but after Eddie ahs hit him in the face he realises that Eddie does not want to be nice to him. Rodolfo asks Catherine to dance this time, “Dance, Catherine. Come” Rodolfo pays no attention to what Eddie thinks anymore, he has had enough too. Rodolfo was the last person you would expect to go against Eddie but he does, right in front of his face, by dancing with Catherine. By the end of the scene Eddie is completely isolated, everyone in the group has turned against him, in his own home. Eddie is alone and he cannot do anything about it, he has insulted and abused the people around him so they have left him alone.
Lucy Wade 10RH