A hero is defined as a man who due to a tragic flaw, dies, and because of his death, we feel a heavy sense of loss and pity. A classic example would be Macbeth. But what does Macbeth have that makes him a hero that Eddie Carbone does not? The fact that Macbeth was of noble birth and Eddie Carbone was just a typical longshoreman who worked on the piers of Brooklyn Bridge.
The reason I think Miller has tried to make a hero out of Eddie is because of the way he creates Eddie and the characters around him. A good example of this would be Alfieri. Miller creates Alfieri as the Greek chorus. Not only is Alfieri the observer, he too plays a crucial part of the play as the law.
Miller has used Alfieri to create a sense of justice throughout the play, and as the play goes on, we learn to trust Alfieri. Miller has used this trust that we have for Alfieri to build up the feelings we have towards Eddie. I feel this way as Alfieri constantly praises Eddie and although Alfieri knows that Eddie’s death was useless, he will still mourn him with a certain alarm. Alfieri also mentions that he ‘will love him more than all my sensible clients’ which gives the audience a sense of doubt of whether or not Eddie deserved to die.
Another character Miller has used to make Eddie look more ‘hero-like’ is Catherine. Although it was the love for Catherine that caused Eddie’s death, I feel that this is what Miller intended. After all, it is the love for Catherine which is Eddie’s only redeeming quality. This love is displayed throughout the play not only for Catherine, but for his family. Eddie Carbone was a man who ‘worked on the piers when there was work, brought home his pay, and lived’; this alone gives us enough reason for Eddie to qualify as a hero, because it was all his years of striving which kept his family alive. This would definitely be considered as a redeeming quality.
However, although Miller has tried to make Eddie into a hero, he has not succeeded. Miller has created a chauvinistic dictator with somewhat of an inner child. Eddie Carbone is a typical Italian male who dominates the household and feels that strength and ‘face’ is most important.
We see Eddie’s display of male superiority in the beginning of the play when Catherine first tells him about her job. Because Eddie is ‘the man of the house’ he makes all the decisions and what he says goes. We see this male domination every time Edie talks to Beatrice. Because Eddie is the husband, he has to be obeyed. Eddie also has a childish behavior as well. Like a child, Eddie speaks his own mind regardless of other peoples’ feelings. We notice this in Act one when Catherine shows Eddie her new dress.
In the play, Miller has displayed traits of Eddie’s dog manic behavior not only in speech, but in action too. We see this in the end of Act one.
By the end of Act one, we already start to see the physical side of Eddie’s feelings towards Rodolfo. In this crucial moment we also see the close connection between the brotherhood of Rodolfo and Marco. When Eddie defeats Rodolfo whilst teaching him how to box, Marco immediately becomes aware of the hostility Eddie has towards Rodolfo and directly threatens Eddie by lifting the chair above his head in an intimidating posture.
Although Eddie’s flaws outweigh his redeeming qualities, in conclusion, I would still say that Miller has tried to make a hero out of Eddie, a man who has no redeeming qualities, and has not succeeded.
By: Stephanie Ko
