One of the elements of a tragic hero is that the person usually has a “frailty”. In Eddie’s case it is his uncontrollable incestuous love for his niece, Catherine. His over protectiveness from other men is clearly demonstrated even at the start where Catherine asks permission to take her job, “… she’ll be with a lotta plumbers…”. Moreover when Catherine announced she was taking up a job, Eddie was “strangely nervous” suggesting that Eddie does not want Catherine to leave the house because of his incestuous feelings for Catherine. Eddie shields the world from Catherine which results to Catherine being “like a baby” unexposed to love, men, and any adultery activities. “ I don’t like the looks the guys are giving you at the candy shop”. Beatrice’s observation “you are the one whose mad’ illustrates the Eddie is playing more of role then a dutiful uncle.
Eddie is a victim of fate. Letting Catherine take her job was a difficult thing to do, he has managed to control some of his feelings, but what’s more is that Beatrice’s cousins arrive which includes a young man, Rodolfo who Catherine has taking the like of “you like sugar?” This means that the time Eddie will be spending with his secret love would be less. And this causes jealousy over Rodolfo which then leads to hatred. Eddie indicates this when he punches Rodolfo intentionally to release his anger and show how less a man Rodolfo is. When Eddie discovers the wedding his lets his emotions take over him and begins to blackmail Catherine into not marrying Rodolfo “he’s only bowin to his passport” To a certain extent that may be true since it is common in those days and it is understandable that Eddie as an uncle should be worried. But whether Eddie truly believes that or he is saying that so he could have Catherine is unclear.
The “(to Catherine) you see” (after the kiss implying that Rodolfo is gay ) this is just plain poor blackmailing because Eddie is getting desperate. The kiss Eddie implants on Catherine and Rodolfo gives Catherine a brutal introduction to incestuous and homosexual corruption which horrifies and terrorize her.
This shatters the family, eliminates trust for him, conjures jealousy upon wife (lost self-worth) and daughter.
Eddie has an argument with Beatrice as she confronts him and complains about Eddies obsession over Catherine “that’s what you call responsible for her”. As Eddie knows that he is suspected and tries to defend (hiding) himself by accusing Rodolfo and saying that he “wants his respect” At the same time he reflects his sexes characteristic when he accuses Beatrice for not being a loving wife. “ I do what I feel like doin’ or what I don’t feel like doin” this relates to sex expressing masculinity. This is understandable since Eddie was brought up this way in old Sicilian culture (e.g. mafia) where women did not have much rights.
When Eddie cannot wheel Catherine around into not marrying Catherine, he has lost control of his emotions and his incestuous feelings for her and commits the unspeakable “ I want to report something, illegal immigrants” (dramatic irony from the story of Vinny Bolzano – Eddie contradicts himself) this not only annihilated the sociality’s social code, Eddie has betrayed his family (worst crimes in Sicily) brought shame and humiliation upon Beatrice and starved Marco’s family. But Marco has been bailed out and had brought shame and disgust upon Eddies name towards the community. Eddie has lost his pride, friends, and respect. When a man is in that state his wrath overrules him in this case leading him to death. “Marco grabs eddies arm and presses the knife towards home.”
In conclusion, I feel pity for Eddie which makes him a tragic hero. Emotions is a hard thing to control. Eddie has already compromised and let Catherine take her job. Fate has brought Rodolfo into Eddies troubled mind at the wrong time. It is normal for a father to feel protective of their daughters especially when they are living the rough parts of the states and only knows the cruel reality of the society.
Being an uncle, the level of incest is not as strong compared to father and daughter relationship. The gap between illegal family laws is smaller creating a stronger temptation for Eddie which makes his incestuous feeling difficult to ignore. And after all “Eddie was never meant to have a destiny” Eddie has lost everything, his family, his confidence in the community, friends etcetera. Basically eddie has already been paid back for all the faults he uncontrollably committed. I believe miller has succeeded in making us feel pity for Eddie.
I think Eddie has represented a lot of individuals with incest problems, shown us how easily it was to be a victim and how emotionally difficult it is to free yourself. Finding your own daughter sexually attractive is an easy thing. He has made us wonder “ Is incest really that bad?”
