Eddie is a fundamentally simple, straightforward man who worked on the piers when there was work, he is seen to be humorous, kind and generous in anticipating the arrival, illegally, of his wife’s cousins. Eddie is a family man and a very loving person.
His kind nature is shown when he acts as a father figure towards Catherine;
“Well, tell me what happened. Come over here, talk to me.”
This shows he has an interest in her problems, he uses a very comforting manner. Eddie is a family man and agrees straight away to help illegal immigrants. He works hard and has a good job. These good points help us to forgive him more for his bad points however there are quite a lot of them.
He is over protective of his niece, Catherine, in her increasing maturity.
“I don’t like the looks they are giving you in the candy store”
“You’re a baby”
It is I believe this urge to protect Catherine, which makes him try to keep her from discovering independence. Catherine rapidly becomes attracted toward Rodolfo; this makes Eddie increasingly sensitive to the presence of Rodolfo.
Beatrice, Eddie’s wife is aware of a deeper, more disturbing reason for Eddie’s over protectiveness toward Catherine. She is able initially, to persuade him to allow Catherine to start work. It is still clear that she is unhappy about Eddie’s attitude toward his niece.
The physical, sexual part of the Carbones’ marriage has broken down, Beatrice asks Eddie:
“When am I gonna be a wife again Eddie?”
This shows her feelings for Eddie and their relationship, she wants Eddie to love her and treat her right. Despite her efforts to confront Eddie over this, Beatrice is unable to make changes.
Eddie’s obsession with Catherine is something he is not able to understand; therefore he focuses his frustration and anger about this upon Rodolfo.
Eddie believes that Rodolfo could be gay, due to the fact that he sings on the boat, has blond hair and has no responsibilities; he also has a more lighthearted attitude to life. Catherine loves this part of him and it is this, which makes her attracted to him. Eddie is again looking on the bad side of Rodolfo and decides that he only wants to marry her to gain American citizenship.
Catherine has chosen Rodolfo and has decided to move away with him, Eddie is outraged and tries to push them apart however this only draws them closer, Eddie kisses Rodolfo;
“Eddie pins his arm, laughing, and suddenly kisses him.”
He does this to show Catherine that Rodolfo is gay also to try and mock him. Eddie then tells Rodolfo to get out of the house alone, not with Catherine.
Eddie eventually can’t stand his feelings any more; Marco and Rodolfo have wound him up so much he can’t control his anger so he calls the immigration bureau. This makes the audience despise him due to the fact that he can’t let his family be happy; he lets his own feelings get in the way.
Eddie is determined to maintain his reputation and his honour. He lets nothing get in his way; he gets hold of a knife and holds it ready to stab Marco;
“Eddie springs a knife into his hand and Marco steps back.”
Marco appears horrified at this over-the-top action from Eddie however Marco turns the blade inwards and stabs Eddie whilst shouting;
“Anima-a-a-l!”
This shows Marco’s feelings for Eddie, however it also sums up pretty well my feelings and a lot of the other character’s feelings for Eddie.
From all of this evidence I can see that my very first impression of Eddie Carbone has changed dramatically. Although it looked like Eddie was trying to protect Catherine in the beginning, his obsession began to show, cracks were forming in Eddie’s ability to cope as well as in his relationship with Beatrice and Catherine, Marco and Rodolfo.
Eddie is very quick to judge people by how they look this over perceptiveness lands Eddie in a lot of trouble. The audience pick up on this and the other points I have mentioned, this makes the audience despise Eddie to a greater extent than they can sympathise with him.
