Explore the dramatic significance of Act One (pages 22 to 24) and the effect it might have on the audience
01-06-10
This scene takes place a few weeks after Marco and Rodolfo are first introduced into the play. The last scene has a climatic ending with recognition of apparent sexual attraction between Rodolfo and Catherine. In this scene, it appears that the two young characters have developed a liaison and intimacy, much to Eddie’s chagrin. This selected scene reveals to the audience not only the development of a romance between Rodolfo and Catherine but also the start of the deterioration of Eddie and Beatrice’s relationship as a result of Eddie’s affection for Catherine. The scene like many within the play, is introduced by Alfieri who pronounces: “Eddie Carbone never expected to have a destiny” (P22) thereby implying Eddie’s imminent downfall, similar to other protagonists found in Greek tragedies. However, as this is a modern tragedy, no one character is particularly corrupt. Indeed, they are just ordinary people. As confirmed in Alfieri’s speech as he asserts: “A man works, raises his family, goes bowling…” (P22) Yet even inconsequential individuals can have extraordinary lives, and Miller encapsulates this in the play through the perceptive Chorus of Alfieri.
Marco and Rodolfo who arrived at the Carbone household a few weeks prior to events occurring in this scene, are beginning to sense Eddie’s distress. During this introductory meeting Eddie generates a disliking for Rodolfo, which the audience realize, as a result of the magnetism between his niece and Rodolfo. He begins to only address Marco deliberately excluding Rodolfo from his conversation. Towards the end of this scene, Rodolfo and Catherine begin openly flirting, and in the background Eddie is seen with “his face puffed with trouble,”(P22) illustrating to the audience his future anxieties and jealousy in the play.