Eddie’s eventual discovery that Catherine and Rodolfo have been in the bedroom together has been exposed in a dramatic and unexpected way, by Miller using descriptive and effective stage directions and then powerful dialogue. Arthur Miller creatively uses the stage directions to describe drama, through subtle movement of a character in this part of the scene, for Eddie’s ‘arm jerks slightly in shock’ when he sees Rodolfo come out of the bedroom that Catherine was just in. This small gesture brings the audience attention towards him; they will await what may happen next in the play. By Eddie jerking his arm slightly, Miller shows a subtle but effective way of letting the audience know that he has realised what has been going on between Catherine and Rodolfo and is shocked however by him not reacting aggressively immediately as he saw him come out of the room, Miller creates more of a tense atmosphere as the audience can guess what is going on inside all three characters’ minds and anticipate what might happen as the scene goes on. After Rodolfo finishes his dialogue about Beatrice being out shopping, an attempt to keep the situation normal and calm, Miller prolongs tension by having a pause, written in stage directions. At one of the most dramatic moments in the scene with the mood turning hostile, the effect of the characters saying nothing and not doing anything will make the audience anxious to know who will react first and what might be the outcome of this discovery. Eddie’s aggressive response ‘Pack it up. Go ahead. Get your stuff and get outa here.’ shows how Arthur Millers use of short, quick command sentence make a powerful impact while the hard consonants sounds in ‘pack’ and ‘get’. Eddie has lost control and authority over his young niece Catherine, who he loved dearly, so by commanding Rodolfo to get out of his home he is trying to gain back control over things of Catherine and his home, as the head of an Italian American family is believed to have.
The drama has now developed the scene into a sad, oppressive mood through Catherine’s reaction to Eddie’s eviction of Rodolfo. Catherine is the first to react to Eddie’s aggressive command. By doing this Miller surprises the audience, as they may have thought Rodolfo would be the first to act, as he is the more dominate one of the relationship and Eddie’s orders are directed against him. However Miller describes in stage directions Catherine’ instantly’ turning away towards the bedroom. In a subtle way this shows her determination to hold on to her decision to be part of Rodolfo life and to marry him. This shows the audience a very different Catherine than the one they saw, earlier on in the play: in scene 1, she was too frightened to tell Eddie she has got a job and she is used to doing anything Eddie tells her to do, like when he told her to change her shoes when Rodolfo was around. This reflects his Italian American background as there head of the family is believed to be respected and obeyed. However her brave new determination is shown as being quite fragile for when Eddie challenges her with a question, ‘Where you goin?’ she is then thrown off track and becomes hesitant and uncertain about what she is doing. This shown when she says ‘I think’ twice but she is still trying to be assertive when faced with Eddie’s opposition by finishing off her explanation. Midway through Catherine’s emotional speech Eddie is left with ‘tears in his eyes’; by writing this in stage directions Miller makes the atmosphere of this part of the scene shift from aggressive tension to being moving, as the audience would not anticipate Eddie reacting in such an emotional and vulnerable way. They now may feel more sympathetic towards him. The mood is now low, as Eddie sees that he is losing the battle with Rodolfo for Catherine’s heart, while Catherine also loses control of her emotions when making her tough decision to leave Eddie. This is shown when the stage direction describes how ‘her sobs of pity and her love for him break her composure’ .The audience at this moment are left feeling depressed for the two characters. By the end of her speech, Catherine says to Eddie ‘wish me luck’ to let Eddie know this is her farewell to him through it is described in stage direction that she has clasped her hands prayfully. Miller is showing here her desperate attempt to get Eddie’s approve for her and Rodolfo’s marriage. In the Italian American community it would be very important for Catherine to have Eddie’s blessing as head of the household.
Arthur Miller now creates a sense of dramatic shock and alarming conflict with Eddie’s rejection of Catherine’s appeal and his absolute loss of his own self control. There is immense shock for the audience as Eddie kisses Catherine against her own will. This dramatic action reveals in a forceful and totally unexpected way, Eddie’s inappropriate feelings for her, which have extended a great deal from the start of the play. This outburst of emotion could be through desperation at being about to lose her, particularly to someone he despises so much for Eddie has already suppressed his suspicion about Rodolfo. Earlier in the play Eddie says to Catherine ‘He marries you he’s got the right to become an American citizen.’ Also by kissing her Miller has shown how Eddie wants to claim the possession and control over her, which he once had. As the stage directions also show Catherine’s struggle to free herself from Eddie, this would make the audience worried for her wellbeing, as Eddie is drunk so no one knows what he is capable of. Conflict in the scene continues to escalate when Rodolfo gets involved, by Eddie taunting Rodolfo; Eddie has now revealed to the other two characters his true contempt for Rodolfo which has now escalated to such a height, that he has let it out when says ‘But what’re you gunna be?’ to Rodolfo, he means what kind of husband can Rodolfo be to Catherine. In saying this, Eddie is trying to humiliate Rodolfo by suggesting he is a homosexual, this would be a terrible insult to Rodolfo because in the Italian culture young men were suspected to be virile, and also homosexuality was not accepted in the 1950s. All the comments made by Eddie drive Rodolfo to attack him. This is something the audience would never have guessed Rodolfo would have done earlier on in the play when he arrived in America as a carefree, happy, young Italian; now he is reduced to attacking another man ‘with tears of rage’ in his eyes. To Rodolfo’s and the audience shock, Eddie pins him down and kisses him too. This would be the biggest outrage in the whole scene for the audience especially in the 1950s, as homosexual activities were not generally ever shown on stage. Miller now uses powerfully dramatic dialogue to show Catherine’s fury with Eddie’s actions; she yells ‘I’ll kill you!' so showing a completely new Catherine than before: when explaining why she needed to leave ‘her pity and love for him’ broke her composure but now she is so enraged by Eddie that is capable of making the ultimate threat against him. The exclamation also suggests that she shouts it. Miller’s stage directions continue to draw attention to the tragedy this particular scene of the play has brought and how emotional the characters feel. Miller shows how Eddie is trapped in his own emotional hell by describing him with ‘tears rolling down his face as he laughs mockingly at Rodolfo’ It is clear that even though he is happy that he has humiliated Rodolfo, he knows that he has lost Catherine’s love for good and is deeply upset at how the whole confrontation has resulted in such a catastrophe. The stage directions dramatically describe the characters as ‘animals that have torn at one another’. The simile gives a clear visual image of what they may look like on stage; it shows how crazy and violent their passion is between them; how they have lowered their dignity and themselves to act like animals in a jungle. The word ‘torn in particular, suggests how they have attacked and damaged each other physically and emotionally.
Eddie’s final speech succeeds in creating a dramatic climax to the end of the scene. Eddie’s tone of voice can be seen as very aggressive, shown when Arthur Miller uses short powerful sentences to express the anger and frustration in his voice. ‘Get outa here. Alone. You here me? Alone.’ The repetition of ‘alone’ gives the audience a clear idea of how determined Eddie feels that he wants Rodolfo to go without Catherine; again, by commanding Rodolfo to go, Eddie puts himself in a position where he feels in control and with authority. However the conflict does not lessen for Catherine then replies back to him with new certainty, when she says ‘I’m going with him’ instead of saying, as she did previously ‘I think…’ However Miller also describes through stage directions that Catherine halts frightened; this shows that there is something in Eddie’s voice that is truly terrifying. The air is now thick with tension. Miller uses Brooklyn dialect and spells words phonetically, so that instead of using the word ‘nothing’ for Eddie he uses ‘nuttin’. This is to get the true gritty sound of his voice and to make it sound very menacing. Eddie says ‘Don’t make me do nuttin’ to Catherine. By using double negatives ‘Don’t’ and ‘nuttin’ Miller stresses the forcefulness threat that Eddie is making against her. He then threatens Rodolfo by calling him ‘submarine’, that name reminding both characters that Rodolfo is vulnerable as he is an illegal immigrant. This threat shows how cruel but how very desperate Eddie is to get Rodolfo away from Catherine. The audience would be appalled that he would sink so low, as earlier on in the play, in act 1 he mentioned a boy called Vinny Bolzano who snitched on his illegal immigrant uncle. When the family found out he did this they kicked him out of the house and spat on him. The audience would remember this incident and realise just how terrible it would be if Eddie broke the code of his community by becoming an informant. They may be concerned that he will ruin his own life as well as the lives of Rodolfo and others. Eddie’s final threat is to kill Rodolfo, shown when Eddie says ‘don’t lay anther hand on her unless you wanna go feet first’. ‘Feet first’ is the way a coffin is always taken out in Church. By both couples not reacting to Eddie’s speech it shows how frightened and appalled they are at the threats he had made to them both and miller has set up a memorable climax to this scene when the lights go down on stage as the young couple stand in absolute shock.
Miller has ended this scene with the revelations exposed and Eddie not being able to stop Catherine and Rodolfo’s relationship despite his violent threats and desperate behaviour. The audience would have ambivalent feelings towards Eddie; this is at disgust at his threats and assaults to Catherine and Rodolfo but at the same time pity that he seems to be a victim of passion he cannot control, or even admit to himself. Also this situation in the apartment had caught Eddie at a particularly bad time as he is drunk and much unprepared. Rodolfo had shown a lack of respect for Eddie by having a sexual relationship with Catherine before marriage, he didn’t ask permission to marry Catherine as would be suspected in the Italian community. The audience is now eager to keep a close eye on what may become of this stage action and can anticipate more drama and further conflict and even tragedy between the characters.