The characters in this particular scene are Eddie, Catherine, Beatrice and two southern Italian immigrants called Marco and Rodolpho. Eddie and Beatrice look after their young seventeen year old, naive niece Catherine. (Louis and Mike are long shoremen like Eddie who don’t come into the story often.). The scene reveals the characters’ personalities such as Eddie’s moaning, self-questioning and bitter attributes when he jealously ridicules Rodolpho’s camp and effeminate personality. Beatrice is Eddie’s loving, loyal wife and Catherine has lived with them all her life so she is like a daughter to them. Beatrice is a housewife and lives on Eddie’s wages. Catherine appears to be a young naïve girl who is desperate to get a job, which Eddie will approve of. She seems to hope that if this happens Eddie will treat her in a more adult way and be proud of her.
Marco is strong with a tough build. In a modern society he would be described as very much his own man. This means that he doesn’t let others make decisions for him. Eddie mentions that “ Nobody questions Marco,” suggesting that Marco is more than capable of defending himself. Marco shows us that he is quiet, reserved and tough. He warns Eddie that he is a potential danger to him by raising a chair that Eddie fails to lift. Previously Marco has behaved in a more reserved fashion and had kept himself to himself. Almost as if he was in solitary confinement.
In this part of the play Eddie behaves like a protective father, putting a curfew on the time that Catherine returns home. He also makes decisions about what men Catherine dates and what clothes she wears. He wants to control her life even though she is old enough to get married. Eddie goes on to say that he didn’t “like the looks” that she had been getting in the “candy store”. Furthermore he shows his disapproval about her waving to his friend Louis commenting “I could tell you things about Louis which you wouldn’t wave to him no more”. This suggests that Eddie at this point of the story is having trouble accepting that his niece has grown up and is becoming interested in men. He is also jealous of the relationship between Catherine and Rodolpho.
It is apparent through Marco’s behaviour suggests that he is getting sick and tired of Eddie’s antics. This is evident when Marco intervenes in the heated sparring match between Eddie and Rodolpho. Another example of the rivalry between Marco, Rodolpho and Eddie is when Marco lifts a chair that Eddie fails to; Marco greets this with a “Triumphant smile”.
Rodolpho dances with Catherine after the sparring match with Eddie. This shows Eddie that Rodolpho loves her and is not just after his American citizenship. However this is more a message to Eddie that he isn’t scared of him and will carry on his relationship with Catherine.
Rodolpho suggests that he was only “surprised” when punched by Eddie and not physically hurt. He is obviously hiding his true feelings; he is only being polite to Eddie because he is staying in his house. He might also not want to cause friction between Eddie and Beatrice.
Catherine’s behaviour suggests to us that she is in love with Rodolpho and is getting tired of Eddie’s resistance towards their relationship. Moreover Beatrice seems to be trying to break the tension in this scene, when she tries to restrain Eddie in the sparring match with Rodolpho, she warns him “ that’s enough“. Another example of Eddie attacking Rodolpho, is when he makes a sarcastic remark about Rodolpho’s untypical male skills such as singing and cooking as “ Well its good, he could always make a living”.
The play is set in the living room of Eddie and Beatrice’s apartment. The stage directions say that the main acting area is the “living-room-dining-room of Eddie’s apartment and that it is a worker’s flat, clean, sparse and homely”. This setting is important because it gives the reader/audience an idea of where the action is happening.
Other stage directions show us that Miller is trying to create dramatic tension. Rodolpho dances with Catherine right in front of Eddie to irritate him. As Eddie scrunches his newspaper up in disgust the audience can smell the friction between the two in the air.
Miller wants the audience to think that Marco is loyal and protective of his family. This is evident when he steps in to end the “sparring match” between Eddie and Rodolpho after his brother is punched
The role of the family is one of the main topics to be addressed. This is particularly apparent when we see Eddie and Beatrice looking after their niece Catherine whose mother died when she was a baby.
Love is also an important theme in this scene because of the love triangle involving Catherine and Rodolpho who are in love with each other. Furthermore Eddie who is secretly in loves with Catherine. This is evident by the way Eddie prevents Catherine from having relationships with men.
The role of men and women in this scene can be linked to the traditional roles of the sexes at the time. The play was set when men were expected to go out and earn money for the family whilst women stayed at home as housewives.
All of the elements I have above make this scene dramatically powerful and tense. Miller may have wanted this because this would capture the audience.
This scene is important because the feud between Rodolpho, Marco and Eddie matures into a vendetta.
EMMET MURPHY
GCSE ENGLISH 2002
