The Carbones are quite a happy family until Beatrice’s cousins from Italy migrate to America illegally and move in with them. Marco and Rodolpho come to America illegally from Italy in order to earn money. Marco is serious and very straight forward; he is married and has three children. Rodolpho on the other hand is more laidback than his brother and has a lot of talents. He is a very good singer, he can cook and he can make dresses. He also has a very good sense of humour. The Carbones were part of the Italian immigrants’ community. The code of conduct of the community was different to the code of conduct of the USA. They believed in “an eye for an eye”. They also cared a lot about their honour and dignity. Letting illegal immigrants live with him, Eddie got a lot of credit and respect from his community.
Arthur Miller shows the tension between the characters through stage directions. He builds up the tension from the start of the play when Eddie shows how protective he is of Catherine and that he is not ready to let her grow up. When Eddie tells Catherine about Vinny, it is like he is preparing the audience for a similar incident. Vinny Bolzano was a fourteen year old boy who used to live in the neighbourhood. His uncle was an illegal immigrant that lived with them, he “snitched to the Immigration” and the uncle was deported. The family disowned Vinny after throwing him down three flights of stairs.
The tension between the characters in the play starts when Eddie notices that Rodolpho and Catherine seem to like each other. He does not want Rodolpho and Catherine to get too close. He thinks that Rodolpho “ain’t right” because he can cook, make dresses and sings like a girl. He also thinks that Rodolpho is only marrying Catherine for the passport. Eddie thinks that Rodolpho is not very manly. Rodolpho is very polite to Eddie; he senses that Eddie does not like his so he tries to make Eddie like him. He warns Catherine a few times but Catherine does not believe him.
Marco being the older brother is very protective towards his younger brother. He had noticed the enmity and hatred Eddie had fro Rodolpho in the beginning of the play and had tried to change Eddie’s attitude toward Rodolpho bay asking Rodolpho to do as Eddie wanted. Towards the end of part one, Marco decides to step in between Eddie and Rodolpho. The reason he did this was because he wanted to make sure that Eddie did not mess with his brother. After the boxing incident Marco knew that something had to be done to stop Eddie, so he asked Eddie to pick up a chair by one of its legs using one hand when Eddie couldn’t do it, he showed Eddie that he could. By doing this he showed Eddie that not only is he stronger than Eddie but also that Eddie should stop messing with Rodolpho because Marco will help and support him. This is where the play reaches its climax. The look on Eddie’s and Marco’s face added to the dramatic tension that had built up during the first act. Act 1 ended there and that added to the build up of tension because it was a cliff-hanger and that makes the audience what to know what happens next.
In the second act, Alfieri tells the audience that the worst thing that can happen is going to happen and he cannot stop it. He prepares the audience for the worst. The tension in this part of the play starts to build up when Eddie decides to call the Immigration Bureau. The Immigration Bureau pick up Marco, Rodolpho and 2 others, before leaving Marco spits on Eddie’s face and tell the neighbours that Edie reported them. When Marco and Rodolpho get out of jail, Rodolpho tells Catherine that Marco has gone to church to pray. By saying this he is telling the audience that Marco is going to do something very bad and is asking for forgiveness beforehand. This adds to the tension in the play. In the end of the play Marco and Eddie get into a fight and Eddie dies.
Alfieri played a big part in building the atmosphere of tension throughout because he is someone Eddie confides in and he explains everything directly to the audience. He makes the audience sense something is going to go terribly wrong.
