We first see Eddie coming back from working at the docks. We can see he is socialable and a hard worker when he says ‘yeah, there’s another day yet on that ship’ to his fellow colleague, Louis. This meant he is quite well respected in the Italian-American community. Even before Catherine and Eddie have any dialogue together we can see some sort of relationship between them. We see that Eddie values what Catherine thinks of him. This stage direction- ‘Eddie is pleased and therefore shy about it,’ suggests that Eddie has feelings for Catherine and shy that she gave him attention also he is pleased that she gave him more attention than Louis. Catherine appears to be a sweet girl but seems naïve. Eddie becomes uncomfortable when he sees the way Catherine is dressed. She had ‘fixed her hair differently’ and wore a short skirt. We see naivety in Catherine when the stage description says ‘almost in tears because he disapproves’ she obviously cares about what his opinions are and takes them to heart. We cannot see any possessiveness in Eddie yet, we see a father figure in him. We discover he knows Catherine’s mum and is responsible for her when Eddie says to Catherine ‘I promised your mother on her deathbed. I’m responsible for you’. At this point we see Eddie’s flaw coming through as he considers Catherine as a little child, the way he talks and treats her. Although we know he’s just being caring he becomes more protective when he says he doesn’t like the way men look at Catherine and we find out Eddie has already warned Catherine about men she tells him ‘I wish there was one guy you couldn’t tell me things about’ This foreshadows events as we can already tell that in the past Eddie has warned Catherine about other men, he will continue to do that when Marco arrives. Eddie doesn’t realize his flaw just yet but we can see the way his actions towards Catherine show his protectiveness. He doesn’t want Catherine to go out to work and insists on her staying in the family home until she has finished school. He wants her to stay naïve and not go out to the big world we find this out when Eddie refers to Catherine as ‘the Madonna type’, a girl who is young and pure. This can be perceived differently, is Eddie just trying to be a responsible guardian or is he taking her away from the outside the world? so he can keep her to himself. Although this first scene is quite short we can already see Eddie’s flaw. He gets the slightest bit jealous if he knows that Catherine will come in contact with other men. The first scene can be perceived in two different ways, one being- Eddie is a loving uncle who is just trying to care for his niece or the other where Eddie is being an overprotective and jealous man.
Eddie has news for ‘B’ or Beatrice that her cousins from Italy are going to arrive in America. Its obvious that the family have often discussed the arrival of Beatrice’s cousins and when she hears they’re coming she becomes anxious as she hasn’t made all the preparations for them. Eddie is quick to tell Beatrice that she should calm down and not be too kind to them as they are turning their own beds out for them and that he wants his respect when they come. When they arrive, they all greet each other and introduce themselves. There are two brothers, the eldest, Marco who looks suspicious and sceptical and the younger one, Rodolfo who looks lively and full of spirit. We see immediate attraction between Catherine and Rodolpho when he starts singing. Although he is not singing directly towards her we can obviously see the flirty notations in the lyrics are meant for Catherine. We see the envy in Eddie’s eyes and the anger boiling up, especially when he interrupts Rodolpho singing and explains how they’re immigrants and shouldn’t be making too much noise as they wouldn’t want to be ‘picked up’. But really we know that Eddie’s flaw is being exposed as Catherine is paying more attention to Rodolpho. At this point Eddie’s innocent protectiveness is no longer visible, and we are now able to see the flaw coming through and that his protectiveness is slowly turning into possessiveness without him realizing. We first see this when Eddie relates to Catherine as ‘Garbo’. Miller uses the actress Greta Garbo, a sex icon in that time, to show how Eddie thinks Catherine is growing into a woman too fast. Eddie obviously has hatred towards Rodolpho and tries to show Beatrice and Catherine how he is not suitable to marry Catherine. He says how Rodolpho is ‘not right’ and a ‘chorus girl’, trying to convince everyone that he is homosexual. He also uses Rodolpho’s good qualities against him. He can cook, sing and sew, these attract Catherine to Rodolpho but Eddie conveys this as him being gay. This then leads Eddie to explain to Catherine that the only reason Eddie is considering marrying her is because he wants to stay in America and have a valid passport. He is apparently a homosexual who is just using Catherine to fulfill his American Dream.
Eddie is determined to get Catherine to realize that Rodolpho is just a homosexual he forgets about his own wife- Beatrice. Beatrice realizes more and more that the relationship between her and her husband aren’t close anymore. She even says ‘When am I gonna be a wife again Eddie?’ this indicates that they haven’t been intimate for a while. Beatrice also knows about Eddie’s attraction towards Catherine and therefore is jealous of her. Beatrice has a right to be jealous of Catherine because Eddie is her husband and Catherine is only a niece. Although Beatrice keeps on at Eddie he shows no sign of guilt and is too deep in Catherine to realize his wife’s problems. Eddie takes too much interest in Catherine and takes his father role a bit too far. Beatrice tries to explain to Eddie about how Catherine is not a baby anymore and that she does not need constant looking after, she even has to tell this to Catherine herself who acts childish in front of Eddie without realizing. Beatrice wants the wedding to go ahead as she can finally get her husband back and Catherine can live happily somewhere else.
In this next scene Eddie goes to Alfieri to discuss the relationship forming between Catherine and Rodolpho. ‘His eyes were like tunnels; my first thought was that he had committed a crime, but soon I saw it was only a passion that had moved into his body, like a stranger’ Alfieri says this when he first meets Eddie. Saying that Eddie’s eyes were like tunnels tells us that Eddie will lead up to only one ending and he cannot escape his fate. Eddie resorted to Alfieri so he could explain how Rodolpho is a con. He went to him thinking he would take his side but Alfieri knows Eddie’s flaw. Eddie starts telling Alfieri how Rodolpho is a homosexual and basically like a girl ‘you wouldn’t be lookin’ for him, you be lookin’ for her’. We see a lot of Eddie’s possessiveness when he tells Alfieri that he wouldn’t like to think about Rodolpho laying his hands on Catherine. This comment over stepped the line and Alfieri could tell he had un-lawful feelings for his niece.
At home Rodolpho starts dancing with Catherine and once again we can tell Eddie is fuming up as the stage direction tells us, ‘unconsciously twisting the newspaper’. We then see Eddie intervene and say ‘if I could sing, if I could make dresses, I wouldn't be on the water front’ he is trying to make the point that Rodolpho is homosexual, as before, his opinion is over looked. Marco decides to challenge Eddie to a strength test- who can lift a chair up by its leg with just one hand so he can show Eddie that although he may talk strongly, he cannot show it. Eddie fails but Marco does not, we see who is stronger. Therefore foreshadowing who will be stronger later on when Eddie is put on the spot.
As Eddie had implied so many times that Rodolpho just wants to get married in order to be an American citizen, she decides to confront Rodolpho. When asked, Rodolpho gets insulted and tells Catherine how he loves her but he still has to make a living and that he would like to stay in America as well. Catherine then goes to show that she is afraid of Eddie but she still adores him and starts talking about Eddie as a husband. Rodolpho compares Catherine to a caged bird. Eddie is the cage grasping on to the bird and holding it inside and Catherine as the bird who hasn’t had a chance to flutter her wings. Catherine agrees to finally ‘fly’ when she says ‘teach me’, this is indicating that they will have sex. It’s not quite clear if they do have sex but as Rodolpho and Catherine were walking out of a bedroom Eddie automatically assumes they did. He is outraged and possessiveness has taken full control of him. He sees that Catherine is no longer pure; she has overcome that and matured. Eddie is fuming and also drunk leading him not to think properly. He ends up kissing Catherine and then Rodolpho. Eddie kisses him to show his manliness and how Rodolpho is homosexual. This back lashed onto Eddie and just defined the love between Catherine and Rodolpho.
Eddie is blinded with anger and jealousy and decides to call the immigration. He tells them that Rodolpho and Marco are living illegally at his house but he does not say his name and hangs up the phone. When Eddie goes home he has an argument with Beatrice revolving around Catherine. Beatrice argues that Eddie should let her go and that she is not a baby any longer. Eddie is still not giving up he tells Beatrice he will let her go one day. Another two submarines come to live with Rodolpho and Marco upstairs; Eddie did not know this and starts realizing what he may put himself in as he originally wanted Marco and Rodolpho to be sent back to Italy but now two innocent others will also have to go back. When the immigration knocks at the door Catherine and Beatrice know who to blame. Eddie will know loose his respect which was very dear to him. Not only from his family but from the community as well. On the day of the wedding, Rodolpho decides to settle things and say sorry to Eddie as he fears what Marco might do to Eddie. He also warns him to stay out of his way. But Eddie is defiant. He wants his name, and his respect back. This flaw creates the tragic death Eddie was always destined for. Eddie turns to stab Marco but Marco’s strength show once again and the knife is sent back in Eddie’s direction. At the time of his death Eddie says – ‘Oh, B! My B!’ This shows us however much Eddie was possessive over Catherine he thought about Beatrice in his last moments. Eddie constantly dominates Beatrice throughout the play, but in this tiny moment Eddie needs Beatrice more than she needs him. It is the first time we hears that Eddie honestly needs Beatrice. This shows us that although Eddie gave Catherine the most attention he chose his last dying words for his wife and died in her arms.
From the play format we can tell that Eddie is possessive over Catherine. This is shown through many different ways such as- language, actions, stage directions and emotions. Although protectiveness was shown at the start of the play his possessiveness grew as the love between Catherine and Rodolpho blossomed. In my opinion Eddie was a man who would always be lead by his tragic flaw to do drastic things in order to fulfill that flaw. He would be lead by fate towards a death which could not be escaped, relating back to Arthur Millers objective; a Greek tragedy. Miller doesn’t blatantly show Eddie having feelings towards Catherine but he shows hidden meanings in the stage directions and slowly leading up to Eddie’s own actions. Arthur Miller uses the play format to show Eddie’s flaw ‘too much love,’ although he does want to portray Eddie as being the hero of the play.