Arthur Miller bases the story upon the mythology of a Greek Tragedy. Eddie plays a role of a Greek tragic hero which means that he was trying to do well, but a mistake was made which lead to a spiralling downfall. Eddie tried to look out for and protect his niece from the man she fell in love with, Rodolfo which made Eddie extremely jealous and this is when Eddie started to do all he could to preclude any relationship between Catherine and Rodolfo. Miller wanted society to realise that you should settle for half just like he did instead of being greedy and jealous like Eddie whose actions lead to death and a broken family. So basing the play upon the tradition of a Greek Tragedy would help put over the message of the play which Miller did so well.
Eddie Carbone is an Italian immigrant living in a predominantly Italian area in New York City. He and his family settled for a better life where he could work and provide for his family. As an Italian man you are counted upon to be a masculine and strong figure and somewhat protective of your family. He is the man of the house and he has authority over Beatrice and Catherine but he also likes to show the dominance and higher status when other men are in the house. Like when Marco and Rodolfo are introduced into the play when they visit Eddie’s home he straight away shakes hands with Marco which shows a welcome into his property and suggests that Eddie is in charge of the household. Also Eddie owns his own rocker chair that could show it acts as his throne making him King of the house. You can make out awkwardness between Marco and Eddie which is shown through the use of short snappy sentences. When Catherine exits to make some coffee, Eddie sits on his rocker; “Yiz have a nice trip?” asked Eddie “The Ocean is always rough. But we are good sailors.” replied Marco. It sounds like Eddie is trying to make an effort, whereas Marco is uncomfortable creating a tension until it is interrupted by Rodolfo.
Catherine shows an interest in Rodolfo which Eddie isn’t very fond of so he uses any excuse to turn Catherine’s attention away from him. So he uses Rodolfo’s effeminate side to claim that he is homosexual. Eddie tries to test Rodolfo’s masculinity, he tells Rodolfo to land a blow at him. Eddie hits Rodolfo with power that makes him stagger to the floor. Catherine tends to Rodolfo to help him up and comfort him. Rodolfo then begun to realise this was one of Eddie’s tries to isolate them, but Rodolfo is stronger than that. He beckons Catherine and invites her to dance, taking her fully in his arms. Marco is more than confident to show Eddie that he is not the strongest, so he placed a chair directly in front of Eddie and asks if he can elevate it by holding one leg. Eddie says, “Gee, that’s hard, I never knew that.” He repeats trying to lift it, but once again he fails. Marco then tries to lift the chair and successfully gets it up high above his head whilst the family are watching. While Eddie laughs and congratulates Marco, Marco frowns proving that he is certainly stronger which tells Eddie that if he messes with Rodolfo again Marco will assist his brother and beat Eddie. The family see the build of tension as Eddie notices the look on Marco’s face as he wipes the smile away.
Rodolfo started singing for Catherine, but Eddie intercepted him when he says “Hey kid – hey, wait a minute –“showing that he’s surprised and also suggests that Eddie thinks it is not masculine for a guy to be singing. Eddie also says to Marco “They got guys all over the place, Marco. I mean.” A masculine guy to Eddie is a guy who protects loved ones and a man that works and keeps a family together. This says that Eddie thinks the normal masculine guys in the area will not approve or like the fact that a guy enjoys singing. Catherine also takes pleasure from the singing of Rodolfo which gets Eddie jealous making him increasingly agitated. When Eddie notices the heels that she is wearing he orders her to take them off, because they appear to him as though they would attract other men. She felt embarrassed and anger maybe displaying that she feels embarrassed, because Rodolfo was witness to Eddie’s orders. It also shows the protective and possessive side that Eddie has for Catherine.
Jealousy is what makes Eddie so protective over Catherine and he goes to extreme measures whether it means betraying his loved ones to stop the relationship between her and Rodolfo. Firstly Eddie tries to convince Catherine that she should not get too close with Rodolfo. By the stage directions Miller uses we see an evil side to Eddie as his eyes glare at Catherine and he tries to fake a smile. “Why don’t you talk to him, Eddie? He blesses you, and you don’t talk to him hardly”, Eddies eyes are described as enveloping and replies to Catherine “I bless you and you don’t talk to me” which shows he is trying to make her feel guilty about her spontaneous interests in Rodolfo. He also tells Catherine that Rodolfo don’t respect her and that he doesn’t bless him, trying to persuade Catherine to stay away from him. When this does not change Catherine’s interests in Rodolfo, Eddie feels like he has been defeated and takes his problems to Alfieri. This is where Eddie’s downfall begun.
Eddie was losing control of his emotions, making him become crazy. He approached Alfieri to report Rodolfo and stated that he was only after Catherine to get papers. Alfieri described Eddie’s eyes to be like tunnels showing that he was already feeling defeated and described his jealousy as a passion that was controlling his body. “Eddie, I’m a lawyer. I can only deal in what’s provable. You understand that, don’t you? Can you prove that?” asked by Alfieri. Eddie replied “I know what’s in his mind, Mr Alfieri!” The italics show desperation as well as the exclamation mark showing that he is gradually losing his temper. Eddie also describes Rodolfo to Alfieri saying that “you could kiss him he was so sweet.” Eddie had revealed to Alfieri that he thought Rodolfo was homosexual using it as an excuse to convince Alfieri that he wants papers.
You are kept reminded by Eddie’s death throughout the play by the use of foreshadowing and help from Alfieri narrating Eddie’s actions and the play. Alfieri said “I knew where he was heading for, I knew where he was going to end.” This reminds an audience of the opening scene where we knew from the start, Eddie’s ending. Also Alfieri includes a metaphor to warn Eddie of what he will face if his jealous ways get the better of him. “A river will drown you” spoken by Alfieri indicating that it will become too much for him to handle and he won’t be able to face the consequences he faces of breaking the law.
Eddie has an impenetrable wall of denial and during the play if someone tried to shatter it, he would fill with fury. Anger is shown multiple times with the use of punctuation such as exclamation marks. When Alfieri says to him, “She can’t marry you can she?” Eddie infuriately responds, “I don’t know what the hell you’re talkin’ about!” Also when Beatrice screams at him, “You want somethin’ else, Eddie, and you can never have her!” These words got Eddie so angry they could have been the words that lead to his death. This was probably Eddie’s biggest problem. He just couldn’t face the truths that made him lie resulting in his crashing downfall.
I think the way Arthur Miller presents the character Eddie Carbone allows the audience to understand the message far easier. Eddie shows what can happen if you allow yourself to be too known. Really there are desires and secrets that are best to be kept to you in order for the protection of others that is. And this is explained in the ending when Alfieri said, “most of the time we settle for half and I like it better.” This means that you should compromise and allow justice, be fair and don’t be greedy. Also I think that the play teaches you about the psychology of relationships and that you shouldn’t betray your friends which Eddie did and look where he ended up. But there is a side to me that does feel sympathy for Eddie as it can become quite hard to release a daughter figure into the open world, especially when it comes as sudden as it did.
