How Does Miller Dramatise the Downfall of Eddie Carbone?Essay title: How Does Miller Dramatise the Downfall of Eddie Carbone?Author: Sadeer NasserHow does Miller dramatise the downfall of Eddie Carbone?Eddie Carbone is the protagonist of the play. He is forceful, hard working and possessive of Catherine. However, he does show generosity and warmth especially when Marco and Rodolpho come into the country. Eddie is a simple man who has little interests outside of work and family; he is too protective of Catherine always laying down laws for her and expecting her to obey him. As the play develops Eddie is finding it more and more difficult to accept that Catherine is growing up this leads Eddie to change to a more aggressive, angry and jealous person leading to his eventual death. The obvious reason for Eddieās death was that Marco was outraged with Eddie because he informed the information bureau about Marco and Rodolfo being illegal immigrants. Technically, Eddie is wholly to blame as it was his decision to tell the immigration bureau. However Catherine and Rodolfo didnāt help make the situation any better by their actions throughout the play.
As the play starts Carbone endows his fatherless niece so much attention, Catherine relishes in this and pleasures in hearing it for Eddieās mouth. As soon as the cousins arrive Catherine matures but she still continues to obey Eddieās instructions. Rodolfo listens to Catherineās first words āyou are married too? Noā this shows Catherine interests in Rodolfo and the ambition to find more about him, Catherine instantly answers the question sheās just asked which implies that she hopes Rodolfo is not married like Marco. From this point Miller shows us Eddieās jealousy becomes clear which makes his relationship with Catherine to develop ambiguously.
As the play progresses towards the end of the first act, Catherine and Rodolfo start to go out. As result Catherine and Eddie discuss Catherineās feelings towards Rodolfo. āYeah. I like himā what Catherine announces during this conversation. Eddie is amazed by Catherineās straightforwardness and as he dislikes Rodolfo, he makes his judgement to convince Catherine that Rodolfo is only bowing to his papersā however she is discomforted by this opinion.
Throughout the play, Miller deliberately makes Eddie and Catherineās relationship to change into more distant relationship, simultaneously Rodolfoās relationship with Catherine strengthens.
In act two, Eddie shows his jealousy of Catherineās relationship with Rodolfo when he kisses Catherine to show he can control them. When Eddie ākisses her on the mouthā Rodolfo tells Eddie to āHave respect for herā. Eddie doesnāt like this and shows it when he āpins his arms, laughing, and suddenly kissesā Rodolfo.
A pivotal moment is when Eddie rings the immigration bureau as when Catherine finds out that he has betrayed the immigrants she stares at Eddie in āa realized horrorā and is furious at him for doing this. The next time she sees Eddie she calls him a āratā, from this the audience can see that Catherine has absolutely grown up and no longer worries about Eddieās opinions.
Rodolfo is a crucial character as his arrival is what makes Catherine change. Beatrice is also an important character as she makes Catherine see that her relationship with Eddie isnāt right but Catherine is āmoved at the prospectā.
Overall, their relationship begins by being very close and ends up being distant and spiteful as Eddie is unable to portray his emotions. Catherine enjoys the way Eddie behaves towards her but she changes when Rodolfo arrives. Catherineās relationship with Rodolfo grows which results in her relationship with Eddie deteriorating. Moments before Eddie dies Catherine is feeling hatred and anger towards Eddie but she tells Eddie āI never meant to do nothing bad to youā. This could be understood by the audience as Catherine admitting that she regrets some of her actions and partly blames herself for Eddieās death.
The illegal immigrants arrive, Carbone greets them nicely however the audience can tell using the speech along with the body language that Eddie feels awkward. Eddie notices, and so does the audience that Catherine fancies the look of Rodolfo, and Eddie is not too please about this, showing again his likeness for Catherine and his jealously of Rodolfo. The evidence of this is how Eddie tries to keep Rodolfo out of the conversation and he addresses only Marco when speaking about things that affect both the brothers. When Catherine asks Rodolfo to sing Eddie interrupts him because he knows that Catherine is in awe with Rodolfo. Miller shows evidence of this by Eddie sternly telling Rodolfo and Marco about the risk of being caught by immigration. He subsequently gets Catherine out of the room by asking her what the heels are for and he tells her to take them off. Indicating that he does
[04/01/2015, 8:24:42 AM] Chris Kluwe: >> it sounds like they’re not really like they are. I mean it’s their whole face, they’re almost all a mixture. Like they are not really like they are.
[04/01/2015, 8:25:08 AM] Chris Kluwe: i’m really gonna go over these facts and let them get a little bit lost. The issue with the American Dream is they are totally alien to every group in the world and no one else wants them. They are totally ineffectual which is a point to be made in favor of any government that wants to enforce their dream.
[04/01/2015, 8:25:10 AM] Chris Kluwe: they do not. it’s stupid. when they have been like that, they have never achieved anything. or whatever
[04/01/2015, 8:25:12 AM] Chris Kluwe: i mean, they have an agenda but not like some of the more successful ones
[04/01/2015, 8:25:21 AM] Chris Kluwe: because they are so different. they are like those stupid people you were talking about and nobody cares about
[04/01/2015, 8:25:26 AM] Chris Kluwe: you and all you’re just the assholes
[04/01/2015, 8:25:45 AM] Remy: I had never heard of that. You sound like they did.
[04/01/2015, 8:25:50 AM] Remy: And you probably know what i mean
[04/01/2015, 8:25:54 AM] Remy: People who have worked so hard and are now all like that
[04/01/2015, 8:26:07 AM] Remy: The other time I watched like “Lucky Christmas” where you know nothing of the “American Dream” unless you’re some one who does
[04/01/2015, 8:26:16 AM] Chris Kluwe: I mean it’s so clear and personal that they are not like those people and I mean they are actually more like they are
[04/01/2015, 8:26:23 AM] Remy: but you really don’t want to know how they can do it and that’s why there are so many people
[04/01/2015, 8:26:48 AM] Chris Kluwe: just do what you want them to do it
[04/01/2015, 8:26:54 AM] Remy: And then we will all lose
[04/01/2015, 8:27:01 AM] Remy: Well that’s your friend.
[04/01/2015, 8:27:02 AM] Remy: So you need to be super careful with this
[04/01/2015, 8:27:06 AM] Chris Kluwe: like just tell him that is the American Dream too. and tell Eddie when he makes a statement about it. and his ass will get a little spooked and lose a little bit of energy but what’s the point of doing that if you didn’t really want the immigrant out there to succeed in America?