Closing scene of Act One Essay Example for Free

Closing scene of Act One Essay It is clear to the audience that Catherine wants to disagree with Eddie but feels she is not allowed too think different for herself. Beatrice will not let Catherine put up with Eddie treating her like a child anymore. She sits Catherine down to tell her that she needs to grow up and move away she before she becomes trapped by Eddie. An angered Beatrice says to Catherine in : you still think youre a little girl, honey.. he cant give you orders no more This quote shows Beatrices frustration with Catherine, and therefore Miller is succeeding in creating more dramatic tension because Beatrice shows her feelings to the other characters and the audience. Beatrice feels that Catherines naivety towards Eddie is destroying their marriage and ruining her own future. Eddie turns to Alfieri, he hints to him about his love for Catherine and his hatred towards Rodolfo. Alfieri understands how Eddie is feeling but cannot help him with his troubles, he tells Eddie that there is nothing illegal with Catherine falling in love with Rodolfo. Dramatic tension is caused again on the stage when Alfieri reinforces what Beatrice had previously told Eddie and he says: the child has to grow up and go away and the man has to learn to forget. I think that the climax of dramatic tension happens in the closing scene of Act One . Eddie returns home to an extremely tense and claustrophobic apartment, he supposedly taught Rodolfo how to box but in Eddies mind he was challenging Rodolfo to a fight. Rodolfo escapes the mock boxing match with a slight graze, however I think that Catherine is so overwhelmed with Eddies attempt to include Rodolfo that she doesnt see through to his real thoughts. Miller has used this in the plot and it is significant to the storyline as it shows Eddies controlling behavior and how he likes to keep an iron fist over the apartment. Beatrice and Catherine are now worried over the safety of Rodolfo. Rodolfo is nervous and unsure about the angry Eddie who is full of passionate hate for him. After the fight, Rodolfo and Eddies characters act together to add more dramatic tension to the last scene of the first act. There is evidence of this occurring when: he takes her hand. Rodolfo takes her in his arms. In my opinion, this aggravates Eddies situation and it stirs up his emotions. The self-destructible Eddie is trapped in the claustrophobic apartment with no place to go and is forced to sit and watch them dance together. The climax of dramatic tension during Act One then happens in the last scenes when a silent Marco, who has been sitting quietly in the background, steps out and retaliates to Eddies behaviour towards his younger brother. Marco next challenges Eddie to a chair lifting contest. Marco shows Eddie how he can lift a chair over his head using only one hand, Eddie attempts to prove himself worthy of the same thing but fails. Miller adds this part of the scene to the play because it shows the two strong dominant men battling it out to show who is the prevailing male of the household. I think that this is Marcos silent warning to Eddie that says lay off my brother. There is now pressure on Eddie who was previously the strongest character and this causes the dramatic tension to carry on increasing. One aspect of the play, that in writing that can be noticed is that Miller is very specific in his stage directions. A quote I have taken from Millers stage directions reads: Marco is face to face with Eddie a strained tension gripping his eyes and jaw his neck stiff the chair raised like a weapon over eddies head. The way he uses stage directions allows the audience to see the emotions and feelings that the characters are undergoing. I think that this assists in maintaining the dramatic tension throughout the play as it is giving the audience a clear image of what each of the characters truly feels and also their state of mind. Eddie has now been driven to pressing his self destruct button when he makes the call to the immigration office that he cannot undo. After this we have reached the peak point in the story. I think this because Eddie has now betrayed his family and there is now a vendetta between Marco and Eddie. Because of the mafia code that Marco follows he believes that there is only one way to resolve the situation: Eddie must die. Now that the audience are aware of this the dramatic tension has reached its climax, the audience are sitting waiting for the tragic death of Eddie Carbone- the plays tragic hero. The last quote that Alfieri uses in the play is that : most of the time no we settle for half and I like it better In my opinion I think that this is Alfieris way of telling the moral of the story. If Eddie had only settled for half he would still be alive and the family would be happy, but most importantly of all , Catherine who he has always been so eager to please. From my essay I have shown how Miller cleverly creates dramatic tension and maintains it throughout his play. The dramatic techniques Miller uses to create this are: his precise stage directions; dramatic irony at the start of the play; and the use of his climatic points. The dramatic irony is important because it means the audience are aware of something that the characters are not. Also, Millers use of climatic points rite through the play generate tension between the characters, he uses this dramatic device wisely by accumulating lots of intense moments. However, I think the most important technique that Miller use to create his dramatic tension is specific stage directions. I think this because it creates an intimate and claustrophobic atmosphere on the set on which the characters live. He creates zones on the stage were the action takes place, this changes the entire atmosphere of the play. These zones that Miller has created make it more intimate and therefore adds dramatic tension.