The theatrical drama Essay Example for Free

The theatrical drama Essay Eddies life is very good to him at the start of the play and his ideas of manliness never really come under threat. That is until Marco and Rodolpho arrive. Marco and Rodolpho are Beatrices nephews and have illegally emigrated from Italy. Marco and Rodolpho are at the two furthest points away from each other on Eddies manliness scale. Marco is very manly, more so than Eddie. He is very strong, very quiet and cares more about the necessities of living than having a good time. Rodolpho on the other hand does not conform to Eddies views of manliness at all and this creates minor conflicts on a regular basis, but Eddie really begins so dislike Rodolpho when he starts to have a relationship with Catherine. Eddie begins to tell everybody that Rodolpho aint right and is no good. He accuses Rodolpho of being effeminate and suspects that his blond hair isnt natural and says that his singing makes him sound like a chorus girl. Eddie makes these links because he is intellectually limited and acts by instinct and prejudice. Eddies lack of intelligence eventually leads to him actually believing all of the things hes made up about Rodolpho. This leads to conflicts, as he feels threatened when he tries to justify his accusations and ends up being quite comical. An example of this is when he goes to see Mr Alfieri (his lawyer). Eddie is asking Mr Alfieri what he can do to stop Rodolpho marrying Catherine. Mr Alfieri is telling Eddie that he cant do anything and he can only deal in whats provable and the only thing thats provable is that hes an immigrant. Eddie then begins to get annoyed and tells Mr Alfieri that The guy aint right and hes a blond guy. Like platinum But Mr Alfieri cannot understand what Eddie is trying to say. This is because Eddie really doesnt know whats hes saying, hes just making it up as he goes along. This is highlighted by the constant pauses when he is speaking. Eddies constant stuttering as he tries to make Mr Alfieri understand what he is trying to say, shows the audience that he is lying/making it up. Eddies dislike of Rodolpho bubbles under the surface throughout Act One and in Act Two Eddie and Rodolpho have a conflict, which is a pivotal moment in the structure of the play. Eddie comes home drunk to find that Catherine and Rodolfo have been in the bedroom together. He immediately thinks the worst and tells Rodolfo to get out of his house. Catherine argues with him and then decides that she has to leave as well but Eddie grabs her. Rodolfo reacts angrily to this and flies at Eddie in attack. To this Eddie pins him to the floor and unexpectedly kisses him. Eddie gets up with tears rolling down his face and laughs, mocking Rodolpho. This is a big moment as it is the first time Eddie has acted to back up his displeasure of the way Rodolfo has acted but it evidently hasnt helped his cause of getting Catherine to split up with him and has in fact caused more of a friction between himself and Catherine. It is also the first time that Eddie has shown very non masculine behaviour, by firstly kissing Rodolpho on the lips which completely contradicts Eddies accusations of Rodolpho being a homosexual and shows Eddie as being a hypocrite and secondly by crying, although both of these things could be blamed on Eddies drunken state. It is usually when someone is drunk that they forget to carry on their charade and reveal who they really are.