‘Eddie is solely responsible for
his own downfall.’ To what extent do you agree with this statement?
Fundamentally, I do not believe that
Eddie is solely responsible for his own downfall as there were many other
forces that caused his actions. The biggest of these forces is his hamartia,
Eddie’s socially unacceptable sexual desire for Catherine, a desire made
apparent to the audience early on in the play through lines such as “Eddie was
pleased and therefore shy”. Although it may be argued that Eddie should have
been aware of his feelings for Catherine and controlled them accordingly, it is
clear from his conversations with Alfieri, for example when the lawyer warns
Eddie “there’s too much and it goes where it musn’t… there’s too much love for
the niece”, that others can see Eddie’s feelings for Catherine more easily than
he can himself. As such, without the self-awareness required to control his
most destructive desires, it seems unfair to condemn Eddie as being fully in
charge of his actions and thus solely responsible for his downfall.
Eddie’s inability to recognize that
his feelings for Catherine are more than just paternal seems to persist right
until the end of the play when Beatrice says “you want something else…and you
can never have her” which causes Eddie to become “furious”. Miller’s use of
anger here rather than verbal response indicates just how taboo and
unacknowledged Eddie’s feelings are and thus make Eddie look less responsible
for his own death and downfall. The ambiguity of the ending with Eddie crying
“My B.” still allows us to wonder whether he ever truly embraced his desires or
if he reached the end of his life and still didn’t understand his true
feelings. This ambiguity is effectively used by Miller to create tension in the
audience and to leave us ultimately undecided about how much of the blame for
his actions we can lay at Eddie’s feet.
Miller accentuates this sense that
events are beyond Eddie’s control through his use of aspects of Greek tragedy
to portray Eddie as a protagonist fighting against powerful forces such as fate
and lusis. After Eddie comes to see him the first time, Alfieri says “I could
have finished the whole story that day” effectively indicating that things were
beyond Eddie’s control and any attempt made at diverting his fate would
ultimately be futile. Alfieri also says that he “sat there … powerless … and
watched it run its bloody course” which effectively indicates that all of the
characters are unable to change their own fate or destiny. This unstoppable
unraveling of fate that Eddie experiences suggests that there were other forces
and events that controlled his destiny so he is not solely to blame.
In addition, the Italian immigrants,
Marco and Rodolpho, also play a large part in Eddie’s downfall and death. Rodolpho
wants to marry Catherine but Eddie believes “the guy ain’t right” so has “a
campaign solidified in him” to fight against Rodolpho and Catherine’s
relationship. Eddie is obviously uncomfortable speaking about Rodolpho with
Alfieri as “he looks over both shoulders” before mentioning it. Eddie is so
desperate to prove that Rodolpho’s homosexuality that he “kisses him” and calls
Rodolpho “that” in front of Catherine. But when Eddie finds out that “the law
is very specific” and cannot help him prevent Rodolpho from marrying Catherine,
he chooses to betray Marco and Rodolpho rather than embrace Catherine’s
relationship. Eddie also tries to fight against Catherine and Rodolpho’s
relationship by telling her that Rodolpho just wants to “grab a Green kid” which
was common at the time this play was written as illegal immigrants could then
legally live in the United States once they married an American citizen like
Catherine. While these beliefes may be seen as the result of Eddie’s paranoia
the fact that Miller leaves Rodlopho’s true motivations for marrying Catherine
unclear makes it possible to believe that Eddie is acting justifiably here and
that, therefore it is Rodolpho and his attempts to take advantage of Catherine
that ultimately cause the tragedy at the end of the play.
There is, however, clearly a sense
in which Eddie does play a large part in his own downfall and this is most
evident in Eddie’s betrayal of Rodolpho and Marco. After the betrayal, Beatrice
powerfully says “we are all to blame” and Eddie tries to place blame on
Beatrice as he says “who brought them in here” but these attempts to spread the
blame among the other characters ring hollow and despite Eddie’s attempts to
place the blame for his betrayal on others, the audience ultimately sympathises
with Marco when “spits in [Eddie’s] face” and screams “that one stole the food
from my children”. It is in response to this act of treachery that Marco
promises to kill Eddie and so it is clear that, in the end, Eddie plays a major
part albeit not the sole role in his own downfall.