Justice and Judgment

Alfieri: "A lawyer means the law, and in Sicily, from where there fathers
came, the law has not been a friendly idea since the Greeks were
beaten." (1.1)
Alfieri is functioning like a Greek chorus by putting the play in a larger historical context.

Alfieri: "Oh, there were many here who were justly shot by unjust men.
Justice is very important here." (1.1)
How is it possible for a person to shot "justly" by and "unjust" man? What is this thing called justice
anyway?

Alfieri: "Now we settle for half, and I like it better." (1.1)

Settling for half means compromise to Alfieri. He sees it as the cornerstone to American style justice.

Eddie: "Come on show me! What're you gonna be? Show me!" (2.80)
This is Eddie talking junk to Rodolfo right before they fight. He's not settling for anything anymore. It's
time for him to make his own justice.

Alfieri: "I kept wanting to call the police, but […] Nothing at all had
really happened." (2.86)
American justice is failing our friendly neighborhood lawyer. He knows something bad is going to
happen, but the law can't help him.

Marco: "In my country [Eddie] would be dead now." (2.241)

Marco wants revenge. This would be perfectly acceptable in Sicily. Does he have a right to it?

Marco: "All the law is not in a book." (2.257)

He's got a point here. There's all kinds of things that society agrees you just shouldn't do, but aren't
technically illegal.

Marco: "He degraded my brother. My blood. He robbed my children […]

Where is the law for that?
Alfieri: There is none." (2.259-261)
Marco is pretty unhappy with the failure of America to provide the kind of justice he thinks is only right
and proper.

Alfieri: "Only God, Marco."

Alfieri is warning Marco not to take the place of God in meeting out a sentence for Eddie's crimes. You
hear this same warning in a lot in Greek tragedies as well.

Alfieri: "it is better to settle for half, it must be! And so I mourn him – I
admit it – with a certain…alarm."
Some part of our upright lawyer seems to almost celebrate the breakdown of law that Eddie caused. Is
Alfieri really as fond of American law as he says he is?

Sex

Eddie: "Katie you are walkin' wavy! I don't like the looks they're givin
you […] The heads are turnin' like windmills." (1.26)
We wonder if Eddie's unresolved sexual attraction to his niece makes it even harder for him to deal with
the fact that other men are starting to find her attractive.

[Stage Direction:] [Catherine] strikes a match and holds it to [Eddie's]

cigar.
Freud said, "Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar." We say, "Yeah, but sometimes it's a big old phallic image."

Beatrice: "When am I going to be a wife again, Eddie?" (1.361)

Does Beatrice see sex with Eddie as part of her key role as a wife?

Alfieri: "I saw it was only a passion that had moved into his body, like a
stranger." (1.508)
Why do think Alfieri uses the word passion instead of lust? Is it a better to describe Eddie's feelings for
Catherine?
Alfieri: "there is too much love for the niece." (1.558)
Alfieri is trying to help Eddie here, but he immediately sinks back into denial.

Alfieri: "She can't marry you can she?" (1.567)

Here, Alfieri totally calls Eddie out. No one, up till now, has pointed out Eddie's taboo feelings in a more
direct way.

Eddie: "it might be a little more free here but it's just as strict." (1.620)
It's interesting how perceptions of sexual liberation vary amongst different cultures.

[Stage Direction:] as [Catherine] strives to free herself [Eddie] kisses

her on the mouth. (2.73)
If you weren't sure Eddie had incestuous feelings before, it's pretty clear now.

[Stage Direction:] Eddie pins [Rodolpho's] arms, laughing, and suddenly

kisses him. (2.81)
Does this mean Eddie is secretly attracted to Rodolfo, too?

Beatrice: "You want somethin' else, Eddie, and you can never have
her!" (2.316)
Is it only sex that Eddie wants from Catherine?

Abandonment quotes

Eddie: "I want you to be with a different kind of people. […] if you're
gonna get outa here then get out; don't go practically in the same kind
of neighborhood." (1.119)
Would Eddie ever really let Catherine go under any circumstances?

Eddie: "And then you'll move away. […] That's life. And you'll come visit
on Sundays, then once a month, then Christmas and New Year's,
finally." (1.130-132)
Eddie finds new and fun ways to give this guilt trip over and over again throughout the play.

Eddie: "I wish you the best. You know that, kid."

Catherine: "You sound like I'm goin' a million miles." (1.187-188)

To Eddie, Catherine might as well be going that far away. She's an adult now. He's losing the
little girl he loves.

Stage Direction: Rodolpho […] with a high tenor voice begins singing:

Rodolpho: "I'll tell you boys it's tough to be alone, And it's tough to love
a girl that's not your own […] I'm gonna buy a paper doll that I can call
my own, A doll that other fellows cannot steal." (1.308)
Eddie becomes really agitated by this little ditty. We wonder if just maybe the words of the
song remind him of Catherine.

Eddie: "You're runnin', Katie. I don't think you listening any more to
me." (1.430)
Here comes that guilt trip again.

Catherine: "I know him and now I'm supposed to turn around and make
a stranger out of him?" (2.57)
Catherine has a tough time abandoning Eddie because she has deep feelings for him herself.

Catherine, trembling with fright: "I think I have to get out of here,
Eddie." (2.69)
You go, girl. This is the first time Catherine tells her uncle it's time for her to leave him.

Catherine: "Eddie, I'm not gonna be a baby anymore!" (2.73)

We wonder if it took Catherine so long to abandon Eddie, because she secretly enjoyed being
him being in control of her life.
Catherine: "I'm gonna get married, Eddie. So if you wanna come, the
wedding will be on Saturday." (2.166)
Is she really abandoning him or just replacing him with another man?

Catherine, trembling with fright: "I think I have to get out of here, Eddie." (2.69)

You go, girl. This is the first time Catherine tells her uncle it's time for her to leave him.

Catherine: "Eddie, I'm not gonna be a baby anymore!" (2.73)

We wonder if it took Catherine so long to abandon Eddie, because she secretly enjoyed being
him being in control of her life.

Catherine: "I'm gonna get married, Eddie. So if you wanna come, the
wedding will be on Saturday." (2.166)
Is she really abandoning him or just replacing him with another man?

Beatrice: "You want somethin' else, Eddie, and you can never have
her!" (2.316)
Would Eddie ever have truly been able abandon his obsession for Catherine, since he was
incapable of recognizing the truth?

Dreams, Hopes and Plans

Beatrice: "You'll see, you'll get a blessing for this!" (1.76)

Hmm…doesn't really turn out that way.

Eddie: "You'll never get nowheres unless you finish school." (1.89)
Education is equated with hope in the world of the play.

Catherine: "It ain't exactly a secretary, it's a stenographer first, but

pretty soon you get to be secretary." (1.93)
Is this Catherine's big dream or the one Eddie created for her?
Eddie: "I want you to be with a different kind of people. […] if you're
gonna get outa here then get out; don't go practically in the same kind
of neighborhood." (1.119)
See, Eddie isn't all bad. It seems like he honestly does dream of a better life for his niece.

Rodolpho: "Me, I want to be an American. And then I want to back to

Italy when I am rich, and I will buy a motorcycle." (1.281)
Here you see the American Dream wrapped in an Italian one.

Marco: "When you have no wife, you have dreams." (1.287)

Is this always true? Do you have to give up your dreams when you get married?

Alfieri: "Eddie Carbone had never expected to have a destiny." (1.326)

Eddie gave away any real hopes for himself. He only dreams of Catherine's future.

Rodolpho: "I would be a criminal stealing your face. In two years you
would have an old, hungry face." (1.33)
Rodolfo twists Catherine's hopes of running away to Italy into a nightmare.

Rodolpho: "Once I am a citizen […] I would start to be something

wonderful here!" (2.35)
Here you go, folks, a classic example of pure unadulterated American Dream.

Catherine: "Cause I always dreamt that when I got married, he would

be happy at the wedding, and laughin." (2.50)
Every character in the play has a dream that's destroyed.

Contrasting Regions

Alfieri: "I was born in Italy…I only came here when I was twenty-five."
Alfieri is the only speaking character who is an immigrant himself but has spent a substantial
amount of his life in America.
Alfieri: "But this is Red Hook, not Sicily. […] now we are quite civilized,
quite American." (1.1)
Is America really as civilized as Alfieri sees it?"

Eddie: "Listen, they'll think it's a millionaire's house compared to the

way they live." (1.51)
Eddie is totally right about this, based on how Rodolfo reacts to the house later on.

Eddie: "suppose my father didn't come to this country and I was starvin'
like them over there." (1.75)
The entire Italian community in Red Hook seems to welcome immigrants for this very same
reason.

Rodolpho: "This will be the first house I ever walked into in America!
Imagine! She said they were poor!" (1.203)
People must be pretty darn poor in Sicily. Red Hook tenements really aren't so nice by
American standards.

Catherine: "They got oranges on the trees where he comes from, and
lemons. Imagine – on the trees?" (2.419)
Here's Miller highlighting how rural life is in Sicily compared to Brooklyn. Things actually still
grow over there. Imagine that.

Eddie: "it might be a little more free here but it's just as strict." (1.620)
Does Eddie realize he's contradicting himself here?

Rodolpho: "You think we have no tall buildings in Italy? No wide

streets? No flags? No automobiles?" (2.45)
Is Rodolfo sick of people acting like his country is so inferior?

Rodolpho: "I want to be an American so I can work." (2.45)

To Rodolfo, that's what America is: work.
Marco: "In my country [Eddie] would be dead now." (2.241)
Here we see the stark differences between old school Italian justice and American.

Respect and Reputation

Eddie: "I'm ashamed. Paper Doll they call him. Blondie now." (1.543)
Eddie is worried that Rodolfo will ruin his rep with the boys down at the docks.

Eddie: "Katie…if you wasn't an orphan, wouldn't he ask your father's

permission before he run around with you like this?" (1.443)
Eddie feels disrespected because his role as father figure has been undermined.

Eddie: "I want my respect!" (2.122)

Eddie says this after he's already turned in Marco and Rodolfo. Is it possible that he's lost
respect for himself?

Marco: "That one! [Eddie] He killed my children! That one stole the
food from my children!" (2.223)
When Marco yells this in front of the whole community, he's launching a full-out assault on
Eddie's reputation.

Eddie: [Marco's] gonna take that back or I'll kill him! (2.237)
Eddie isn't kidding. He'll do anything to get his good name back, and he does.

Catherine: "Everybody knows you [Marco] spit in his [Eddie's] face,

that's enough, isn't it?" (2.224)
Not for Marco. He sees the only way to regain his own honor is to kill Eddie.

Alfieri: "To promise not to kill is not dishonorable." (2.252)

This is an Italian American community. Does anybody really believe these highfalutin' American
ideas?
Catherine: "You [Eddie] got no right to tell nobody nothin'. Nobody!
The rest of your life, nobody!" (2.283)
Has Eddie completely destroyed the respect Catherine had for him?

Eddie: "Eddie Carbone. Eddie Carbone. Eddie Carbone." (2.322)

It's like he's trying to reclaim his name by saying it over and over again.

Eddie: "I want my name! […] Marco's got my name." (2.309)

Is this the real want that drives him to his death or does it still obsessing over his niece?

Men and Masculinity

Eddie: "The guy ain't right." (1.527)

This is pretty much Eddie's favorite thing to say about Rodolfo. Does he repeat it because he
thinks it's true, or because he's trying to convince himself?

Eddie: "if you close the paper fast, you could blow him over." (1.535)
Let's play a game. How many creative ways can Eddie come up with to say that Rodolfo is gay?

Eddie: "if you came in the house and you didn't know who was singin',
you wouldn't be lookin for him you be lookin' for her."
Real men don't sing high? Unless, they're…um…tenors. Like most all the great Italian opera
singers.

Eddie: "He looked so sweet there, like an angel – you could kiss him he
was so sweet." (1.541)
Some critics say that Eddie's obsession over Rodolfo's sexuality show that he's a little confused
about his own preferences. This line might support that theory.

Eddie: "I'm ashamed. Paper Doll they call him. Blondie now." (1.543)
A man doing anything that is considered even remotely feminine isn't cool with Eddie.
Eddie: "But if I could cook, if I could sing, if I could make dresses, I
wouldn't be on the water front." (1.659)
So, Rodolfo is nothing like you, Eddie. We get that. Would it be any easier for you if Catherine's
first boyfriend was your spitting image?

Eddie: "Come on show me! What're you gonna be? Show me!" (2.80)
Now we see Eddie trying to prove he's a better man the old fashioned way. It's like Animal
Planet up in here.

[Stage Direction:] Eddie pins [Rodolpho's] arms, laughing, and suddenly

kisses him.
It seems strange after all this criticism of girly men, that Eddie would go and kiss one of them.

Eddie: "I mean I got a couple rights here.[…] This is my house here not
their house." (2.120)
Eddie is using the old king of the castle line that has given so many males power over the years.

Marco: "Animal! You [Eddie] go on your knees to me!" (2.328)

Marco punks Eddie down, stealing his manhood, even going so far as to call him an "animal."

Women and Femininity

Eddie: "You're getting to be a big girl now, you gotta keep yourself
more, you can't be so friendly, kid." (7.36)
Later on Beatrice gives Catherine the same advice, but in regards to Eddie.

Eddie: "I guess I just never figure on one thing."

Catherine, smiling: "What?"

Eddie: "That you would ever grow up." (1.189-191)

Here's the key conflict in the play rearing its head again. Eddie doesn't know how to let
Catherine be a woman.
Beatrice: "When am I going to be a wife again, Eddie?" (1.361)
Does Beatrice feel like Catherine has taken her role as wife?

Catherine: "He still thinks I'm a baby."

Beatrice: "Because you think you're a baby." (1.483-484)

Beatrice is basically telling her niece that no one else will see her as a woman until she sees
herself that way.

Beatrice: "Like when he comes home sometimes you throw yourself at

him like when you was twelve years old." (1.490)
Why is it so bad that Catherine greets Eddie affectionately? How is that girlish?

Beatrice: "You're a woman […] and now the time came when
you said goodbye." (1.504)
Does this mean that a girl becomes a woman only after leaving her father figure?

Rodolpho: "You think I would carry on my back the rest of my life a

woman I didn't love just to be an American?" (2.45)
What, so all women are burdens?

Catherine: "If I was a wife I would make a man happy instead of goin' at
him all the time." (2.57)
Is Catherine seeing being a wife through rose tinted glasses? Is it sometimes a wife's role is to
set her husband straight?

Rodolpho, clasping her to him: "Oh, my little girl."

Catherine: Teach me. […] I don't know anything, teach me, Rodolfo,
hold me. (2.60-61)
Even in the bedroom with her new man, Catherine still assumes a submissive role.
Eddie: "A wife is supposed to believe the husband." (2.144)
We know a few feminists who might have something to say about this statement.