Masculinity In 'Eddie Carbone'

Eddie Carbone is an Italian-American longshoreman working in New York, living in a cohesive immigrant community. After the arrival of Marco and Rodolpho, Eddie’s characteristics take a turn for the worst. He became obsessive, confused and tried to prove any point he could whilst being driven by his desire for Catherine and masculinity. Masculinity is a set of attributes, behaviours and roles generally associated with men. Freudian analysis and Aristotelian tragic structure can help explain Eddie’s masculinity. The id, ego and superego are the names of three parts of the human personality identified by Freud. The id, ego and superego work together to create the behaviour of an individual. The id creates the desires, wants and needs; the ego

This mean that Alfieri must’ve struggled to read him. In the play Alfieri tries to bring Eddie back to reality and let him know that he can’t have whatever he wants. As well as being Eddie’s sort of conscience Alfieri also foreshadows the tragedy. The consequences of all his actions led to him being murdered by Marco in front of his neighbours. Eddie presents his view of masculinity as anyone that doesn’t have a personality like Rodolpho’s. Eddie uses his natural instinct to detect that there is something odd about Rodolpho especially when he says to him ‘Here I come, Danish’. ‘Here I come’ is a threatening psychopathic phrase, with the word Danish referring to the stereotype of Danish people that are usually attractive, blond and tall. By saying this to Rodolpho, Eddie is achieving a higher masculinity status whilst implying that Rodolpho could be a ‘fake Italian’ as he can cook, dance and sing, also a way of saying that he doesn’t belong in their community. Eddie could also be objectifying him as a woman, as Eddie often portrays Rodolpho as a woman to feel more manly and powerful around him. Throughout the play, Eddie portrayed that his idea of masculinity as anyone who is robust and

For an Italian-American, life in the 1950s was hard. There was a blossoming trade in illegal immigration, which was run by the dockyard owners, who knew that immigrants could be used for cheap labour until they had paid for their journey. Once they had paid their debt, immigrants set free and able fend for themselves. In 1957, a large sum of money was pumped into the Italian economy to reduce unemployment. Thousands of labourers moved north to make cars, but it was too late for Marco and Rodolpho to do so. The play is set in Brooklyn, which is a very poor area, and was later described by Alfieri as ‘the slum that faces the bay.’. In the community they have expectations such as not to ‘snitching’ to the immigration bureau about immigrants in the area. Eddie tells a story about Vinny Bolanzo who managed to snitch on himself, his father and five brothers. Vinny was punished for what he did as he it was very wrong. Eddie made it clear that Vinny would never be seen in their neighbourhood again when he says "a guy do a thing like that? How 's he gonna show his face?". Vinny didn’t receive any sympathy despite the injuries that he sustained. In a many people’s opinion, Vinny got what he deserved. Hence why it was seen as ironic when Eddie did just the same thing as Vinny when he 'snitched to Immigration ' (to Marco and Rodolpho towards the end of the