According to the philosopher, Aristotle, the main character (or the more commonly used name “tragic hero”) in a tragedy must follow the same template. The template is as follows; the hero begins with greatness, the hero makes his tragic error, the hero loses his greatness, the hero regrets (or understands his mistake.) Miller uses Eddie Carbone as his “tragic hero” by making him the patriarch at the start of the play, however this is not so at the end of the play when Eddie is eventually killed by Marco after Eddie’s tragic error.
Eddie, at the start of the play, is viewed as a patriarch. He is respected by the Italian community, and is also the patriarch of the family, consisting of his wife, Beatrice, and also his daughter, Catherine. An…show more content… When caught by Beatrice and Catherine after he warns them about “getting them [Marco and Rodolfo] out” of the house before immigration show up, the disappointed and shocked Beatrice says “Oh Jesus, Eddie” and in shock asked “what did you do?” The words “my god” which show disbelief, give the effect that Beatrice is losing respect for Eddie, as she would have never talked to him in such a way before. The dramatic device “With a sob of fury Catherine streaks into a bedroom” shows that Catherine has also lost the respect of Eddie and for the first time has felt hatred for him. This is shown first in his family when Beatrice and Catherine find out he reported Marco and Rodolfo to immigration office Beatrice says in disbelief “oh Jesus, Eddie.” The word Jesus, which describes shock, shows that Beatrice has suddenly lost all respect for Eddie, as she would never say that to anybody before, let alone the once great patriarch that was Eddie. Also, another dramatic device, “staring at him in realized horror” tells us that Beatrice is losing more respect for Eddie as she is also starting to feel hatred for Eddie. Another example of Eddie losing respect is from the Italian-American community. When he reported where Marco and Rodolfo were hiding, he also inadvertently gave away the hiding place of two other immigrants, whom of which were the butcher’s nephews. This is a bad mistake as when the immigrants are being led through the street, “Louis, mike and several other neighbors” are “gathering around the stoop.” Not only that they know Eddie has destroyed Marco and Rodolfo’s lives, Marco also shouts the Eddie “Killed my [Marco] children!” The word killed, which implies that Eddie is