He explains his situation to Alfieri, who in turnsuggests that Eddie is being unreasonable. Thenhe mentions that even though Catherine may wantto marry Rodolpho, she can’t. This may releasesome tension within Eddie, as he may feel that hecould get closer to her again.At the climax of Act One, the tension has built upto a huge level, especially between Eddie andMarco. It reaches the level of physical violence andaggression after Eddie witnesses Rodolpho andCatherine dancing and then decides to giveRodolpho “Boxing lessons” to avert Catherine’sattention.In the final part of act one, where Marco shows hisstrength to Eddie by lifting the chair with one hand,there is a lot of tension between Marco and Eddie. This is partly due to Miller’s description of theamount of effort that Eddie puts into lifting thechair, with him lifting it above his head “Like aweapon”, symbolizing Rodolpho’s punishment, andhow easy Marco makes it look while at the sametime humiliating Eddie. This, in a way neutralizesthe only method Eddie can use against Rodolpho(Violence). This section shifts the tension fromEddie and Rodolpho to Eddie and Marco. The wholeending to Act One is choreographed by Miller insuch a way as to show Marco plays a bigger partthan thought at first.Miller’s language during the whole act makes gooduse of metaphor and descriptive techniques as wellas stage directions “[During the part where Eddieis teaching Rodolpho to box]
He [Eddie] feints withhis left hand and lands with his right. It mildly staggers RODOLPHO. MARCO rises.”
To buildtension between the cast, and makes the play verytense and suspense-filled.