To what extent is Eddie Carbone responsible for his own fate?
             There is no doubt that Eddie Carbone suffers an unfortunate end especially when we think that he is being shown as a, hard working, law-abiding citizen at the beginning of the play. The play starts to unravel Carbone's character by showing how circumstances can control the actions of a human being to the extent that wrong-doing becomes justified in the person's own mind.
             This is what happened to Eddie Carbone and his unchecked behaviour leads sadly to his ultimate death. His obsession with Catherine and his opposition to her needs as a human being, eventually destroys him.
             It starts from small criticisms relating to her appearance and attitude:
             'Where are you going all dressed up?' and 'you are walking wavy' and 'bringing attention to yourself'. (Act1 pp13/14), and ends with him refusing to recognise her as his 'daughter'.
             The play circles around Eddie's wife Beatrice, who realises how fortunate she is to live in the USA. She wants to help her relatives in Italy who are living in poverty at the end of the Second World War. This dates the play to the end of the 1940's, when immigration to the States was high following a war-shattered Europe. New communities were being formed with many old cultural traditions clashing with new allegiances. So it was for Eddie, Beatrice and her relatives.
             Beatrice made it possible for her niece, Catherine, to come over from Italy to live with her and Eddie. They have looked after Catherine since she was young and brought her up as their own daughter. Then Beatrice agrees to have two more relatives from Italy because there are so few jobs in Italy. They are both young men and the older of the two, Marco, needs to earn money to support a wife and children back in Italy.
             His brother Rudolfo has no emotional ties with Italy and is anxious to find a way of beco...