In the first act, the social context of the characters is introduced, coming from a working-class family who emigrated from Italy to the United States. Early in the play, sexual tension is created when Miller uses dramatic set-ups to suggest that Catherine and Eddie are like lovers, for example Catherine gets lost in Eddie's eyes and doesn't even realize that she almost burned herself lighting her cigar. Additional tension is created when Catherine tells Beatrice and Edie about her new job. Although Beatrice is entirely supportive of the prospect of Catherine having a job, Eddie, on the other hand, is not. Eddie repeatedly tries to argue that he is the man of the house and does not want his power nullified, especially by a woman. Tension is also created when Eddie points out that Catherine does not need to work because he has always provided well for the family, stating, "Since when have we ever had food on the table?" This highlights that Eddie is reliable and can do well without anyone else. Further into the play, more tension is created when Marco and Rodolfo arrive from Italy as Catherine shows an attraction to Rodolfo and vice versa, this is only the peak of Eddie beginning to feel. jealous and territorial towards Catherine. However, as the play progresses Eddie continues to become even more jealous and begins to question Rodolfo implying that he is no good and may be gay. Beatrice, however, always tries to keep Eddie away from the arguments by asking the brothers general questions such as "Did your wife get the money?" » Beatrice also thinks differently, for example, Eddie thinks that singing is an embarrassing thing for a man, while Beatrice says that in Italy it's a n...... middle of paper ...... Arco lifts the chair, "He lifted it like a weapon", symbolizing his greater strength and how easy he makes it look compared to Eddie, and in the process humiliating him too. This in turn shifts the tension between Rodolfo and Eddie between Eddie and Marco, which also shows that Marco played a larger role than the audience thought possible due to his greater strength over Eddie and his ability to drive Eddie in paranoia. Miller also uses descriptive language to emphasize tensions such as “Eddie feints with his left and lands with his right, causing Rodolfo to stagger slightly. » Marco gets up. Which could also be considered metaphorical and very dramatic due to the short sentence used, dramatic language and stage directions used. In conclusion, this creates tension between the characters and makes the play very tense and suspenseful..