The first act introduces the social context of the characters, who come from a working-class family who emigrated to the United States from Italy. During the beginning of the show sexual tension is created as Miller uses dramatic stage directions to suggest that Catherine and Eddie are like lovers, for example Catherine gets lost in Eddie's eyes and doesn't even realize that he almost burns himself by lighting his cigar. Further tension is created when Catherine tells Beatrice and Edie about her newly found job. Although Beatrice is fully supportive of the prospect of Catherine having a job, Eddie on the other hand is not. Eddie repeatedly tries to assert that he is the man of the house and doesn't want his power to be nullified, especially by a woman. Tension is also created when Eddie points out that Catherine doesn't need to work because she has always provided well for the family by stating "When have we ever had food on the table?" This emphasizes that Eddie is reliable and can do well without anyone else. Later in the show more tension is created when Marco and Rodolfo arrive from Italy while Catherine shows an attraction to Rodolfo and vice versa, this is just the culmination of Eddie starting to feel jealous and territorial towards Catherine. However, as the show progresses, Eddie continues to become even more jealous and begins to question Rodolfo implying that he is no good and possibly gay. Beatrice, however, always tries to steer Eddie away from arguments by asking the brothers general questions like "Did your wife get the money?" Even Beatrice thinks differently for example, Eddie thinks that singing is an embarrassing thing for a man, while Beatrice says that in Italy it is a... middle of paper ......arch raises the chair, "He lifted it like a 'weapon' symbolizing his greater strength and how easy it makes him look compared to Eddie, and in the process humiliating him too. This in turn shifts the tension between Rodolfo and Eddie to between Eddie and Marco, which also shows that Marco had a bigger role than the audience thought was possible due to his greater strength over Eddie and his ability to lead Eddie to paranoia. Miller also uses descriptive language to emphasize tension, such as "Eddie feints with his left and lands with his right, which makes Rodolfo stagger a little." Marco gets up." Which could also be considered metaphorical and very dramatic due to the short sentence used and the dramatic language and captions used. This ultimately creates tension between the characters and makes the work very tense and suspenseful.