Another thing that Alfieri does, to keep the audience keen to know what is going to happen next, is he starts another speech, and breaks up the scene at crucial parts in the play.
For example when Eddie kisses Catherine and then kisses Rodolpho, the audience are in utter shock and are amazed by what they have just witnessed. Then the spotlight goes onto Alfieri, who then talks to the audience again.
At this part in the drama, the audience are eager to see where Eddie will go, as he has just walked out of the house, but Alfieri interrupts with another soliloquy.
"On December twenty-seventh I saw him next. I normally go home well before six………I kept wanting to call the police…………..Nothing at all had really happened".
By Alfieri doing this may be quite annoying, because it keeps interrupting and, breaks up the play and does not let the drama flow properly. The audience could lose their patience with him doing this, and so they would not get the full impact of the play, as they would lose concentration with Alfieri. But the other side of the coin to this is that the audience will want to listen to Alfieri as he helps them to understand the drama and get the direct impact of the play. They would also want to listen to him as he always has something important, and relevant in order for the audience to fully understand the play.
The audience trust Alfieri as he is wise, and he has a personality and character with whom the audience can identify with. As Miller wants the idea of tragedy, to stand out the most from his play, it is good that he is not just a narrator, but also part of the drama, as it is then much more easier for the audience to actually believe what he is saying. As he knows the characters personally, and he's not just telling the story of a tragedy which is going to happen to the longshoreman.
It is good when Alfieri talks about meetings he has had with Eddie, because the audience have seen the drama in the play between the two characters, then when he stops being a character, and becomes a narrator again, the audience get to know what his thoughts are. An example of this is when Eddie goes to Alfieri in desperation to do something about Rodolpho going out with Catherine, because he believes he is only going out with her because he wants to get his papers. After the meeting, Alfieri turns to the audience and becomes a narrator again, and tells the audience
"…I could have finished the whole story that afternoon. It wasn't as though there was a mystery to unravel. I could see every step coming, step after step".
This is also another example of Alfieri giving hints that the climax of the play was drawing nearer, and the way he says, "step after step" makes the audience very eager, to see these steps. As he could have just said " I could see every step coming".
I think that the opening monologue from Alfieri is very important so that the rest of the play goes well.
In this opening speech, Alfieri tells the audience key things they should know about the characters, in order to understand the play. But even before Alfieri starts speaking, Arthur Miller makes him do something very clever. He makes him create a relationship with the audience. I think that this is a very clever thing to do because this way, the audience will listen to Alfieri more, as they know about his past, and what he does, and they can feel like they know him, and that they too are part of the drama.
When Alfieri first comes on two pitchers nod to him, as he walks past them. He comes on from the side so the whole audience can see him walk on. This shows the audience that he is an important character in the drama. At this point, the audience do not know whether he is a character in the play or what role he is. So they wait for something to happen. Then he slowly walks to his desk and takes off his hat and runs his fingers through his hair. This shows the audience that he is relaxed. The audience can see that his character is in his fifties and fairly fat, and quite wealthy. He then turns to the audience and grins at them. This directly engages them, and they cannot pretend they have not seen him do this, so they look back at him. His first line is:
" You wouldn't have known it, but something amusing has just happened to me".
This shows that he is good-humoured and is not a grumpy man, and is relaxed, which helps the audience to relax. He then talks about why the two pitchers nodded at him "I often think that behind that suspicious little nod of theirs, lie three thousand years of distrust". This shows that in a way he feels apart from the community because he is a lawyer and "a lawyer means the law", but he does not feel like he is above them because he is wealthier. He then leads into the history of himself and who he is, and describes the past of the society, and the type of community they are living in where the drama is set.
"But this is Red Hook, not Sicily".
When he is speaking, he is at the front of the stage, sitting behind a desk, with a spotlight on him. So the audiences' attention is only on him. Alfieri makes the audience feel more comfortable and even more relaxed, as he speaks to them in an informal chat. Alfieri sets the mood for the next scene when he speaks, and creates expectations.
" Catherine told me later that this was the first time they had been alone together in the house".
I believe that there are three different links concerning Alfieri, which helps to make sure that the audience completely understand the drama.
These are the link between himself and the audience, and the link, which he makes between the present day, and the past of this community. The other link is the link between the rich in the audience, and the poor on the stage. In his opening monologue, he does all three of these.
"…. And in Sicily, from where their fathers came…" as he describes the society in Red Hook.
Arthur Miller uses Alfieri almost as a bridge between himself and the audience. Which is quite ironic, as in real life the bridge separates the two different sets of society.
Alfieri normally speaks in the form of soliloquies, which in my opinion is important, so the audience can concentrate only on him. In Millers words Alfieri can "set up what's called the moral situation".
Alfieri explains difficult concepts such as the social structure of the Italians, honour and reputation in the community to the audience. He ties this into conversation with the audience. He doesn't do this in a rude manner, as if to say you don't know anything about our community, and so you are stupid, but he does this in a gentle chat, as if he was telling a story. So the audience listen to him.
Arthur Miller wanted to change the way the people who lived in Manhattan, excluded those who lived in Red Hook, just because of their culture, and the difference in wealth. He wanted to get the point across that they shouldn't exclude them any more, so they don't feel left out of society and the community of America. This is why he uses Alfieri to make the story line so predictable. Miller says "Solidarity in that community was very important to them, more so than in a normal American community.
I think that Alfieri is a very important device that Arthur Miller uses so that the audience get the full impact of the play. He explains situations well and without him, the audience wouldn't be able to understand what the society in Red Hook was like, as they wouldn't have had all of the background information, which Alfieri offers. I think it is good how Alfieri is able to interact with the audience and talk about the drama from a different perspective. He builds up a lot of tension in the audience, who are then eager to watch what is going to happen next. By giving them hints and clues, it builds up even more tension, as they want to know how the play is going to unfold. He makes it clear to the audience the differences between the different societies, which are only separated by a bridge.
Alfieri plays a dramatic role, warning the audience of upcoming events. His speeches are very significant as he uses quite foreboding language such as "watched it run its bloody course", he says this in his opening speech and he is saying that he knows what is going to happen and he is powerless to stop it from taking place. Alfieri can also be perceived as a commentator, by commenting on the play and the characters "Eddie Carbone had never expected to have a destiny". He comments on Eddie the most, as he is the main character of the play. He describes his thoughts and feelings about him "I will love him more than all my sensible clients".coca car secacaw orca cak inca foca ca.
Alfieri's character also helps to bring out Eddie's own thought and emotions by being the only person in the play in whom Eddie confides "I'm tryin' to bring out my thoughts here". Eddie can tell Alfieri things because he knows that Alfieri has better education and can help. "My father always said you was a smart man". Alfieri upholds the law but knows what justice means to people like Eddie so can understand him better. "Well they entered illegally" Alfieri says this because he knows not to betray them because of his own experiences with justice.cobe ber sebebew orbe bek inbe fobe be.
In this play, Alfieri is telling the story as if he has already witnessed it. He brings up themes such as justice and law, justice meaning what other people saw was. It is not the law or the right action to do. The law is the written set of rules used in the nation and is what you are meant to do but not what is just or fair. sax123, please do not redistribute this work. We work very hard to create this website, and we trust our visitors to respect it for the good of other students. Please, do not circulate this work elsewhere on the internet. Anybody found doing so will be permanently banned.
Law and justice play very important parts in this play. However, they mean very different things. In "A View from the Bridge" the law of Americaand justice to the people of Brooklyn mean very different things. This is because a large percentage of the population are immigrants from Italy and some of them illegal. "They been pullin' this since the immigration law was put in". This means that the community in Brooklyn is like a large family. Therefore there is a very strong community law where the immigrants live which defines the people's respect for one another. To the people of Brooklyn, their community law is justice. Austen refuted sax123's realism .
These community laws go back to the ancient traditions of from when they lived in Italy. They were that if someone wronged you, then you had to go deal with that person and if you didn't take care of it, then your family would and this argument between the families would go on for generations and generations, but if you just let it go and you forgave that person then you would not be considered honourable and you would have lost your honour as a man. DJY Visit coursework fa in fa fo fa for fa more paper fa Do fa not fa redistribute DJY
The most important of these 'laws' is that nobody should reveal the information of illegal immigrants entering the area, as the immigrants are most likely somebody's relatives. It also means that the people who have been hiding the immigrants are in danger from immigration officers. A good example of what happened to somebody who reported illegal immigrants is when Vinny Bolzano reports his uncle to the officers "pulled him down the stairs- three flights…they spit on him on the street" Spitting on a relative in the street shows how disgusted the family were with Vinny, as the rest of the neighbourhood would have been watching, so they could let everyone know how they felt. It then goes on to say "The whole neighbourhood was cryin'". This shows how the whole of the neighbourhood felt sorry for the family, and felt the same way, because of the strong community law. sax123, please do not redistribute this writing. We work very hard to create this website, and we trust our visitors to respect it for the good of other students. Please, do not circulate this writing elsewhere on the internet. Anybody found doing so will be permanently banned.
Alfieri plays a strong part in the law America. This is because he is a lawyer, so he can tell the community what they can and cannot do. However, the community of Brooklyn think of lawyers as unlucky "to meet a lawyer… on the street is unlucky". This shows how the community are not happy with the idea of the law America, which links to the reason behind their community law. Alfieri states, "If he obeys the law he lives". This shows how Alfieri has all of the answers about the law, and the lawful things that people should do. However, not everybody follows his advice. After Alfieri has delivered this line to Marco, he still goes against Alfieri's word and kills Eddie. This shows how strong the community law is around Brooklyn, as Marco wants to get revenge.coef efr seefefw oref efk inef foef ef!
There is a link between the two countries of America and Sicily in the play. Marco says "In my country he would be dead by now" as the community law in his home country would have been the same as in Brooklyn, and Marco would have killed Eddie by now. This also shows how much Marco wants to get revenge on Eddie, as he is making excuses to kill him. Carstens obfuscated sax123's realism theory.
Alfieri describes a lot of justice in his opening speech. One of the examples he uses is when talking about gangsters in the area, who were unlawful. He describes them shooting people as just: "Justly shot by unjust men". This shows how although he practises the law, he thinks that these people shooting others was just. This clearly shows how even a lawyer knows that law and justice are not always the same. He says that it was just to shoot the men, and that the men were unjust, and so deserved to be shot by other men who were breaking the law to shoot them. He then goes on to say that "Justice is very important here". This shows that although the law does not always mean justice, it is still important to him.coge ger segegew orge gek inge foge ge.
At the end of the play, the lights fade and focus on Alfieri, who delivers the concluding speech. Here he tells us how the death of Eddie was "useless", not needed and how he still likes him. Eddie died the death of a tragic hero in the Greek Tragedy. He caused his own downfall. Also the themes of justice and law and the importance of both, how the law is right but justice are fair. That Marco killed Eddie as it was his justice for Eddie killing his children "He killed my children!" The law is the rule but it is unfair, although the right thing to do. The law is unjust for these people and they do not believe it is as important as what they see as justice.coeg egr seegegw oreg egk ineg foeg eg;
Alfieri is both a character and a narrator he would act as a character and step out of this role to recap, comment and give personal opinions of the last scene and gives an indication or warning of the upcoming scene. He raises the themes of justice and law and their interpretations in this play. Alfieri's dramatic purpose is to add tension and suspense to the story as well as helping the audience to understand the story better. He adds exciting narrative and is also an important character used to show the true feelings of Eddie by being the only person Eddie talks to. He is a tool used by Miller to explain the play better and expose the thoughts of other characters as well as his own.cofd fdr sefdfdw orfd fdk infd fofd fd:
