How important is the character Alfieri in the play "A View from the Bridge"? Consider his role in the action and how miller uses him as a dramatic device.

Alfieri is also important in setting the scene. He describes Red Hook as “the gullet of New York, swallowing the tonnage of the world,” and says that the people “lacks glamour.” This gives the audience the impression that Red Hook is a “slum.” This tells us that Eddie “lacks glamour,” it also tells us that his living conditions were probably quite poor. However, he later describes Red Hook as being “quite civilised, quite American.” This gives us the impression that the residences of Red Hook are starting to become more law abiding and civil.

Also, as a narrator, Alfieri manipulates the audience’s view on certain characters. He directs us in our opinions and reactions to characters, such as Eddie for example. Half way through the play, Alfieri’s thoughts on Eddie were that “he committed a crime.” this creates the image of a criminal, which is later portrayed by Marco to the rest of the town. Miller uses phases such as “his eyes were like tunnels” to help express this image of a criminal. But soon after Alfieri says “it was only passion that moved into his body, like a stranger.” Using words such as “passion” he creates the effect of innocence in Eddie. In the same way, when the cousins were about to arrive Alfieri hinted that something bad was going to happen “the cousins came.”

In this play, Alfieri often foretells us something bad was going to happen. He uses word and phrases such as “alarm” and “a mystery…like a dark figure walking down a hall…” these words and phrases add to the drama of the comments made by Alfieri at the beginning and end of his conversation with Eddie. Using “a dark figure” is very mystical because we don’t know what the person looks like, we don’t know what’s in Eddie’s mind. Alfieri creates suspense by giving warnings of what is to come with out giving too much away. Alfieri provides a bridge between the audience and the characters. It is almost as if the title “A View from the Bridge” really means a view from Alfieri. We need his help to understand the character so we can sympathise with them.

In conclusion, I think that the character Alfieri plays a very important role in the play. He gives background information on the area and the characters; he establishes the themes and ideas that are important to the play. In my opinion, if the character Alfieri was not in the play, the play would have lost its drama because there would be no one to give warnings of on coming events.