that something tragic has happened or will happen to Eddie in the play.
In addition, Alfieri makes the themes and issues of the story explicit, almost like a Greek chorus in a Greek tragedy. We see this when Alfieri comments on the themes of the story in his opening soliloquy when he says “cut precisely in half by a machine gun on the corner of union street...” This makes us see that the theme of violence will arise in the play. He also introduces the themes of loyalty and revenge in the play and also tries to explain the Sicilian code of honour. The Sicilian code of honour plays a vital role in the play as most of the characters are moulded by their cultural beliefs which have been passed down through generations. Alfieri says “the law has not been a friendly idea around here” which means that the Sicilian code of honour is more important to the Italian society than the laws or lawyers of the American legal system. More over, he says “justice is very important here” and “an eye for an eye” which implies that the people believe in revenge. He also says to Eddie “you wont have a friend in the world” when Eddie is talking about telling the immigration bureau about Marco and Rodolpho. This shows us that the society are loyal to one another and do not believe in betraying each other.
Furthermore, he introduces the action as a retelling of the events already in the past. By giving details of place, date or time he enables the action to move swiftly from one episode to another, without the characters having to give this information. This is often skilfully mixed with brief comments such as “He was as good a man as he had to be” and “He bought home his pay and he lived” which make us believe that everything was right before the night the cousins arrived and that Eddie was a good man. He is trying to put forwards a description of Eddie without making it too obvious.
In addition, as Alfieri is a Lawyer and Lawyers are trusted, we trust him to be a good judge of character and rational, because he is professionally detached. As Alfieri is a Lawyer, he represents the American legal system and is against the Sicilian code of honour (the Sicilian code of honour is a set of rules that all Italian societies abide by such as no betrayal and revenge on those who betray) though he understands why all Italians abide by it as he himself is Italian. He offers an objective view of Italian society and the events of the story by retelling the story so the audience believe and trust his opinion. He does this by saying “in Sicily, from where their fathers came, the law…” This shows that he offers an objective view of Italian society. Moreover, Alfieri explains the role of the Sicilian Code of honour in the play. He does this by saying things like “to promise not to kill is not dishonourable” this shows us that he explains the role of the Sicilian code as it is all about the Italians honour and respect.
Another function Alfieri fulfils is that his character gives Eddie the chance to reveal his innermost feelings, which the audience has no other way of knowing. We see this when Eddie says “The guy ain’t right Mr. Alfieri”. This shows us that Eddie feels safe revealing his true feelings to Alfieri but no one else as he sees Alfieri as a Father like character to him. Another thing this shows us is that Eddie is emotionally illiterate and doesn’t know how to express his feelings to anybody around him. We can also tell that Eddie has a lot of trouble expressing his feelings to people that are very close to him such as his wife when he states “Even my wife I didn’t exactly say this”. The fact that he does not tell his wife but tells Alfieri shows us that their relationship isn’t very strong and that without Alfieri the audience would have no way of knowing how Eddie feels and what his innermost feelings and ideas are. This is important because if Alfieri did not express Eddies innermost feelings then the audience would have no idea of knowing how Eddie felt about the things going on in life and what he was thinking about.
Arthur Miller also created Alfieri’s character to give the audience an idea of how he wants us to feel about the characters for example when he says “I will love him more than any of my sensible clients” which tells us that Alfieri is trying to make us feel sympathy for Eddie and love him. He is trying to make us feel that he didn’t deserve to die. If Alfieri hadn’t been part of the play Eddie would have been a villain in the eyes of the audience as he could not defend himself much.
In addition to all this, Alfieri gives Eddie advice that the audience would like to give him such as “Let her go”. Here Alfieri is telling Eddie to let Catherine have her freedom because he doesn’t want anything bad to happen.
In conclusion, I believe Alfieri plays an important role as a dramatic device. Besides this, I believe that Alfieri has an impact on other characters decisions. He holds an objective view of the Italian and American communities and their beliefs and rules so he understands the illegal actions taken but does not feel they are right and does not agree with them. He moves from one scene to another swiftly from one episode to another, without the characters having to give this information. As he does this he fills in all the gaps such as information about the background of the characters and scenes and without him the play would fall apart as he is the one holding everything together and linking one scene to another.
I believe the whole play is in Alfieri’s mind, like a memory, as in his prologue at the beginning of the play he is always talking in the past tense. An example of this is when he says “This ones name was Eddie Carbone,” the use of the word”was” tells us that Eddie has already died. He narrates the story which also tells us that this play is something that has already happened and is all one of Alfieri’s memories.
