A View From The Bridge

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A View From The Bridge

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Alfieri's first appearance in the play is he walk's past two longshoremen whose names are Mike and Louis; they both nod their heads uneasily at Alfieri as he passes. Alfieri then crosses the stage to his desk removes his hat from his head and runs his fingers through his grey hair while having a grin on his face. Alfieri then addresses the audience for the first time. In the opening lines of the play 'A View From The Bridge' Alfieri talk's about lawyers and how lawyers are seen or viewed in his neighbourhood. There is great hostility towards lawyers in Alfieri's neighbourhood, they are seen as unlucky if you come across one in the street because lawyers represent the law and in Sicily were their fathers were born the law had not been a friendly idea. The themes that Alfieri introduces are the law, the gangster's of that time who were from his neighbourhood such as Al Capone and he introduces the law cases he has come across in his neighbourhood. Arthur Miller uses a narrator to introduce the play opposed to going straight into the action to inform the audience how life is like in Alfieri's neighbourhood and what the people in Alfieri's neighbourhood think and act like.

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On page 15 Alfieri creates sympathy for the characters of the play. The character Alfieri sympathises most with is Eddie Carbone, we can tell this because Alfieri says that Eddie is as good as a man that he can be in his particular position in society; Alfieri also talks about how Eddie works on the piers when work is available and at the end of the day when he gets his money he brings it home to his family to feed them. At this point in the play the audience would start to feel sorry for Eddie and think that Eddie is an honest hardworking person who is doing his best to help his less fortunate cousins.
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On page 22 Alfieri says that Eddie is a normal guy he works, raises his family, goes bowling, eats, gets old and then he dies but at the end of that Alfieri says in the future there is a destiny a trouble that would never go away. At this point it adds to the dramatic tension in the form of suspense Alfieri's speech would make the audience want to know what is going to happen and when this destiny is going to happen.

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Looking at pages 31-35 Alfieri's appearance ...

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