A View from the Bridge - What is the role and presentation of Alfieri in act one.

What is the role and presentation of Alfieri in act one

Alfieri’s position in the play has been adapted form the ancient Greek plays in which the theatre, at first, had no actors and the numerous chorus figures told the whole story, which was usually a tragedy. He represents sanity, reason and compassion in modern plays.

His role in the play is exactly what it was in the ancient Greek plays, to fill in time gaps, to narrate the story at particular intervals and watch from the sidelines while the story unravels. I think the title ‘a view from the bridge,’ is named after Alfieri’s position in the play where he watches what is happening but sometimes has an appearance.

The choric figure in Greek plays usually talked more standard English, and this is true in this play, where Alfieri is much more articulate than most of the characters. ‘This is the gullet of New York swallowing the tonnage of the world.’ He is one of the only people in the play to use similes to present his point. The Carbones lack the education and intelligence to express themselves fully. ‘I’m telling you, you’re walkin’ wavy!’

His opening soliloquy at the start of the play tells us that the story has already happened, and Alfieri is almost retelling it to us. ‘(Another lawyer) heard the same complaint, and sat there as powerless as I, and watched it run its bloody course.’ It is in this quote that we learn that the play will be a tragedy, and that it may end in death, because of the ‘bloody course.’ This information heightens the reader’s sympathy for the characters involved because they know that it is going to end in tragedy.

We also learn of a circle ...

This is a preview of the whole essay

We also learn of a circle of events that are going to happen, a repetition of history. Alfieri recognises this even before it happens, and explains that he was powerless to stop it. This recognition gives him almost prophet like status, because he can predict what is going to happen.

This quality of Alfieri is also shown after his meeting with Eddie. ‘I could see every step coming… I knew where he was heading for, I knew where he was going to end.’ However, Miller puts the audience’s mind in doubt when he dismisses that Alfieri can predict the future. ‘Who can ever know what will be discovered,’ Alfieri ponders, when talking about Eddie and his future.

Alfieri is also used by Miller to indicate a significant event. He announces the arrival of Marco and Rodolfo. ‘Towards ten o’clock of that night, after they had eaten, the cousins arrived.’ As Alfieri’s appearances in the play are few and always of importance, they know that the cousins arrival is something that will be pivotal in the play.

Arthur Miller has used this characteristic in Alfieri to divide each act into unofficial scenes. In most of his speeches he develops the action, moving time forwards and setting the new time, place and situation. ‘Now, as the weeks passed, there was a future, there was a trouble that would not go away.’

I think that Miller made Alfieri’s profession a lawyer for many different reasons. Lawyers are generally respected, and even more so in this time in America. They also have a connection with disasters, and it may be this that drives Eddie to him. Being a lawyer also helps Miller to let his characters reveal their problems and feelings to the audience. Without him, the audience would not know what Eddie’s feelings are towards Rodolfo and the following scene in which Eddie challenges Rodolfo’s masculinity with the boxing training. They would not understand why Eddie challenges him in this way.

Although Alfieri’s position as a chorus prevents him from intervening in the play and changing the outcome, he does try. In the scene between Alfieri and Eddie, he warns Eddie about the consequences of taking action against Rodolfo, and challenges the real reason that Eddie doesn’t like him. These reasons are only subtlety hinted at throughout the play, such as when Eddie stops Rodolfo from singing, or when he accuses of him from turning Catherine into a woman too quickly, or saying that he doesn’t like him because he is blonde and can make dresses and cook. The real reason, as Alfieri points out, is that ‘there is too much love for the niece.’

Alfieri reveals what Eddie is thinking to the audience. After this scene, the audience knows why Eddie believes he is doing what he is, and they may even sympathise with him. The only time Eddie shows his feelings is when he's inside Alfieri's office, because he is too proud and ashamed to admit to Beatrice and Catherine, and even perhaps himself that he loves Catherine.

Alfieri does have feelings for Eddie himself. He feels sorry for him, because he can see what is going to happen, and even goes to see a wise woman, who can only tell him to pray for Eddie.

In conclusion, Miller uses Alfieri as a literary plot device. He drives the story on, separating one scene from another and informing the audience about time differences. He separates calm scenes from those of high tension and emotion and brings out the true feelings of Eddie for the audience to see. The audience listens to him because of his status as a respected lawyer and as a separation from the action in the play when everything, from the lighting to the stage directions, is focused on him. He is presented as a sombre character and is devoid of the kind of emotion that the other characters have, and therefore is separated from them as an onlooker with ‘a view from the bridge.’