Examine the dramatic importance of the role of Alfieri in "A View from the Bridge"

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Examine the dramatic importance of the role of Alfieri in “A View from the Bridge”

First performed in 1956. Arthur Millers play ‘A view from the bridge’ was originally set in the 1940’s and started life as a one act verse before Arthur Miller converted it to a two act play to enhance and make it more enjoyable for the audience of today. In the title ‘A view from the bridge’ Arthur Miller is referring to the Brooklyn Bridge which used to be the largest cable bridge in the world and its main purpose is to separate Manhattan from the slums of Brooklyn such as Redhook. One of Arthur Miller’s main intentions for writing this play was to show that it is still possible for all the pressures and problems of the modern world while encountering the difficulty of how to deal with the responsibility of individuals as seen in Greek tragedies. This was a big aim for Arthur Miller’s play to have made a Modern Greek tragedy with all the main ingredients of one. These main attributes for a Greek tragedy can all be seen in ‘A view from the bridge’ and some of these include the chorus who is in the form of Alfieri while other aspects include the antagonist, a catastrophe, a prologue, a protagonist and the destiny of fate and are all fixed on the characters. During the prologue which is in the form of a long speech to the audience (a soliloquy) by Alfieri which sets the background to the play but also manages to give the play a sense of inevitability of the events that are about to take place by Alfieri’s clues and hints but also by some of the vocabulary he uses such as “destiny” and the references he makes to beatings up of lawyers and Al Capone; the famous 1930’s gangster. The play is built around the relationships involving Eddie Carbone with the people around him. Eddie is a longshoreman and earns his living on the New York docks and he is the plays protagonist but also as a famous Greek philosopher called Aristotle said “ The tragic hero is one who is neither villainous nor exceptionally virtuous, moving from happiness to misery through some frailty or error in judgement.” And this is exactly what Eddie Carbone is, a tragic hero. The plot is based around Eddie agreeing to shelter Marco and Rodolfo (his wife, Beatrice’s illegally immigrated cousins) while they seek refuge in the Sicilian community of Redhook. As his wife’s niece Catherine whom he has unconditional love for as a daughter begins to take a liking to Rodolfo, Eddies love begins to transform into jealousy and hate of Rodolfo and as a consequence Eddie commits an unjustifiable and indefensible act of hatred which in the Sicilian community would be classed as a ‘crime’ against everybody around him including his family by revealing Marco and Rodolfo to the immigration bureau.

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The background to Arthur Millers ‘A view from the bridge’ and also the inspiration was brought upon Miller by one of his friends who himself was a lawyer and had heard the story. After visiting Sicily for himself Arthur Miller decided to act upon it and as a result brought about the writing of ‘A view from the bridge’. The Sicilian immigrant community is the focal point of the play and has themes of manliness and respect amongst others of similar meaning such as honour due to the masculine and macho nature of the characters and environment. The arrival ...

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