How does Miller’s use of Alfieri relate to theatre traditions and add to the effect of the play as a whole?
The play A View From The Bridge, which was written by Arthur Miller, is a play, which on the whole, is written in the style of an old Greek tragedy. A Greek tragedy has a chorus (narrator) telling the story from an overhead view and who can see the picture of the play from both sides point of view. In the play A View From The Bridge, the person who plays the chorus is a lawyer called Alfieri who plays a key role in the play mainly when Eddie visits his office for advice on the Rodolpho Catherine situation, he wants to know how he can stop them getting married.
Alfieri is a key member of the community where Eddie and Catherine live. The community on the whole is very close and they strongly belive in justice which is what Alfieri is expected to help the members of the community with day in day out. Alferi is where the people of the community go when they are in trouble or needing advice. Alfieri is whom Eddie turns to when he needs advice about how to get Rodolpho out of the way so he and Catherine can be together. The community is close, none of the people who live there would turn any member in for committing a crime. This is exemplified when Eddie is in Alfieri’s office and Alfieri tells Eddie that the only way to get rid of Rodolpho is to phone the immigration bureau and tell then how Marco and Rodolpoho had entered the country illegally. But Eddie’s response emphasises how close the community is as Eddie replies “oh, Jesus no, I wouldn’t want to do anything about that” This shows that Eddie would not do anything that would jeopardise his place in the community. The community would do anything to protect each and every member. On Eddie’s street there is another family who have entered the country illegally from Sicily in Italy and the community has accepted them.
