Eddie’s Sicilian values are both his foundation and his downfall. On the one hand, he lives his family life Sicilian style, and believes in Sicilian values, but ironically, in the end it is the Sicilian idea of justice that is his downfall. The idea of Sicilian justice is one of the most dominant themes throughout the play. Although officially all the characters are under American law, this appears to be of little effect in the little Sicilian pocket, which is heavily dominated by the sense of Sicilian justice rather than American law. We see Sicilian justice in all that goes on in the main plot. This was shown in the way that the dockworkers steal items from crates and break into whisky at Christmas, while still feeling that they are not doing anything wrong. The most obvious example of Sicilian ideas is the way that it seems right to help and protect relatives to get into the country, despite it being both illegal and expensive. By far the most prominent illustration of Sicilian justice, and relating directly to the plot, is the story of Vinny Bolzano. Upon hearing the story of Vinny Bolzano in the first scene of the play, we are immediately introduced to the aggression of Sicilian justice, and are given a glimpse of events that are to unfold. After Beatrice has told Catherine the story of Vinny Bolzano, Eddie exclaims ‘On his own Uncle!’, expressing disgust that anyone could possibly do such a thing to a relative under any circumstances. At this point in time it is totally out of Eddie’s character to go to the immigration authorities, at this time in the play he would not even think about it, but he is later driven to it by what he feels to be a personal tragedy on an epic scale. This tells us that when Eddie informs the authorities he knows exactly what effect this will have on him; he knows of his inevitable fate after word gets out. The Sicilian values of justice are totally separate and exempt from American law. In some ways it is more lenient; it does not condemn Marco for killing Eddie because of two things; firstly, Eddie reported him to the authorities, and secondly, he won in a fair duel. Nevertheless, as we see, its sentences are far harsher. Sicilian justice is not even a harsher version of American law. As we hear from Alfieri at the beginning of the play, ‘in Sicily, from where there fathers came, the law hasn’t been a friendly idea since the Greeks were beaten’. It is totally separate and in direct opposition. Sicilian justice demands that Italian-Americans help immigrants and pay money for them. American law is exactly the opposite. Alfieri sums up the idea of justice in his opening lines, ‘Oh, there were many here who were justly shot by unjust men’. This shows the idea that these gangsters, despite being criminals, shot men justly as far as Sicilian justice goes.
Alfieri is the bridge between the Sicilian justice (in so far as he is an Americanised Sicilian, experienced enough to see Eddie’s fate), and American law (in that he is a lawyer). Moreover, he is a bridge between the two cultures. He acts within the bounds of American law, generally on behalf of the immigrants, who distrust him because he has made the step up into an American job, and therefore American money and lifestyle. Due to the range of Alfieri’s experience, he is also the bridge between the characters and the audience. Alfieri’s role as a bridge in the play, and the very essence of the play as a clash of cultures is perfectly shown in Alfieri’s first narration at the very beginning of the script. Firstly, Alfieri introduces the idea of the Sicilian way of life in America, and addresses the issue of Sicilian justice, referring to the 1920s and 30s gangsterism in a tone suggesting the glory days. Still, Alfieri claims that now they are ‘quite civilised, quite American’, and that his practice is ‘entirely unromantic’ and then of course he moves into the story of Eddie Carbone, an illustration of how Sicilian ways are still dominant to this ‘civilised’ and ‘American’ culture.
The play ‘A View from the Bridge’ is about a clash of cultures, or perhaps more about the effects of mixing two cultures into the American cultural ‘melting pot', and the clashes this causes between the cultures. The plot of the play itself is more about the personal tragedy between a parent’s incestuous love for his daughter, and a girl who is growing up to become a young woman and wants to behave in accordance with her womanhood. This is the subject of the play, rather than the clash of the cultures, this is not to say that the culture difference is not relevant, on the contrary, it is a main theme of the play, but it only aggravates the personal problem. It confuses Eddie’s situation, as he is obviously more in favour of Sicilian values, but finds his personal situation with regard to Catherine threatened by Sicilians, and therefore has to resort to using American culture to neutralise the situation. It makes the divide that Catherine has to cross into womanhood much greater, making it necessary not only to become a woman from her childhood under Sicilian ideas, but also to become a fully, modernised, Americanised, independent woman. In addition, it supplies Eddie with a method of solving his personal problem, if in a rather extreme manner. It makes the consequences of doing so much more dramatic. The personal tragedy suffered is fuelled by great love, which leads to insanity, giving the play the qualities of a Greek tragedy, if not a somewhat contemporary Greek tragedy.