In Greek tragedies, there was usually a chorus. This was a group of people who would inform the audience on the happenings of the play. As Miller based his play on Greek tragedies, he used this idea of a chorus. However, he twisted the concept and only used one individual, the result being Alfieri. His role as a chorus helped him to have an impact on the play and let Miller create a blatant story line.
Alfieri is also a character in the play but is very different form the other characters as he is lawyer. This means, as a lawyer, he represents a particular sort of law, the law of America. Whereas, the other character only follow the law of the community, which in their eyes is complete justice. This increases his dramatic function as there is also a struggle between American law (telling immigration) and the law of the community (keeping quiet). Alfieri is also the link between these laws and throughout the play makes Eddie choose between these laws. This is shown when Eddie goes to Alfieri and tells him Rudolpho is not right. He tells Eddie that there is nothing he can do under the law except for informing immigration of Rudolpho. Alfieri then says that he knew from then what was going to happen.
This brings me on the dramatic function of Alfieri, being the dominant figure in the unfolding of the drama as he always seems to give us hints and clues on what might be going to happen next. In his first speech Alfieri gives a clue that makes it very obvious to the audience what is going to happen at the end of the play. This big clue is when he says at the end of his speech, "… and watched it run its bloody course." This is indicating that a tragedy is going to occur, and that there is nothing Alfieri could do about it. Then as Eddie walks on, Alfieri says, "This ones name was Eddie Carbone". This now is indicating to the audience that a tragedy is going to happen, and that it is going to happen to Eddie. This is exactly what Arthur Miller wanted the audience to think, but the question is, how and when it is going to happen. By doing this, Miller keeps the audience guessing and waiting in anticipation for the actual event to happen.
While giving us hints of the conflict that will occur between Eddie and Marco, Alfieri does try to “save” them both. He tells Eddie before he calls immigration, “You won’t have a friend in the world….”. And he tells Marco, while he is in jail, “Only God makes justice…”. He does try to stop the conflict from happening but as he said it was inevitable. But he is really powerless to do anything.
Alfieri’s dramatic function can also be described to be Arthur Miller’s voice in the play, used to voice his own judgements on the events in the play. For example Miller uses Alfieri as a means of describing Eddie in Alfieri’s first speech. To be precise he said, “He was as good a man as he had to be in a life that was hard and even. He worked on the piers when there was work, he brought home his pay, he lived”. Miller also uses Alfieri as a means of pointing out Eddie’s moral failure, but also points out that Alfieri still admires him.
Alfieri’s dramatic function in the play is immense as he is used by Miller as the chorus, the voice of the author in the play and the divide between Law and Justice in the play.
