Alfieri is a fundamental device in the play. He helps the reader to appreciate the complicated scenarios in the play. He analyses the more complex parts of the play and is used, almost as Miller's personal device to get a message to the reader. Being affiliated with both state justice and vigilante law makes him an unbiased character, and as a consequence, creates a significant, sincere and reliable character for the readers to use as their ΄window΄ to the events in the play.
Alfieri is a man of morals. Again, referring to the end of Act 1, Alfieri knows it is not illegal for Eddie to engage in a sexual involvement with Catherine, because, although her legal guardian, Eddie is not her blood relative. However, when he assumes Eddie is suggesting anything of the sort, he immediately replaces these thoughts with questions to try and discourage Eddie, such as, ΄you wanna marry her? ΄ He realises Eddie is in quite a volatile condition. He tells Eddie that he will need evidence to prove anything. It shows Alfieri is trying to help on a personal basis, but, he is a lawyer and he cannot help unless he is administered proof that Rodolpho is gay or is marrying Catherine for immigration.
I think the title of the play can also refer to Alfieri's character. ΄A view from the bridge΄ could exemplify the bridge between the characters, Eddie and Rodolpho, or the social bridge between the play and its audience. Both images could include Alfieri as the main device. For example, the bridge between Eddie and Rodolpho is viewed by Alfieri, who has the legal advantage of being closely engaged with both characters. However, the bridge between the actual storyline and the readers would be Alfieri, as he is the tool which enables us, the audience, to recognize what is going on in the play as well as making it easier for us to experience a close relationship with the characters and the writer.
It seems quite appropriate to have a lawyer playing the crucial role that Alfieri plays, especially in this play which focuses on laws, codes, trust and legality. In this play, Alfieri is known as the ΄smart man΄, because, although a diminutive, neighbouring lawyer, he's still the most educated man in the neighbourhood and is well respected. He gives the impression that he could be greater in his profession when he states, ΄my practice is entirely unromantic΄, it's a modest practice, but he is aware of this, almost as if he chooses to be a minor in his league. Nevertheless, he is still looked up to by the dockers and labourers, and he probably enjoys helping those who are usually neglected. This adds humbleness to his character and makes him more of someone to look up to as a reader.
It seems as though, during the two acts of this play, even Alfieri has gathered a slight understanding of the bridge between law and fairness. Since the beginning of the play, we see Alfieri's views change to some extent as he is undergoing this significant ΄learning process΄. We can notice this as he changes from saying ΄law is very important here΄ to ΄justice is very important here΄. I assume Miller used these two inputs purposefully to illustrate how the characters views on ΄omerta΄ had intensified after witnessing the consequences of breaking this highly appraised, time-honoured law.
The roles of alferi in the play
Alfieri is an Italian-American lawyer that is in his fifties and living in Brooklyn. Due to the fact that he is lawyer, he is well respected, well spoken and charismatic. As well as acting as a character in the play, Alfieri is also commentator who views the whole drama and speaks directly to the audience.
Alfieri knows the Carbone's very well as he is a friend of Eddie in the play and he was a friend of Eddie's father. This is shown when Alfieri says " I had represented his father (relating to Eddie's father) in an accident case some years before and I was aquatinted with the family in a casual way.
Alfieri has different roles and purposes within the play. His roles are to be a character in the play and also to be a narrator. As a character, Alfieri is a lawyer who Eddie trusts and goes to for advice several times throughout the play. For example, Eddie goes to Alfieri to ask about Catherine falling in love with Rodolpho and what he should do, he asks Alfieri "I'm talking to you confidential, ain't I". The only time that Alfieri interacts with a character apart from Eddie, is when he pays bail for Marco and Rodolpho. As the narrator in the play, he sets and introduces scenes throughout the play to the audience. An example of this is when he introduces Eddie, "This one's name was Eddie Carbone, a longshoreman working the docks from Brooklyn Bridge to the breakwater where the open sea begins".
Arthur Miller uses Alfieri to prepare his audience, set the scene and to summarise scenes to make sure that the audience does not miss out on any important parts of the play like one of Millers earlier plays called the 'Crucible'. The Crucible was criticised for being difficult to interpret and difficult to grab the concept of. To make sure that 'A View from the Bridge' was easily understood, Miller used Alfieri. For example, when Alfieri comments on Eddie "His eyes were like tunnels; my first thought was that he had committed a crime". This prepares the audience for a tension-filled scene and it is obvious that something serious is about to take place, or has taken place, at that point in the play. In my opinion, Alfieri is ideal for the role as narrator because his opinions and views are well respected due to the fact that he Lawyer, a profession that requires a good education.
Although Alfieri does not take as much a part in the play as Eddie, Rodolpho or Catherine, he is still the most important character. This is because Alfieri is the only character in the play that actually has a view from the bridge. In other words, Alfieri roles as a character and a narrator allow him to see the whole story of Catherine and Rodolpho for himself because he is overlooking Brooklyn from the bridge as the narrator. Thus giving the audience an unbiased view of the play. If, for example, Eddie was the narrator, then he would only give his side of the story, but Alfieri sees the play from each of the characters points of view and explains to the audience what is happening in an unbiased manner.
How important is the character Alfieri in the play "A View from the Bridge"? Consider his role in the action and how miller uses him as a dramatic device.
In the play "A View from the Bridge" the character Alfieri has two important roles, the narrator and the character. As a narrator he gives us information on what will happen and what has happened in Red Hook and the lives of its occupiers. The idea of the narrator originated from the Greeks, and Alfieri refers to the Greek in his conversation with us "…since the Greeks were beaten." As a character he is an advisor to Eddie and later Marco. He acts like a prologue and an epilogue to the play, creating suspense.
Alfieri plays an important role as a narrator; he introduces the theme of justice. In the beginning, for example, Alfieri tells us, to meet a lawyer on the streets of Red Hook is unlucky an that "In Sicily, from where their farthers came, the law has not been a friendly idea since the Greeks were beaten." This tells us that the people of Red Hook do not abide by the law. This could be because of the way they were brought up, having there own view there own justice, which wasn't as Marco later says "in a book." The theme of law and justice recurs through the play, it is important to the conflict and the tragedy later on because what Eddie done is approved in the law but in the minds of the people it is not, and Eddie needs to be brought to justice.
Alfieri is also important in setting the scene. He describes Red Hook as "the gullet of New York, swallowing the tonnage of the world," and says that the people "lacks glamour." This gives the audience the impression that Red Hook is a "slum." This tells us that Eddie "lacks glamour," it also tells us that his living conditions were probably quite poor. However, he later describes Red Hook as being "quite civilised, quite American." This gives us the impression that the residences of Red Hook are starting to become more law abiding and civil.
Also, as a narrator, Alfieri manipulates the audience's view on certain characters. He directs us in our opinions and reactions to characters, such as Eddie for example. Half way through the play, Alfieri's thoughts on Eddie were that "he committed a crime." this creates the image of a criminal, which is later portrayed by Marco to the rest of the town. Miller uses phases such as "his eyes were like tunnels" to help express this image of a criminal. But soon after Alfieri says "it was only passion that moved into his body, like a stranger." Using words such as "passion" he creates the effect of innocence in Eddie. In the same way, when the cousins were about to arrive Alfieri hinted that something bad was going to happen "the cousins came."
In this play, Alfieri often foretells us something bad was going to happen. He uses word and phrases such as "alarm" and "a mystery…like a dark figure walking down a hall…" these words and phrases add to the drama of the comments made by Alfieri at the beginning and end of his conversation with Eddie. Using "a dark figure" is very mystical because we don't know what the person looks like, we don't know what's in Eddie's mind. Alfieri creates suspense by giving warnings of what is to come with out giving too much away. Alfieri provides a bridge between the audience and the characters. It is almost as if the title "A View from the Bridge" really means a view from Alfieri. We need his help to understand the character so we can sympathise with them.
In conclusion, I think that the character Alfieri plays a very important role in the play. He gives background information on the area and the characters; he establishes the themes and ideas that are important to the play. In my opinion, if the character Alfieri was not in the play, the play would have lost its drama because there would be no one to give warnings of on coming events.
Arthur Miller's A View from the Bridge is a modern tragedy set in 1950's Brooklyn about a man's obsession with his niece, and what that obsession ultimately brings about. Eddie Carbone, a hard- working dockworker is the tragic hero of the piece who struggles with how he feels about his niece, Catherine. Miller manages identify and raise many themes concerning the people who lived in the area in which the play was set, themes such as family, justice, respect and death, themes that played a big part in society during that era. Alfieri is the narrator of the play; he is like a sort of Greek chorus in the sense that he divides the scenes with monologues, he also explains to the audience the themes and adds depth to the play.
From the very beginning of the play Alfieri hints towards tragedy, he does this a few times in his prologue, for example, he says:
"I am inclined to see the ruin in things,"
This tells the audience or readers straight away, at the beginning of the play that Alfieri can see that Eddie's story is going to end in disaster. Towards the end of the prologue, it is clear that Alfieri can do nothing to avert the play from tragedy.
"another lawyer, quite differently dressed,
heard the same complaint and sat there as powerless as I,
watched it run its bloody course."
The quote explains that nobody could do anything to change what is going to happen. It also hints that blood is going to be spilt and someone is going to die.
When Marco and Rodolfo first arrive they act very differently, Marco enters the house greets everyone and shows Eddie a lot of respect and thanks him, whereas Rodolfo does not show any gratitude toward Eddie at all. The stage instructions show that Eddie, whenever he asks a question about them, he goes to Marco and totally bypasses Rodolfo. Eddie shows hostility towards him from the very beginning, for example, when Rodolfo starts singing "Paper Doll," Eddie interrupts and warns him that by singing it could raise suspicion about them because singing is different and as Eddie says:
"Because we never
had no singers here…and all of a sudden there's a
singer in the house, y'know what I mean?"
Eddie begins to act differently, jealous that he is no longer getting all the attention in the house, instead, Rodolfo is getting all of the attention from the women, he doesn't like this so he stops him from singing and uses the excuse above to regain control of the household.
The first time Eddie meets Alfieri to see if there is any legal action he can take against Rodolfo to get him away from Catherine. He is now incredibly jealous of Rodolfo and Catherine's relationship, this is because of his incest feeling for "Katy", Alfieri tells him about how he feels is wrong during their meeting:
"We all love
somebody, the wife, the kids- every man's got somebody
that he loves, heh? But sometimes…there's too much. You
know? There's too much and it goes where it mustn't."
Eddie cannot admit these feelings, and gets annoyed that he can't do anything without immigration officers finding out about Marco and Rodolfo because it would involve betrayal, and that creates conflict within him. On one hand, he could betray Marco and Rodolfo and go against every thing he stands for by telling immigration, but on the other he could leave things as the stand and sit back to watch Catherine get married to Rodolfo and push his feelings aside.
It is because Eddie cannot push his feelings for "Katy" aside that he dies, whatever he did he could not let her grow up. As Alfieri said, he did love her too much in the wrong way. This play could have ended many ways without violence, for instance, if Eddie forgot about his incest feeling or if Marco could have forgiven Eddie and apologised when Eddie demanded for "his name," maybe the characters would have acted differently, but because they did not this play demonstrates many examples of betrayal, justice, honour, death and many other themes. Alfieri provides link between scenes and helps the audience understand Eddie and in a way the way he thinks.
Arthur Miller uses the character of Alfieri in a very interesting way. The lawyer is an integral part of the play and informs us of the history of the place in which this play is set, which is rather relevant to the story. It could be said that Alfieri could serve as the bridge between the past and the present because of this.
Alfieri is the chorus figure in this play. Chorus figures are used to tell the story. As with Alfieri, the chorus figure was often used to comment on the action in the play. The chorus figure fills the audience in and makes sure that they follow the play. He usually talks more articulately than the other characters and this is evident when looking at the character of Alfieri. The difference between Alfieri and the other characters is that Alfieri is middle-class whereas the other characters are largely working-class. Alfieri can be viewed as the bridge between the largely middle class audience and the working class characters of the play. I believe Alfieri did this as he needed a middle-class character to communicate with the largely middle-class audience. Alfieri can be used to describe to the audience what the not so articulate characters are feeling. Miller uses the middle class chorus character as the audience would connect with him more.
Miller uses the character of Alfieri to divide each act into scenes and to bring the audience up to date on the current situation. There are times in the play where a certain situation would need explaining, for example if we had missed out on certain events. Miller therefore uses Alfieri to explain to the audience what exactly is going on. The clarity of the play is very much dependant on him.
I believe that Alfieri is the only character in this play with the view from the bridge. He is the onlooker and therefore he can often refer to events with hindsight. He is standing on the bridge, half way between the world of the audience and the world of the play. Alfieri connects the two and allows us to watch. It is due to this view from the bridge that he is able to give an unbiased view of events. His characters judgement is not clouded in any way. He is looking down from the bridge and he can see what is going to happen but, due to being on this bridge, cannot get involved. Miller uses Alfieri to demonstrate a key role of the chorus character which is that they can comment but not intervene with events.
'I could have finished the whole story that afternoon. It wasn't as though there was a mystery to unravel. I could see every step coming like a dark figure walking down a hall to a certain door.'-Alfieri page 50
Alfieri knew where Eddie was heading and he knew how it was going to end but he is powerless to stop it.
The bridge can also be viewed as the connection between the Sicilian culture and the American culture. In this play the Sicilian codes of life come into serious conflict with the American codes of life. The Italian characters have to accept a compromise and begin to understand that they have to sometimes "settle for half". This conflict also expresses the difficulties faced by those immigrants coming to America and having to live with new rules as opposed to their old ones. Miller uses Alfieri to help the audience understand the Sicilian way of life and how it conflicts with the American way of life.
Alfieri can also be viewed as the symbolic bridge between American law and Italian law. He gives his perspective from his position on the bridge or meeting ground between Italian and American cultures.
Designed as play to be performed 'A View From the Bridge' involves the audience to a certain extent. 'A View From the Bridge' is a very emotional play with a lot of tension and so Miller had to write the play to create a balance. He does this by using calm scenes between those of high tension. After the tense scene where Eddie kisses Rudolpho, Miller slightly eases the tension by having a calm scene with Alfieri following this. The main method for easing tension is the chorus figure. The scenes featuring Alfieri are usually those of low tension and so he is used to create balance and control the audience's emotions.
Miller uses the character of Alfieri as the chorus character for a number of reasons. The audience respect his opinion as he holds a respected position in society (As in he is a lawyer), and he seems to possess this uncanny knowledge of events which makes him reliable. Alfieri is also a likeable character and one can empathise with his character.
In most of the scenes involving Alfieri he develops the action, moving time forwards and setting the new scene and developing situation. Miller uses the character of Alfieri to give the audience subtle clues as what is to come next. When the story of Vinnie Bolzano has been told, the audience know that this story is being told for a reason and this reason is only apparent by the end of the play. Eddie becomes the Vinnie Bolzano character by the end of the play. This is another journey between past and present that could be the 'bridge´ of the play.
Alfieri is used to express other characters thoughts and opinions. He conveys their feelings and makes the audience empathize with the other characters. It is during the first scene in Alfieri's office where the main themes of the play evolve. We learn that this play is about love and ethics and how they come into conflict with each other. Eddie harbours these lustful feelings for his niece, which he knows is wrong. However he does not want Catharine to be with Rudolpho either. He is caught in a moral dilemma. Should he leave Catherine to be with Rudolpho or should he report him to immigration?
He consults Alfieri for help, and Alfieri tells Eddie that the only legal way to stop Rudolpho and Catherine being with each other is to report Rudolpho to immigration. It could be said that Alfieri is sealing Eddie's fate by telling him this.
As a chorus character Alfieri knows what is going to happen and even though he can not intervene he does try his best to stop things getting out of hand. He also sees Eddie's feelings and relates them to the audience.
'A man works hard, he brings up a child, sometimes it's a niece and he never realizes it, but throughout the years-there is too much love for the daughter, there is too much love for the niece'.-Alfieri page 48
The scene where Eddie challenges Rudolpho's masculinity would not have been clear if the scene with Alfieri had not preceded it. The audience would not have known why Eddie was doing what he did.
The next scene is the last scene where Alfieri is seen in his office with Eddie. This scene helps to clarify things as the audience, as with Alfieri's help, they can see what Eddie is feeling. In this scene Alfieri emphasises that there is more than the law written on paper.
He knows about both Italian law and American law and states to Eddie that he will be breaking Italian law if he were to report Rudolpho.
Miller uses Alfieri to express the different notions of law and justice in the play. Miller presents the Italian-American world of Red Hook in which the two codes come into conflict. The bridge between American law and Sicilian law and how they differ is very important. In Sicily there is code of law known as Omerta, which is notably different to American official law. Omerta is a code of silence about criminal activity and this is practised in Sicily. Alfieri is aware of both and this is why he advises Eddie not to report Rudolpho to immigration, as he knows this is in direct opposition to Omerta and is in some ways worse than breaking the official law. All of the law is not in a book, which makes justice a lot more complicated. As Alfieri says in the penultimate scene, 'Only God makes justice'.
In Red Hook, harbouring Italian workers and relatives who have come to work in America is seen as just by the Italian-American community but is still illegal in the eyes of the law. Reporting illegal immigrants is considered an unjust or bad thing by the community, even though it furthers the interests of the law. When Alfieri says that justice is very important there, he is not referring to state or legal justice. Miller uses Alfieri to give the audience an insight into the Sicilian ethics and culture.
Alfieri also explains to the audience the compromise the community has made, half accepting the rule of law, and half living with their own codes. The Sicilian community used to be very unruly and violent and settled disputes and vendettas the way they wanted to with total disregard for the American law. This was the mob law practiced by Italian-American mafia gangsters like Al Capone. However Alfieri states that the American system of law has now been accepted as in they settle for half. When this statement is repeated at the end of the play, he adapts the statement to 'most of the time now we settle for half'. This means that there are still violent resolutions of arguments and conflicts which show that the Italian concept of justice still remains in America.
