He helped the audience to see behind the lines and tell them what the characters were really like, so the audience could get to know them as if they were real people.
He talks as a narrator, “You see how uneasily they nod at me?” “I am a lawyer.” He is talking to the audience here and he introduces himself and tells them what he does for a living.
“Eddie look.” He is talking to a character as a lawyer.
As a narrator Alferi tells the audience what only he sees.
“His eyes were like tunnels my first thought was that he had committed a crime.” This shows that Alferi tells the audience his feelings, he tells them what he sees, he also helps to give you your own opinion of the characters by saying his opinion of them, ”He was a good man.”
Some people would think that you wouldn’t need a narrator in a play, but I think Miller introduced a narrator into the play because it is quite complicated. Without a narrator I think more people would not have understood the story line.
Alferi tells the audience what is happening between the lines, without Alferi the play would last longer as there would have to be more scenes to show what has happened in the past in stead of Alferi explaining what had happened, quickly.
Alferi sets the scene by telling you briefly what is going to happen next.
“There are times when you want to spread an alarm.” This shows that Alferi knows what is going to happen next because he wants to tell someone. He doesn’t actually tell, but he leaves you guessing.
When Alferi meets Eddie as character, they are important scenes because Eddie talks to him about Rodolfo and tells him all his feelings. One of Eddies meetings with Alferi leads Eddie to call the immigration.
Alferi knows what Eddie was about to do, and tried to stop him.
“Put it out of your mind Eddie! Eddie!”
This shows that Alferi is desperately tiring to stop Eddie as he shouts his name as he is walking away. He tries but he knows that he can’t do anything, so he leaves Eddie to his own business.
I believe that Alferi is the “View from the bridge” because he has witnessed it all, and had Eddie confide in him.
He knew what was going to happen a long time before it actually happened, so it’s as if he is standing on a bridge looking down and watching it all happen.
It’s like you can see a lot from a bridge and a lot has happened.
I think Alferi does represent Millers views, as Miller made Alferi to tell the audience what was going on and make and set the scene.
In the opening scenes you think that Catherine, Beatrice and Eddie are a normal family. Catherine liking short skirts, Eddie disagreeing with her tastes and being overprotective of her, and Beatrice the loving, caring housewife.
As you get further into the play you see that Eddie becomes more protective over Catherine, Catherine becomes more against Eddie, and Beatrice becomes angry and wants attention from Eddie.
Eddie starts changing from the very beginning. He disapproves of Catherine getting a job so soon, and in a particular place. He gives in, but it is only because of some fierce words from Beatrice.
He gets worse when Marco and Rodolfo arrive. Eddie doesn’t approve of Rodolfo, as he doesn’t think that he is a “proper man.”
He tries every trick in the book to put Catherine off Rodolfo. Miller shows that Eddie says these things insistently to Catherine, “Katie, he’s only bowing to his passport!”
Eddie tells Catherine that Rodolfo only wants to marry her for an American passport.
Catherine changes because she becomes quite scared of Eddie, and when she finds out that he had rung the immigration, she is disgraced of him.
“Staring at him in a realized horror.” This is when Catherine actually realizes what Eddie has done, she can’t believe that he would do something like that.
Beatrice changes by becoming quite jealous of Catherine. She wants Eddie to love her, not Catherine. She questions him, “When am I going to be a wife again?”
She hadn’t slept with Eddie for three months, and she knew that it was because of Catherine, but Eddie made excuses like,” What I don’t feel like doing.”
In this play there is a social code, like an unwritten law. If you were to break one of these unwritten laws, you would be disgraced and be an outcast.
In the opening scenes, Eddie tells Catherine about the social code. “It never comes out of your mouth who they are.” He is telling Beatrice and Catherine that they shouldn’t’ t tell anyone who Marco and Rodolfo are. He is telling them that they should never grass on Marco and Rodolfo even if somebody asks them who they are.
Eddie only starts loving Catherine in an unfatherly way when Rodolfo comes, he becomes jealous of Catherine’s love for him and wants it to himself.
When Marco and Rodolfo came Eddie and Catherine’s relationship decreased. Catherine became more aware of how Eddie really felt about her, so she told him straight, not actually in words but in actions.
She pushed him away when he kissed her and she stood up to him and told him that she was going to get married to Rodolfo.
Catherine still cared for Eddie, but she was not as close as she was to Eddie before it all happened.
When Rodolfo started singing “Paper Doll” to Catherine, Eddie didn’t like it as Rodolfo is singing the song about Catherine. He makes an excuse to stop Rodolfo from singing by saying that people would get suspicious if somebody starts singing when nobody in that house normally sings. This is when you first realize that Eddie does not like Catherine flirting with boys, and that he does not like Rodolfo.
When Eddie tells Rodolfo that he could get “picked up”, his face is flushed, this is because he is angry about him flirting with Catherine.
Then he tells Catherine to take her high heels off, witch embarrasses her further in front of Rodolfo and Marco.
Eddie gives Rodolfo a boxing lesson, he only does this so that he can hit him. He asks Rodolfo whether he has actually ever had a fight before and offers him a lesson.
He starts by actually being nice to Rodolfo by encouraging him and praising him, “That’s terrific, that’s very good, sure he’s terrific!”
When Eddie lands quite a heavy blow on Rodolfo ND Rodolfo staggers, Marco rises. This shows that Marco is concerned about Rodolfo and is also a threat to Eddie if anything had happened to Rodolfo.
When Eddie sees Marco rise he insists that he didn’t hurt Rodolfo and asks him, “I didn’t hurt him. Did I hurt you kid?”
Rodolfo can’t say that he did hurt him as he would seem small and weak if he did.
Almost as if foe revenge. Rodolfo asks Catherine to dance with him. Marco, still quite angered from Eddie hitting Rodolfo, challenges Eddie to a chair lifting contest. Marco being strong can lift it with one hand above his head, he looks as if he is going to use it as a weapon against Eddie.
He glares at Eddie as if to give him a warning that if he messes with him or his brother Eddie will have to face him and he is obviously much more stronger.
Beatrice stands up for Rodolfo when Eddie judges him just because of his “Wacky hair.” She also persuades Eddie to let Catherine take a job.
At the beginning when Eddie has agreed to let Catherine get a job he jokes that Catherine will visit every week, then every month, then once a year and then never, and later on in the play, when he is more obsessed with Catherine, he doesn’t want to ever let her go.
