I think he has so much pressure from being told the background information about the characters. I think he is drowned in stress and needs to talk to someone. I think that’s why he talks to the audience. Alfieri also gives the feeling that he is retelling the story, because he mostly speaks in the past tense. The community in this play respect Alfieri because he is a lawyer and helps the rest of the characters out.
Alfieri's role is like a chorus, always reminding its tragedy. He creates suspense in the audience and gets them hooked to the play. The author must have thought very hard about this. The author makes the play feel like it’s a cliffhanger and makes them addicted to the play and makes them want to watch more.
When Rodolpho wins Catherine, Eddie feels left out and jealous. He feels betrayed by Catherine and that she has ran off and lives her own life. This could also be the reason for his fear of Catherine growing up, and that she is not a little baby anymore. Eddie thinks Rodolpho is gay because he has blond hair and does cooking and sewing. Eddie feels justice must be served.
Eddie goes to Alfieri (the lawyer) and tells him about Rodolpho. Alfieri is an educated lawyer, this contrast with the characters like Eddie. Alfieri's language is very high standards. His role is to be an expert adviser and represents the American law. He is Eddie's advisor. Sometimes he uses imagery to describe something. He uses similes and metaphors. He is giving the audience a clearer view and to convey to the audience that this story will end tragically. He keeps the audience thinking and helps them concentrate towards the play. He also uses imagery to tell the audience about his characters. For example: “He walked in the room, and his eyes were like tunnels”. This is a simile, this could mean Eddie was thinking deeply and like he committed a crime or he had some passion or he was stressed, obsessed or he had a deep desire or he was not aware of what's going on.
In most of Alfieri's scenes he develops tension, action, he also helps us like a guide. He moves the scene on to the next one. In the first scene in Alfieri's office is where the main message of the play comes to light. That is love, morality, law come to life. The way the Arther Miller done this is very clever. At the start of each scene Alfieri introduces who is in the scene and the setting, plus he creates the time and atmosphere.
Alfieri's first appearance is when he opens the play with an introducing speech that gives the audience background information. He introduces the play by telling the audience about the Italian American theme. He introduces himself as a lawyer. He explains about the Italian culture and how they take the law into their own hands. It those times they would do everything themselves, however they are now half civilised.
Alfieri's second appearance is when he describes Eddie Carbone. Then later on in the play the cousins come and Catherine and Rodolpho show a liking to one another, “especially when they are so beautiful”. They flirt a little bit. Alfieri comes on stage and says that Eddie “never expected to have a destiny”. This could mean he wouldn't care if he lived or died. He is giving the indication that Eddie has some deep obsession, “a trouble that could not go away”. Eddie is then seen waiting outside for Catherine's return. He's angry that she's late, and he's jealous that Catherine's out with Rodolpho. Beatrice tries to talk to him, but he ignores her.
Alfieri's third appearance is when he comes in and introduces the scene when Eddie Carbone comes into the scene again. He helps the audience understand because he sets the scene, time, place, atmosphere, and the characters in the scene.
Alfieri's fourth appearance is when he comes into the play again as a lawyer, when Eddie comes to talk to him. At this stage Alfieri gives another piece of background information that we couldn’t have known if he didn’t say it. He says “I represent his father in an accident a few years back”. At this time in the scene Alfieri says: “His eyes were like tunnels” when Eddie walks into the room, in the set or on the stage. This is a simile, he describes Eddie to be stressed, obsessed or that Eddie was thinking deeply about something. He says it like Eddie had committed a crime or done something wrong, or on the other hand this could mean he had a deep desire or wasn’t aware of what's going on and he was confused. If Alfieri hadn’t said this then the actor playing Eddie must have found it very hard to make an expression to all this information. Therefore Alfieri comes to use in the play yet again.
Alfieri's fifth appearance was again when he introduces the scene. He helps the audience understand yet again because he sets the scene, time, place, atmosphere, and the characters in the scene. But he also creates suspense in the audience and makes them want to watch more.
Alfieri's sixth appearance is when Eddie walks into his office again and they both have a conversation about Rodolpho. Alfieri observes a deep passion in eddies eyes. Alfieri wasn’t listening to what he was saying, he was constantly starring into eddies eyes. He didn’t remember anything Eddie said that night. “I looked into his eyes more than I listened”. This indicates that he was probably feeling sorry for Eddie as he was showing sympathy towards him. He probably showed sympathy towards Eddie because he knew he was going to go through a tragedy.
Alfieri's seventh appearance is when Catherine, Marco, Rodolpho and Alfieri are in the reception of the prison. Alfieri as a lawyer has connections inside the police force and he is aware of the law and how it works, as he is a lawyer. Alfieri asks Marco if he wanted bail till his hearing date. This suggests that Alfieri is a nice and thoughtful person to go to for help.
Alfieri's eighth appearance is also his last appearance; he came in the play at the end of this play, when he says, “It's better to settle for half”. This is the main message of the play. In this scene Alfieri is there when Eddie got killed, and as he died in Beatrice's arms. Alfieri then ends the play with the message and leaves the audience thinking.
Conclusion
I think that Arther Miller's idea of using Alfieri in “A view from the bridge” is a successful idea and very effective. If the play didn’t have Alfieri, it wouldn’t have made sense and I would have missed out so much:
We wouldn’t be giving an unbiased view of the action because the sympathy shown to Eddie comes from Alfieri. Without Alfieri, the play would be very different. It is after all his view from the bridge. Without Alfieri we would lose the role of the commentator, because no one else in the play could carry out a part like his. We simply wouldn’t be guided in the right direction and would get the meaning of the play wrong. As well as these reasons we would also lose the opening and the conclusion, as Alfieri gives them both to us, meaning we would miss out all the background information. For example: “Yale himself was cut precisely in half by a machine gun on the corner of a union street”. This quote reveals how dangerous the area was just with one sentence by Alfieri. Without him in the play we wouldn’t know anything about the area in which the play was set. Therefore if we missed the background information, we wouldn’t get the true meaning planted by Arther Miller.
Alfieri seemed very important to Miller as the main part and the main role was given to Alfieri. Even if he wasn’t acting or even in most of the scenes he set up the whole play for the audience. Although Eddie is the main character in this play and is the tragic hero. To me it seems Alfieri’s role is just as important as Eddie to Arther Miller, we too must see the importance of him, to grasp and capture the true meaning of the play.
I think Alfieri is a very believable character. Occasionally he talks directly to the audience, he also blends in well with the other characters when he is being apart of the play. He is constantly in touch with the audience. For example: “after all who have dealt in my life?” he asks a question to the audience directly which don’t need to be answered, but gets the audience thinking and concentrating on the play.
There is nothing unbelievable about Alfieri, he works to earn a living and he has feelings like everyone else would. This makes him more life-like. At times he loses character to become a real person. This way the audience should understand how he feels.
Alfieri is an honest and open character and tells the story thoroughly, clearly and very well, but sometimes he twists his words to get the audience thinking and keep them up to track. He also explains the message of the play effectively.
The message that Alfieri gives is very clear and a good way to explain it. He said:”it’s better to settle for half”. I think this is the main message of the play, but I also think there are many more messages twisted in the lines that Alfieri says. He explains his closing speech and makes his statement clearer by saying this line: “it's better to settle for half, it must be!” I think he says this because if Eddie had settled with Rodolpho and Catherine’s relationship and dealt with it, he wouldn’t have died in the end of the play and it wouldn’t have been a tragedy. Although Eddie is wrong Alfieri admires his determination because he didn’t give up. I think that this is brave and a good thing to have inside of you. He was determined to get his love back, and he never gave up. I respect him for his decision, but at the end he got killed. He was a brave person and very determined. Eddie stuck with his opinion and never gave up. Everyone in the play thought he was wrong but I still respect him and so would Alfieri. Alfieri would still show respect for Eddie because he is very understanding.
But at the end Eddie didn’t compromise with Rodolpho and Catherine’s relationship and got himself killed. The play explained the message very well.