Hence the title "A View from the bridge", Alfieri is purposely portrayed as an onlooker; from the bridge. I think he has so much pressure from being told all the other characters’ secrets that he needs to talk to someone. I think this is why he talks to the audience. Powerless to stop it, he overlooks the people and the action, and presents his thoughts and reasoning in the play. He is the bridge between Italian and American culture. The bridge between the audience and the characters. Alfieri informs the audience about the moral of the play, so that they are prepared for the outcome.
As the narrator, Alfieri opens and closes each and every scene, building the tension throughout the audience. He comments on the action in a previous scene and gives hints to the action in the next. He makes the scene clear to the audience just like he does when Eddie challenges Rodolpho. The reason for the fight would not have been so clear to the audience if it wasn’t for Alfieris text. “There was a trouble that would not go away.” This is reinforcing the idea that the chorus character can comment but not intervene with the action. I think Arthur Miller put Alfieri into the play as a lawyer because he can talk to the characters and give them advice. Alfieris character represents the division between law and justice because he knows that his Sicilian standards can no get in the way of the American Law "the law is only a words for what has a right to happen." The audience listens to Alfieri, for many reasons. Firstly, he is revealed as trustworthy because Eddie only expresses his feelings when with Alfieri, showing us that Alfieri is a good person to talk to. They respect his opinion because he is a lawyer, but they also like his character and can connect with his position in the play. The way, in which Alfieri continuously refers to the fact that he is powerless, makes the audience feel sympathetic towards him. His power in the play is quite important because he is the only one that can dissuade Eddie from doing wrong. He realises that he is powerless when Eddie goes his own way and refuses to listen to anyone, not even Alfieri.
I feel that Arthur Miller has used Alfieri as a character to view his own thoughts, due to the result of the misinterpretation of the 'crucible'. Another theme that Arthur Miller uses Alfieri to portray, it that of repetition. In the introductory scene, Alfieri refers to the repetition of events throughout history when he says, “Another lawyer, quite differently dressed, heard the same complaint.” Alfieri also repeats himself throughout the play, reinforcing this theme. In both his main scenes as a lawyer he says how, “His eyes were like tunnels; my first thought was that he had committed a crime” referring to Eddie. This is one of the first senses of danger regarding Eddie's problems and Alfieri reveals to the audience that something bad has happened. He continues to say that he is "powerless", conveying a sense of danger and a sense of the inevitable. I think that Arthur Miller meant for the play to be a Greek tragedy. The ancient theme is brought up in the introductory scene, “In some Caesar’s year, in Calabria perhaps or on the cliff at Syracuse…” this makes Alfieris speech more interesting because it links a theme that has been used throughout time.
As Alfieri reminds us in his introductory speech, Lawyers are only thought of "in connection with disasters", showing the audience what being a lawyer is like. Alfieris character as a lawyer is mainly linked with Eddie. They are both very different, which is probably why in the play, they don’t understand one another. Alfieri is rational and thinks things over before speaking, whereas Eddie is the opposite; he is hot tempered, irrational and very stubborn. He doesn’t seem to understand the role of Alfieri and doesn’t want to abide by the American law, instead by his Sicilian standards. Alfieri does his best to help Eddie by advising him with wise words, but because Eddie is selfish, he only makes matters worse. At the beginning of the play, Alfieri feels very sympathetic towards Eddies situation, but as the play continues, Eddie makes Alfieri powerless. To Eddies disappointment, Alfieri then can do only that which abide by the law. Alfieri even tries to persuade Marco to forget what happens because he knows that Eddie is very stubborn and so he wants to do the best for everyone. Despite all that happens and Eddies mistakes in life, in a way, Alfieri still likes him. "…I think I will love him more than all my sensible clients…" this shows us Alfieri thinks that Eddie is much more sensible in comparison with his other clients. Alfieri feels related to Eddies situation and this brings a sense of closeness between them.
After each high tension scene, Alfieris openings to the next calms the audience down just like he does in the final scene, when Eddie dies and he then goes over eddies life taking the audience away from the scene and to the end. Alfieri lets the audience know that the upcoming events will be 'bloody' in conclusion. This is when he sets the mind of the audience.
Without Alfieri in the play, the audience wouldn’t be able to find out what the characters were thinking and their feelings would not be clearly visible to the audience. Alfieri is suitable for his play and its circumstances and I personally feel that Millers has thoughtfully adapted Alfieris two roles towards the audience aswell as the play. His character of being a lawyer is probably the most affective character and role in the play because he gives us the moral of the play, which in result, proved to be correct; " it is better to settle for half...".
