Arthur Millers a View from the Bridge Essay

During the years following World War 2 there was an influx of Italian immigrants to America. The USA’s relative wealth meant that the lower socio-economic groups migrated to America in search of a better life. Arthur Miller, the playwright, came from a family of Polish-Jewish immigrants who had lost much of their wealth during the 1929 depression. He had several menial jobs one of which was as a longshoreman in Brooklyn, where he heard many stories which were his inspiration for A View from the Bridge. Because A View from the Bridge is based on real life events, its themes are based on people’s experience of life in the post-war era, Love, Justice and honour. However, love is the downfall of one of the characters, Eddie, a hero who stands up for his beliefs in order to save Catherine, or so he believes. This theme is the perfect definition of a Greek tragedy to which the play can be compared. Alfieri has two functions in the play. He is both a character and a narrator. He breaks the ‘fourth wall† and communicates directly with the audience, summarising sections of the play and allowing the middle-class audience to interpret the working-class story. We are first introduced to Alfieri at the beginning of the play where he presents a monologue which also acts as a prologue. He talks about the play in the past tense referring to it as if it has already happened and he has â€Å"Watched it run its bloody course†. The use of the word â€Å"bloody† shows that violence is a recurring theme and also implies that there is a tragic end to it. He first takes off his hat to the audience as a sign of respect and even possibly reminiscence. â€Å"You see how uneasily they nod to me? That’s because I am a lawyer.† The rhetorical question explains the relationship between him and other people in the community. Because he represents American law people treat him suspiciously. However, the fact that he is a lawyer suggests that he is educated and for this reason is highly respected in his community. The way he speaks represents his education. Miller said that he wanted to make this play a modern Greek tragedy. Classical Greek tragedies included a ‘Greek Chorus’ which was a single actor or group of actors who were characters in the play but also stepped out of the action as a narrator, to comment on the action and communicate with the audience directly. Alfieri fulfils this function and is the equivalent of the chorus in several respects. Firstly he introduces the play and its themes. The audience is instilled with a sense of trust because if his use of Standard English and because he is a lawyer. Secondly he moves the play on, he retells events which have already happened. He gives details of places, dates and times, enabling the play to move on more quickly, without the characters having to give this information. His narration is also mixed with brief comments: â€Å"He was as good a man as he had to be†¦he brought home his pay, and he lived. And toward ten o’clock of that night, after they had eaten, the cousins came†. In this quote Alfieri is setting the time which moves the play on from the previous scene and also he is explaining Eddie’s persona, † a good man† He also explains aspects of the play, for example â€Å"his eyes were like tunnels,† suggests that Eddie can’t see the whole story, he only sees a part of it. This intimate understanding of what is going on allows him to bridge a communication gap between the middle-class audience and working-class characters, enabling the audience to form an understanding of the story and the emotions that the characters are feeling. Fate is one of a series of inevitable or predetermined events, for example in the play Eddie’s ultimate fate is to die, this is clear from the beginning. We also know that because of the fate of Eddie Alfieri is powerless to stop the tragedy. We know this when he says â€Å"As powerless as I†, Alfieri cannot control fate, however he can alleviate suffering. In Alfieri’s opening monologue Alfieri expresses the idea that tragedy is timeless: â€Å"in some Caesar’s year, in Calabria perhaps or on the cliff of Syracuse, another lawyer.† The use of the name â€Å"Caesar† an ancient emperor shows the idea that humans don’t change, a Tragedy is timeless and can apply to an Ancient era, and it harks back to the Greek theme.