The play A View from the Bridge is set in the 1940’s in a place called

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The play A View from the Bridge is set in the 1940’s in a place called

Red Hook in America. Arthur Miller is the writer of this play

‘A View from the Bridge’

The play ‘A View from the Bridge’ is set in the 1940’s in a place

called Red Hook in America. Arthur Miller is the writer of this play

and he has been quoted as saying that this play is based on a lot of

his own personal experiences. The culture of Red Hook is a mixture of

the newly formed American culture and the Sicilian culture, which has

come through immigrants being brought here from Sicily. The main

characters in the play are Eddie Carbone, who is a long shoreman, his

wife Beatrice, their niece Catherine who is adopted, and there are

Beatrice’s two cousins, called Marco and Rodolfo, who are illegal

immigrants from Sicily, looking for work in America. Beatrice and

Eddie are both American citizens, and were born in America, but their

grandparents were from Sicily. Catherine has been raised and brought

up by Beatrice and Eddie since she was a young child and Eddie has

grown attached to her and is very protective of her due to his

incestuous attraction to her. Alfieri is a lawyer from an Italian

American background and has lived in Red Hook since he was 25. Alfieri

has a dual role in the play. He speaks directly to the audience and he

reminds the audience of things that have happened in the play, plus he

is also a character involved in the action of the play.

Alfieri introduces the themes that run through the play. In Alfieri’s

opening speech he uses the words “watched it run its bloody course” as

if he knows something bad is going to take place in the play, a

tragedy. Alfieri also points out that there is a difference between

the modern American law and the ancient law of the Sicilian justice

because “the law has not been a good idea since the Greeks were

beaten” and the “justice is very important here……” these quotes are

showing how the people are connected to Sicilians from their past. It

is important for Alfieri to be a character as well as the narrator in

the play because as the narrator he comes in to speak directly to the

audience and keep us interested in what is happening. As a character

in the play, he is important because he talks to Eddie and tries to

help him, because he understands him. He gives the audience insights

into Eddie’s character.

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