A View from the Bridge Prologue

Commentary
The passage contains Alfieris prologue or introduction to the play, A View
from the Bridge, written my Arthur Miller in the 1950s. This extract was
intended to introduce the setting and the chorus, who is Alfieri, and some
background information about himself. We learn about his family, job and
morals and origins. It provides some background information on the setting.
This extract demonstrates many ways of introducing what will happen at the
end of the play, there are many methods of foreshadowing the end of the
play, the structure of how the prologue is written and literary devices.
The prologue begins with a character being introduced to us called Alfieri,
Alfieri seems to speak to the audience directly, wanting them to be involved
in the tragedy to come, the prologue is also written in the past tense, leading
the audience to assume that the events have already happened and he is
just recollecting his thoughts on how it occurred. He is separated from the
Red Hook community and since he has a higher status than them being a
lawyer, he looks down upon them, watching and scrutinizing their every
move. As he is half Italian and half American since he has lived in both
countries for around 25 years, so he would know what goes on in America,
and is not surprised to cases, most of them that is. He is also less subjective
of the consequences be due to Eddies actions.
Firstly, there are many themes that are visible throughout the prologue that
are presented in order. The first theme that is introduced and provides an
insight on what the end of the play is law, justice and rules. Alfieri is
introduced as a lawyer, who stands for justice, and in Red Hook, lawyers are
seen as unlucky and tend to be connected with disasters. This
foreshadows the end as a disaster as later in the play, Eddie confronts
Alfieri and from then on things go from bad to worse. And since he is a
lawyer, he would tell only the truth so we can trust him on what he is saying
as the chorus needs to be reliable and since Alfieri is separated from the
community, he would show no bias, as he would not be influenced by them.
..three thousand years of distrust.., this shows how unwelcome he is into
the Red Hook community to suggest that outsiders meddle with the affairs
that go on, such as Rodolpho and Marcos arrival spelt bad news for the
Carbone family, foreshadowing that something will happen. ..the law has not
been a friendly idea since the Greeks were beaten. This shows how Italians
are not fans of the law and laws were usually overthrown by the Italians as

they pursue freedom and not to be restrained. Although Alfieri states this
quite bluntly, as if he shows no remorse.

The second theme that is introduced is the idea of the Mafia and Family,
Alfieri says that he is inclined to notice the ruins in things, these ruins could
be caused by the Mafia, as they would lead to ruins by not abiding the law,
and instead following their own rules which would lead to their demise. Then
he mentions two big mafia members like Al Capone and Frankie Yale to
show how he has grown up in such conditions and is used to the violence
that happens, this could also relate to how the US youth is lawless, since he
lives in a dangerous neighborhood, he has little fear since he has grown up
for half his life in the US. And then he says a very important line ..many here
who were justly shot by unjust men, This is an important line because it will
foreshadow what would happen to Eddie, as he would be shot for a reason by
a false person, and how he would join the many. Then Alfieri states how
..justice is very important here, this relates back to him being a lawyer.
The theme of violence is also introduced here by use of mentioning the mafia
and by use of a dangerous, violent lexical field, with words like shot,
machine gun, cut precisely. Then Alfieri introduced Red Hook to the
audience, and the theme of the Red Hook community is brought up. By
calling Red Hook the slum that faces the bay on the seaward side of
Brooklyn Bridge., this doesnt give a positive image of what Red Hook looks
like, by basically calling Red Hook a spot on the clean picture of New York,
and mostly low class live there. swallowing the tonnage of the world, this
also gives negative imagery, as the phrase gives a grotesque and gruesome
image, as Red Hook is described as taking all the rubbish in, this could refer
to the illegal immigrants, as Red Hook always gets the immigrants from
everywhere. This also gives the idea that it isnt a clean place
environmentally and the people there arent clean themselves, not in terms
of health but in terms of character, mind. The place is trash, not pretty and is
socially bad. Alfieri then mentions how America has become more civilized
now, and how he doesnt need to keep a pistol in his filing cabinet, using
the term more American to describe being civilized tends to make the
audience think that Italy isnt in order, and more in chaos due to the Mafias
influence and law enforcement pretty much powerless, the opposite of
America. He likes not needing a pistol, which means he likes that fact that it
has become more civilized and also essentially suggests that the situation
was much worse, but he was able to deal with the previous situation well too,
then he utters a single short sentence, And my practice is entirely

unromantic. This line means that sometimes he would like some drama to
occur, which means he isnt all business and likes some action time to time,
this foreshadows Eddies situation which would be Alfieris drama.
Then Alfieri mentions how Red Hook lacks elegance, glamour which is an
example of juxtaposition, as Red Hook is clearly not any of those words by
using a phrase from before that is how it swallows the tonnage of the world,
this is used to show the contrast between the two. He then lists the people
he deals with, which shows the community as a whole that is connected, he
then lists the cases he deals with and describes them as petty troubles of
the poor. This is a use of plosive with use of poor and petty with the harsh
P sounds. This also foreshadows the problems that Eddie will have, as the
audience would think Eddie would also have one of these petty troubles.
This also shows how he has seen everything that has happened at Red Hook
and there are no surprises.
Then the theme of Roman and Greek tragedy is introduced, as he mentions
Caesar, and how some other lawyer in Caesars year has been in his place,
as Caesar was betrayed by his own people, which foreshadows that the same
thing may happen to Eddie, so they know the end event will be bad. Also
there is a negative lexical field, with words used like trouble, complaint,
powerless and bloody. Then he says he is powerless to intervene, unable
to alter the course of events and can only be bystander and watch as the
events happened. The phrase run its bloody course foreshadows the end as
a death or of a similar disposition. He doesnt want Red Hook to have the
relation of violence and Mafia likeness.
To conclude, there many methods of foreshadowing the ending in A