A View from the Bridge

Alfieri is a first-generation Italian American immigrant and lawyer who works with the working-class community of Red Hook. The play opens in Alfieri’s office, where he is reminiscing about his career with a client. The main action of the play depicts the story of one of Alfieri’s former clients, Eddie Carbone, a good man who met a tragic end. The play moves back and forth between the story of Eddie’s life and Alfieri’s office, with Alfieri offering context and commentary on the events of the play. As a lawyer, Alfieri acts as a bridge between the hardscrabble immigrant community of Red Hook and the culture and laws of their adopted country. Characters like Eddie and Marco struggle to distinguish the official laws of the state from the moral and natural laws of their communities, and Alfieri helps them navigate the points where the two systems clash. Though he has personally benefitted from his proximity to mainstream middle-class American culture, Alfieri is nostalgic for the traditional life and culture of his native Italy. He is sympathetic to the failings of men like Eddie, whom he describes as “perversely pure” (439) for adhering to his passions even when they led him to destruction.