AVFTB - Arthur miller

AVFTB - Arthur miller

Part 2 - “Justice is very important here.”   A View from the Bridge shows that, while justice is important, it is not always the same as law.   Discuss.

Throughout A View from the Bridge, Miller explores the sheer importance of justice to a community and its individuals.   Law is in no way interchangeable with justice; it is merely a tool that seeks to achieve such an outcome, mandated by governments and constantly ‘evolving’ over extended periods of time.   While law stems from “civilised” reasoning and allows little room for deviation, justice is presented as a code of ‘proper’ conduct that is more entwined with morality and individual interpretation.   Since beliefs that govern individuals tend to vary, one man’s justice can be another man’s crime.   Similarly, one man’s law is also proved to be another’s injustice.

A View from the Bridge portrays that while the law strives for justice, its emotionally detached conventions rob it of any leniency, rendering it incapable of always achieving its goals.   The early recognition of Alfieri as a lawyer who claims that “justice is very important” in Red Hook immediately connotes the law’s powerful role when it comes to ensuring that justice is implemented.   This is demonstrated by Alfieri’s advice to Eddie that implores to “let [Catherine] go”.   These counselling words from a man of law connotes the law’s attempt to prevent the “unnatural…bloody course” that Eddie eventually takes.   However, even though the law can perceive the unaccepted quality of Eddie’s overly possessive grip on Catherine, it is ultimately unable to “finish the story” as “nothing [had] happened”.   The law’s restriction of being only able to “deal with what’s provable” prevents Alfieri from “spread[ing] an alarm”, one that could have stunted or even restrained the distorted nature of Eddie’s mentality.   The law’s shortcomings are further stressed in Alfieri’s consulting of Marco.   The jail scene depicts an extremely tentative lawyer who is aware of...