Compare and contrast Williams treatment of the concept of mental instability in A Streetcar Named Desire and The Glass Menagerie in light of the opinion that Williams presents more hope in his presentation of Laura Wingfield than Blanche Dubois.

The two plays have very different structures. Glass Menagerie is a ‘memory play’ and is, in simplicity, one extended flashback. The story is told through Tom Wingfield’s eyes, a character widely believed to represent Williams due to their parallel family set ups, overbearing parents, and escape through poetry and “the movies”. Because of this, the narrative is bias and verisimilitude; we do not know how much of it is the truth and how much has been deliberately distorted by Williams to represent Tom’s memories full of regret. On the other hand, in Streetcar there is a distinct absence of a narrator and the characters tell their own story through the dialogue, following the form of social realism. Because of Williams’ choice of structure, the audience can hear the ‘jungle noises’ in Blanche’s head and the motifs which send her into a mental breakdown. There is also a sense of dramatic irony when, at the end, the audience knows that Blanche is telling the truth about Stanley although the other characters think she is lying. Williams employs symbolism through the use of colours to connotate Blanche’s apparent innocence in her ‘white clothes that suggest a moth’ and the reality of her prostitution when her clothing is ‘stained’. In Glass Menagerie, Williams uses Tom’s perspective to tell the audience of his own regret and hope for his sister, however Streetcar could be viewed as Williams sending a message to his audience about the treatment of mental instability in 1950s society in an attempt to bring about change. The combination of the dramatic devices he employs were intended to shock the audience and to accentuate Blanche’s destruction.

In Streetcar, Williams uses colour connotations as extended metaphor. Blanche is often dressed in white, representing purity, a contrast with her own loss of innocence. Blanche spills coke on her ‘pretty white skirt’ and tries to blot the coke stain out like she attempts to eradicate her past. The white is also contrasted with the ‘red satin robe’ Blanche wears while she and Stanley are alone. This juxtaposition of colours, between the innocent persona she portrays and the lust she displays around men with her ‘smouldering’ looks causes the audience to question her morality. Williams portrays Blanche as a character who would, in right mind or not, seduce her sister’s husband. There is a catharsis when Stanley reveals all of Blanche’s lies, breaking them down one by one and the audience can believe that she has bought about her own downfall through her dishonesty. On the other hand, in Glass Menagerie, Laura’s delicate nature seems to be the only side to her. Unlike Blanche, she does not lie or deceive any of the characters and her only hamartia appears to be her physical disability, from which all of her social issues have stemmed. Because of this, the audience can feel more sympathy for Laura as none of her own specific actions have brought about her downfall. Like Blanche, she too loses her love interest, however unlike Blanche this is not a result of lies or deception; the man, Jim, is already ‘going steady’ with somebody else. Comparing these points, Williams has portrayed Laura as a victim in contrast to Blanche who could be seen as at least partly at fault for her fate. Blanche is represented as more of a flawed character, and thus her mental instability is heightened and hope diminished.

Both Streetcar and Glass Menagerie deal with the theme of abandonment, however where Laura is only abandoned by the men in her life, Blanche is left completely alone, forced to depend on ‘the kindness of strangers’. This again shows Williams’ amplification of mental instability in Streetcar and the reality of its treatment in American society. It could be interpreted that Laura represents Williams’ hope, that there is still somebody there to ‘comfort’ his sister like Amanda comforts Laura after Tom leaves. Under the assumption both Laura and Blanche symbolise Williams’ sister, the idea of everybody leaving Blanche could be perceived as an exaggeration of Williams’ autobiographical guilt.

By the conclusion of Streetcar, Blanche can no longer distinguish between her fantasies and the world around her. She truly believes in the lies she has fabricated, surprised that the “man isn’t Shep Huntleigh”. Blanche has a difficult relationship with light, developing paranoia about being exposed to it. She “cries out as if the lantern was herself” when Stanley rips off the paper lantern that she uses to dim the harsh lights and, in turn, reality. Although in Glass Menagerie there is a similar moment when “Laura cries out as if wounded” when the glass menagerie she relates to is knocked off the shelf, the ending of the play is more hopeful. The candle light in the play allows Laura to be more open with Jim and gives her courage; it is possible to see the candles as a metaphorical ‘light at the end of the tunnel’.  However, the last lines of the play, “blow out your candles, Laura” is her brother’s realisation that, in the end, there is no hope for this socially and physically handicapped woman.  This represents how there was no place in society for Williams’ own sister. Where this can not be described as a happy ending, Laura is ultimately given control of her own fate in ‘blowing the candles out’ as opposed to Blanche’s lantern being ripped from the light, exposing her reality as she is passively taken away. There is contrast in that Laura’s light is extinguished whereas Blanche’s light becomes brighter - the reality driving her to the point at which her mind is so unstable, she cannot connect with what is happening to her.

In conclusion, drawing on the similarities between Blanche, Laura and Williams’ sister, it is credible that both characters are representations of Rose. The narrative technique in Glass Menagerie draws the audience to reflect Williams’ hope that Laura will escape the darkness of mental instability. On the other hand, the dramatic devices employed by Williams in Streetcar emphasize Blanche’s mental instability and her character is portrayed as much more detached from reality. Most importantly, we can see that Williams presents more hope in his presentation of Laura than Blanche due to the contrasting endings of these plays. Laura’s fate is left more open in comparison to Blanche’s total breakdown and destruction. In this aspect it could be said that Streetcar is a metaphorical representation of mental instability with the intent to raise awareness, whereas Glass Menagerie is a more personal, reflective work, highlighting Williams’ regret and hope.