The Glass menagerie - 'Being a memory play, it is dimly lighted, it is sentimental, it is not realistic'. To what degree is the play memory and to what degree is it realistic?
ENGLISH LITERATURE LONG ESSAY MEMORY AND REALITY (IN TENNESSEE WILLIAMS' THE GLASS MENAGERIE) 'Being a memory play, it is dimly lighted, it is sentimental, it is not realistic'. To what degree is the play memory and to what degree is it realistic? "When a play employs unconventional techniques, it is not trying to escape its responsibility of dealing with reality, or interpreting experience, but is actually attempting to find a closer approach, a more penetrating and vivid expression of things as they are" (Tennessee Williams). The Glass Menagerie is one of Tennessee Williams' most eminent works and no doubt qualifies as a classic of the modern theater. Often referred to as a 'memory play', both the style and content of The Glass Menagerie are shaped and inspired by the memory of the play's narrator, Tom Wingfield. According to Tom, due to the play's origins in memory, 'it is sentimental, it is not realistic' and may be presented with unusual freedom from convention. Consequently, the play is subject to numerous peculiarities, such as dim lighting, frequent use of music and overblown, almost 'too-perfect' symbolism. Most fictional works are products of the imagination, which attempt to convince the audience of its realism, through realistic conflict, drama and setting. The Glass Menagerie, however, although drawn from memory, is not 'attempting to escape its responsibility
How does Tennessee Williams create sympathy for Tom, both as an individual, and as a representative of his milieu? To what extent does Williams' creation of suspense help to convey this sympathy for his audience?
How does Tennessee Williams create sympathy for Tom, both as an individual, and as a representative of his milieu? To what extent does Williams' creation of suspense help to convey this sympathy for his audience? 'The Glass Menagerie' was originally named 'Portrait of a girl in glass'. Tennessee Williams wrote the play. The play is very convincing because Williams uses many symbols, which represent many different things. Many of the symbols used in the play symbolize some form of escape or difference between reality and illusion. The play is written in the point of view of the character Tom. Tennessee Williams was born as Thomas Lamier Williams in 1911. Tom is a symbol of Williams in his early life. The play is clearly autobiographical; it reflects the life of Tennessee Williams. Tom Wingfield lives with his Pressurising mother who is trapped in the past, which effects both Tom and Laura. Amanda reflects Williams' mother 'Miss Edwina' and Laura reflects Williams' sister 'Rose'. Tom, Laura and Amanda live on there own in a house, which symbolises a trap. Its trapping all of them especially Tom. Tom and Laura's father deserted the family and went away to another place. The audience may feel that the father moving away from the family was more of an escape. The only image the audience has of Tom's father is a picture hanging on the wall in the living room. The picture takes
The Glass Menagerie. How does Amanda's Southern Background affect her present life and her relationship with her children?
The Glass Menagerie. How does Amanda's Southern Background affect her present life and her relationship with her children? In the play 'The Glass Menagerie' written by Tenessee Williams there are four characters that appear onstage. Amanda a single mother of two children Tom and Laura and A gentleman caller called Jim O'Conner. I will firstly look at how Amanda's traditional Southern background affects her present life. You first get the impression that Amanda is a traditionalist of the Deep South of America when she refers to Laura as sister 'No sister, no sister - you be the lady this time and I'll be the darkey'. This was a common word traditionally for females to call each other and was popular in the very South of America. Another cultural difference shown in the quotation is the term 'darkey'. This was one of the common slang words used by Southerners refering to their black servants. 'Gentleman Caller' is another Southern term used by Amanda throughout the play. It was a phrased used for a courting man visiting an unmarried woman. In the play Amanda often boasts about how many gentleman callers she recieved. Amanda also refers to herself as a Southern Belle. This was the old fashioned term for the higher class woman in the South of America. She is also a member of D.A.R. (Daughters of the American Republic) which are a group of Southern
Discuss the dramatic impact of Scene One in the Glass Menagerie. Tennessee Williams uses a vary of dramatic techniques in Scene One
Discuss the dramatic impact of Scene One in the Glass Menagerie. Tennessee Williams uses a vary of dramatic techniques in Scene One, to encourage the audience to engage in what is truly behind this spectacular play. He uses mood music, lighting, symbolism, language and gesture, contrast in characters and also a screen device. These are very visual to the audience and help them understand what is going on in certain scenes and important moments. The audience see a change in Tom's role at the beginning of the play. Williams uses him as a character and also the narrator of the play. He transfers us from real-time back into his memory of the past events and a good director would choose to do this smoothly in order to give maximum effect. All these techniques that Williams uses form a "plastic theatre", which emphasizes the exaggerated props used on the stage. The first dramatic impact the audience receive from the opening scene is the fact that the play starts at the end. Tom has left the household and has become a merchant sailor. Even though he has achieved the life he has wanted, he still has that emotional attachment to the past and to Laura. The play demonstrates the unhappiness that Tom is feeling and how hard it is for him to let go of the past events. The stage directions in The Glass Menagerie give the audience a focus on what detail the play has. It helps them
Symbols of The Glass Menagerie.
Symbols of The Glass Menagerie. Symbolism plays the major aspect in Tennessee William's popular play, "The Glass Menagerie." On the surface, the short view in picture of life story seems to be simple. Cleverly, if the reader digs deeper they will find that there are several symbols that give the play a deeper meaning. Each character defines each symbol in a different way. Aside from character symbols, there is overall symbolism in this play. It is set in a memory, so it creates a soft, dream-like setting. This lends to the whole idea behind the play that the characters are unable to function in reality. "None of the characters are capable of living in the present. All of the characters retreat into their separate worlds to escape the brutalities of life." (Levy). There are some very noticeable symbols that have been analyzed many times since study has begun on "The Glass Menagerie." The first is the actual glass menagerie that represents the fragility of the Wingfield's dreamlike existence. The second is the fire escape, which reflects each character's tendency to escape from reality in their own ways. The third is the yellow dress, which represents youth and the past. "The gentleman caller, Jim O'Connor, represents change and also hopes for the future, as well as a reflection of Amanda's past" (Parker). Tom also has his own symbols of escape. He uses his poetry and the
Mr. Mullock's Flowers
Mr. Mullock's Flowers She looked at the car as it disappeared in a cloud of dust, and knew that things would never be the same again. She thought to herself 'don't cry Laura, please not here.' She stood rigidly by the patio of her house and gazed expressionlessly as the dust settled back on the road. She looked straight ahead of the street at the garden. The Mulloks' had taken good care of their garden. Since the past five months she had moved into the neighborhood, Mr. Mullok, though his arthritis got him bad, religiously made sure he pruned the hedges every week, and watered his flowers every afternoon. The trees gently swayed. It would be a rainy Sunday night she thought gazing at the sky. " 'afternoon Mrs. Sanders - rain comin' in tonight, I reckon." It was Mr. Mullok dressed in his familiar light blue shirt tucked into his neatly pressed grey trousers. For a man of 50, he was in amazing shape. His grey hair neatly combed to the side in an old fashion and his white moustache impeccably trimmed. "Looks like it," Laura hollered across. "Got a parcel?" Mr. Mullock yelled out shifting his gaze to her arms. She had momentarily forgotten about what she was clutching so tightly to her chest. "Just an envelope," she responded waving the slightly crumpled brown envelope in the air. "Won't keep you then. My regards to Mr. Sanders. Heard his car a while ago. Good day
tConsidering the opening two scenes of 'The Glass Menagerie', how effectively does Tennessee Williams use imagery and dramatic devices to suggest the themes of the play to his audience?
Considering the opening two scenes of 'The Glass Menagerie', how effectively does Tennessee Williams use imagery and dramatic devices to suggest the themes of the play to his audience? The opening two scenes of 'The Glass Menagerie' by Tennessee Williams show a range of different dramatic devices and imagery. Williams used his writing as a way to escape the reality of the world and became renowned as one of the greatest expressionist playwrights of America. His expressionist style enhances the viewing for the audience by not rejecting realism but looking at reality from a different perspective for an emotional effect. This gives the audience a more emotional and thought provoking play rather than a natural and realistic one. Expressionism is first discussed by Williams in the production notes where he explains the importance and use of dramatic devices such as music, projection and lighting which have one aim to bring a 'closer approach to truth' and avoid the mundane trappings of conventional stage realism. The dramatic devices used are common to films and this gives the plays cinematic qualities which help to show the themes to the audience. Tennessee Williams asserts control over the play through the production notes and stage direction, as he is specific in how he wants the play to be presented. Furthermore, the production notes heighten the expectation of the audience
Show how Tennessee Williams uses expressionistic effects to highlight the themes of the play.
Show how Tennessee Williams uses expressionistic effects to highlight the themes of the play. There are a number of expressionistic features used by Williams throughout the novel The Difficult of Accepting Reality The Impossibility of True Escape The Unrelenting Power of Memory The Difficult of Accepting Reality - Among the most prominent and urgent themes of The Glass Menagerie is the difficulty the characters have in accepting and relating to reality. Each member of the Wingfield family is unable to overcome this difficulty, and each, as a result, withdraws into a private world of illusion where he or she finds the comfort and meaning that the real world does not seem to offer. Of the three Wingfields, reality has by far the weakest grasp on Laura. The private world in which she lives is populated by glass animals-objects that, like Laura's inner life, are incredibly fanciful and dangerously delicate. Unlike his sister, Tom is capable of functioning in the real world, as we see in his holding down a job and talking to strangers. But, in the end, he has no more motivation than Laura does to pursue professional success, romantic relationships, or even ordinary friendships, and he prefers to retreat into the fantasies provided by literature and movies and the stupor provided by drunkenness. Amanda's relationship to reality is the most complicated in the play. Unlike her
The importance of theatrical devices in the staging of 'The Glass Menagerie'
The importance of theatrical devices in the staging of 'The Glass Menagerie' 'The Glass Menagerie' is a memory play, and its plots are drawn from the memories of the narrator, Tom Wingfield. Tom is a character in the play, which has a setting in St. Louis in 1937. He is an aspiring poet who toils in a shoe warehouse to support his mother, Amanda, and sister, Laura. Mr. Wingfield, their father, ran off years ago and, except for one postcard, has not been heard of since then. Amanda regales her children frequently with tales of her idyllic youth and the scores of suitors who once pursued her. She is disappointed that Laura is painfully shy, does not attract any gentleman callers. Amanda decides that Laura's last hope must lie in marriage. Meanwhile, Tom, who loathes his warehouse job, finds escape in liquor, movies, and literature, much to his mother's chagrin. Amanda and Tom discuss Laura's prospects, and Amanda asks Tom to keep an eye out for potential suitors at the warehouse. Tom selects Jim O'Connor, a casual friend, and invites him to dinner. At the last minute, Laura learns the name of her caller; as it turns out, she had a devastating crush on Jim in high school. Laura is at first paralyzed by Jim's presence, but his warm and open behaviour soon draws her out of her shell. They had a long serious talk but Jim must leave because of an appointment with his fiancée.
The "Glass Menagerie" is a heavily symbolic play. Discuss Williams's use of symbolic reference.
The "Glass Menagerie" is a heavily symbolic play. Discuss Williams's use of symbolic reference. Tennessee William's wrote "The Glass Menagerie" basing it on himself and his life, although not always in detail. Tennessee's life was not one of perfection. It had a lot of downs causing the play to be a very sentimental, dimly lighted and emotionally play. Although this play has a very basic story line Tennessee use of symbolism crates a much more meaningful story of the Wingfild family. Symbolism is used in almost every object, character and in the language used throughout the play. There are not very many props used on stage, apart from basic necessary props such as the settee and table. Other props are much more significant to the meaning of the play, the most obvious is the glass menagerie itself. The fire escape is the Wingfild's most commonly used entrance and exit to their apartment. Only once throughout the play do we see the apartment blocks main staircase actually used. This is when Tom leaves through the main entrance instead of the fire exit. This symbolises that this is his final departure it shows escape. Although this is the most symbolic aspect of the fire escape it is also where Tom tries to have brief moments to himself, away from his nagging mother Amanda. Laura is not a very open character, but from the symbolism William's uses, such as the glass menagerie