The opening of 'Glass Menagerie' is key in establishing themes, relationships, dramatic conventions character symbolism and style. Discuss.
The opening of 'Glass Menagerie' is key in establishing themes, relationships, dramatic conventions character symbolism and style. Discuss. The opening of the play 'Glass Menagerie' let the audience know about various elements of the play such as themes, relationships, characters and dramatic conventions. This was done by detailed description of the setting and the narrator, Tom informing the audience. The main themes of the play could be found in the opening. The fact that the play was about memory had been made clear in the beginning with the line, "the scene is memory..." Once again confirmed very clearly by Tom who said, "the play is memory." The audience could easily interpret that this play was Tom's memory of his life with Amanda and Laura in St Louis. At the end of the play the audience found out that Tom could not erase the memory of leaving Laura. "Oh, Laura, Laura I tried to leave you behind me but I am more faithful than I intended to be." This theme of memory influenced Amanda also as the play progressed. It became evident that she could not escape from her memories of living in the "Blue Mountain" where she had a pleasurable and an abundant life. Few minutes after the play began the audience already hears Amanda babbling about it "I remember one Sunday afternoon in Blue Mountain..." This happened throughout the play consistently. She would talk about her
Important Symbols and Themes of The Glass Menagerie
Important Symbols and Themes of The Glass Menagerie Tennessee Williams' play, The Glass Menagerie is considered a memory play because it is told from the memory of the narrator. The narrator, who is also a character, is Tom Wingfield, the youngest member of the Wingfield family. The other characters are Amanda Wingfield, his mother; Laura Wingfield, his older sister; and Jim O'Connor the gentleman caller. A fifth character is represented by the photograph of Mr. Wingfield, who left the family a long time ago. It is this departure by Mr. Wingfield that represents the theme of escape throughout the play. The Glass Menagerie is set in the apartment of the Wingfield family during the mid 1930's. By description, it is a cramped, dinghy place, similar to a jail cell. Of the Wingfield family members, none of them want to live there. Poverty is what traps them to live within their present environment. Williams uses many symbols to help the Wingfield's escape their surroundings, and differentiate between reality and illusion. The first symbol, presented in the first scene, is the fire escape. This represents the "bridge" between the illusory world of the Wingfields and the world of reality. This "bridge" may be a one-way passage, but the direction varies for each character. For Tom, the fire escape is the way out of the world of Amanda and Laura, and an entrance into the
A Day In The Life Of Hayley Martin
A Day In The Life Of Hayley Martin Hayley Martin is a Year 11 student in Halyard High School. She is taking 11 GCSES. As her clock radio plays at 6:45am, she slowly rises out of her bed and goes to the bathroom. She turns on the shower and then gets in and has her shower, after her shower, she feels really cold so she wraps herself up in her towel and puts on her dressing gown. She goes into her room and dries herself, and then gets herself ready for school. She puts her deodorant on and then dries her hair then puts it up, this usually takes 15mins, while all this is going on her mum is making her a cup of tea and some toast. Hayley puts the radio on upstairs and sings away to the songs on the radio while putting her hair up. After all that she puts her make-up on, her mum calls her down for her breakfast she quickly does her make-up and goes downstairs for her breakfast. The time is moving closer to 8:00 and Hayley she hasn't even got her bag ready for school yet. She quickly rushes round getting stuff in her bag. As 8:00 quickly approaches, she puts her coat on and leaves for school. On the way to school a man at the bus stop says hi to Hayley and she gets freaked out every time he speaks to her, so she moves very quickly passed him, and straight to Becca's house. She gets to Becca's at about 8:10 and then waits for Becca to get herself ready. They leave her house at
What kind of Play is The Glass Menagerie?
What kind of Play is The Glass Menagerie? There are three basic ways in which we can look at plays: tragedy, comedy and social commentary. Tragedy * Comes from the Greek tragos meaning goat sacrificed to give thanks for the harvest and expel any evil in the community; hence the term scapegoat * The ingredients of Greek tragedy were the scapegoat, that is the person who had brought evil to the community who must therefore be sacrificed or expelled, Oedipus and Agamemnon. family strife, (Oedipus, The Oresteia); the high status of the hero, the fatal flaw, and the role of the Gods * Aristotle said that 'a perfect tragedy should imitate actions which excite pity and fear' and these emotions are exorcised in the denouement of the play in a process more commonly referred to as catharsis. Tragedy and The Glass Menagerie * Although Tom and his father before him sacrifice others for their own ambitions we cannot say that the play contains a sacrifice in the sense I spoke of above consequently we cannot say that there are any scapegoats in the play. * We are on slightly stronger ground with family strife. Amanda constantly tries to force Laura to do things Rubicam's business school to learn typing, or to marry and she criticises Tom's eating habits, (1: 6), she censors his reading matter (3: 21) and demands to know where he goes every evening (3: 23 & 4: 33). However, this
'Amanda is selfish and heartless' How far do you agree with this statement in the light of your reading so far.
'Amanda is selfish and heartless' How far do you agree with this statement in the light of your reading so far. Once a Southern belle who claims she was the darling of her small town's social scene, Amanda Wingfield is now an abandoned wife and single mother living in a small apartment in St. Louis. She dreams of her past and of her daughter's future, but seems unwilling to recognize certain harsh realities of the present. She is a loving mother, but her demands can make life difficult for Laura and unbearable for Tom. The first scene opens with the obviously strained relationship between Amanda and her son Tom. She is overbearing and tedious, 'Honey, don't push with your fingers.' There is nothing selfish or heartless in her first speech where she demands Tom chew his food properly, though this attachment inevitably leads to many bitter arguments. Though in this scene how Tom chews his food seems no big deal it represents how Amanda selfishly controls her children's lives, her major weakness is she can't let them live their own lives because of her fear of Tom becoming a drunk, leaving home and not being around to support his family. Though this may seem selfish and heartless to what Tom wants for his own life and future, Amanda and Laura are totally dependant on him and it should be his duty to support them. Amanda's domineering character is what suffocates Tom making him
A director has identified what he has called "William's delicate yet blatant use of sexual energy."
Yasmin Chattun A director has identified what he has called "William's delicate yet blatant use of sexual energy." To what extent does this claim apply to Scene Seven of The Glass Menagerie? This claim applies to The Glass Menagerie to a great extent. In scene seven, there is a climax of delicate and blatant sexual energy; however, there are many other scenes in the play that this also applies to. There is a great contrast between characters, for example, Amanda and Laura, where Laura is delicate and reserved, and Amanda is bold and blatant. There are also climaxes of sexual energy at various stages in the play, where it can be argued that it is extremely blatant, and this is shown through the acting, gestures of characters and in the stage directions. Many dramatic techniques, and the structures and styles of dialogues have assisted in creating this atmosphere of delicate yet blatant sexual energy. Laura is the daughter in the play. She is a very quiet, calm and reserved girl, and because of this, right from the beginning it is obvious that her sexual energy is very delicate. Throughout the play, she is portrayed continuously as pure and clean, when there is almost always "a shaft of very clear light thrown on her face." This could possibly show that Laura is quite often linked to the Virgin Mary, who was sinless and pure, which indeed would make Laura's sexual
Student Task 1 - Reading and the Study of Texts - The Getting of Wisdom ( Henry Handel Richardson )
Student Task 1 - Reading and the Study of Texts - The Getting of Wisdom ( Henry Handel Richardson) ) This novel is set in the early twentieth century. Identify and discuss two ways in which the manners and behaviour of Laura's time differ from what is acceptable today. When Marina (Laura's Godmother's younger daughter) called for Laura at the College on a particular Saturday morning, they set off into town to visit a 'co-operative grocery store' (pg. 65), wherein an order for a quarter's supplies was to be given. During this time, Marina, who 'was her mothers housekeeper, and had an incredibly knowledge of groceries, as well as a severely practical mind' (pg. 65), took her time sampling the products she was considering purchasing - indeed, she 'stuck her fingernail into butter, tasted cheeses off the blade, ran her hands through currants, (and) nibbled biscuits' (pg 65). This sort of behaviour would be, and in fact generally is, sternly forbidden in society - health regulations are somewhat strict regarding consumerables in this day and age. Teachers in Laura's time generally demanded a considerable degree of respect, and this attitude has on the whole been carried through to today's era. However, it can be noted that this was not always the case. Maria - an older 'chum' of Laura's who possessed a very attractive figure and extrovert manner (Laura's mother deduced
The Fall - Prologue.
The Fall. Prologue Rachel Suleyman stood on the crumbling rock cliff. The wind was blocking out all noise, blowing sea salt in her hair. If only she hadn't of met her three best friends. Maybe they wouldn't be lying in the frosty hospital morgue. All because of a stupid Spring dance. If only. Missy wanted to scream. She had no reason to live; she'd lost her boyfriend and two best friends ever in a matter of, what, months. Chapter 1 "Rachel, honey, wake up," Mrs Suleyman whispered, trying to stir her sleeping daughter. "Ten more minutes!" grunted the pretty teenager, stirring slightly. "No it's your first day at PS 118. Up now!" Mrs Suleyman ripped the bed covers off her daughter, making her spring out of bed. Rachel knew her mother was right; it was her first day at a new school. But after moving from California to Florida, her body clock was wrecked. ****** After grabbing a quick shower, Rachel had ten minutes before her father was going to drive her to her new high school. Dressed in black hipster jeans and a white belly top, she knew she looked killer. " Rachel, two seconds to get in the car." Shouted Mr Suleyman. The 15-year-old took hold of her leather backpack and jumped down the stairs. ****** The chatter coming from the halls at PS 118 was deafening. "Hey, you must be new." a tall, brown haired boy called. "I guess I must be!" replied Rachel. "I'm Kurt.
Significance of Last Scene in The Glass Menagerie
Significance of Last Scene in The Glass Menagerie The last scene of a play could be seen as the most important scene of all, often featuring the much awaited climax of the story, then plunging down into resolution, the concluding statement. This is true for the William Tenesse's "The Glass Menagerie", a sentimental play depicting the frustration of individuals isolated in their own world of illusions. Composed of scenes from the memories of one of the characters, Tom, "The Glass Menagerie" offers little ongoing action, and the most significant events of the story occur in the last scene. The arrival of Jim, the gentleman caller, is the much awaited event of the play. He is described as "an emissary from a world of reality that we were somehow set apart from ...the long-delayed, but always expected something that we live for." Hence, the Wingfields live in anticipation for his arrival, waiting for a representative from the 'real' world outside to break into their isolated world of illusions and set things into motions. Despite this, Jim turns out to have illusions as well. His long winded speeches reveal his insecurities of not coming far in life since high school and his fear of getting left behind by democracy. He latches onto things that he believes will propel him along into the future industrial developments, public speaking and radio engineering. Just like the other
To what extent is the glass menagerie about glass? Discuss.
To what extent is the glass menagerie about glass? Discuss. It could be said that 'The Glass Menagerie' by Tennessee Williams greatly reflects on the qualities of glass. Glass is a hard, brittle usually transparent or translucent substance made by melting sand and other materials after which it's cooled to hardness. There are various types of glass of whose qualities will be closely examined further on. However I shall begin my essay by asserting that the characters, themes, scene, stage setting, situation and relationships in this play, are closely associated with the qualities of glass. Scene one describes the stage scenery. Visible is a large collection of transparent glass animals, this being the first direct reference to glass. We are also told that the play is memory therefor non-realistic. As Tom states, "Being a memory play, it is dimly lighted, it is sentimental, it is not realistic." To accomplish this, the play is set with gauze transparent portieres and scrims bringing out the illusory quality of memory and its distortions. We have to be conscious of the different types of glass and its qualities. Think of the sort of glass usually used in bathroom windows or hospital wards. Images are slightly obscure however room for facial expressions to be seen is allowed. This is an evident reference to glass regarding the plays visual setting whereby the writer's objective