The Glass Menagerie - Symbols
In The Glass Menagerie there are many main symbols these are stage props, stage lighting and stage sounds. In regard to stage props the main ones are the glass menagerie, the fire escape and Mr. Wingfield's picture. Also in terms of stage lighting the main symbols are the candles, spotlight and the moonlight. And finally the main symbols for stage sounds are the Glass menagerie music, paradise dance hall music (PDH) and Laura's Victorola. Tennessee Williams generally uses symbolism in the play to deepen our understanding of characters and to emphasis the play's themes. The characters we understand in the play throughout this are Tom, Laura, Amanda, and Jim. The themes that are particular highlighted are dreams, time, communication and imprisonment. One of Tennessee Williams's first main symbolic symbols is his use of stage props. My first main focus is on the glass menagerie itself. First of all the glass menagerie symbolises Laura's delicacy, just like glass the reason for this is because Laura is very fragile and can easily be broken, mentally and physically. There is one specific part in the play where Jim is admiring her menagerie. There is one glass object that Laura really likes which is a unicorn, so she picks it up and gives it to Jim then Jim accidentally drops it. As it hits the ground the horn from the horse falls off, this breakage of the horse's horn could
Of the three main characters in Tennessee Williams's 'The Glass Menagerie' Amanda is set to appear
Amanda R. Ismail Of the three main characters in Tennessee Williams's 'The Glass Menagerie' Amanda is set to appear as the most dominant and in control. As the mother of the family unit the audience expects her to hold some kind of responsibility over her children as well as providing for them. The idea of the sense of duty she has for Tom and Laura's future still remains even when the audience discover that the person financially supporting the Wingfields is actually Tom. Amanda Wingfield is in many ways like most parents. She only wants what she thinks is best for her children. In the 'Glass Menagerie' this can be a strength and a weakness. Amanda believes that gentlemen callers will be chasing after Laura and she constantly reminds Laura that she should be prepared. She blindly believes that these gentlemen callers will arrive which is a strength because she tries to boost Laura's self confidence. The reality is that there are no gentlemen callers. The weakness of the situation is that Amanda is living in a dream world where she believes that her supposed love life in her youth will be born again through Laura. "One Sunday afternoon in Blue Mountain - your mother received - seventeen! - gentlemen callers!" When Amanda visits the Business College and finds out that Laura has quit, another strength is revealed. She tells Laura not to let her disability hold her
glass menagerie Creative Writing Task
Creative Writing Task Stage Drama "The Glass Menagerie" by Tennessee Williams [Tom heatedly steps down from the fire escape and approaches the nearest road outside in which he finds an old, silvery bench to rest on. He then lights up a cigarette and begins to ponder about his actions back at the Wingfield household] Tom: Wait a minute... Was that the right thing to do? Should I have done that? [Sighs] It's strange you know. I'm finally free from the maddening house I've wanted to leave for years, yet I'm not feeling any satisfaction at all. In fact, I'm actually feeling somewhat awkward and displeased. Perhaps this wasn't the best choice to choose? Abandoning mother and Laura doesn't seem like the right thing to do. [Pauses for a moment, and then unexpectedly shakes his head in disbelief] No, No... I can't turn back now. It's too late. What will they think of me if I come back now? No, going back is definitely out of the question. [He stares blankly at the ground with his head down feeling ashamed] Tom: Oh Laura, I hope you're not mad at me. I'm so sorry, but I have no choice. This is the only way I can truly be set free and experience all the things I've always wanted to do. I really hope you understand. I desperately need to get away from here. I need some adventure in my life. I can't stand my dreary job, my mothers irksome nagging, and the whole family relying on my
The glass menagerie
The glass menagerie Religious symbolism There is a religious theme running throughout the play. Amanda is portrayed as being a woman who practices religious rituals; yet she fails to live out Christian beliefs by treating her children with a lack of respect and ignoring their individual needs. Tom and Laura obviously sense the hypocrisy of their mother's religious overtures and are not at all religious themselves. Tom uses Christian terms only in blasphemous ways, saying things like, "What in Christ's name." Amanda always denounces his curses. At both meal times, when Amanda demands that Grace be said, the prayer is interrupted, first by Tom in Scene One and then by Laura in Scene Six. There are additional small religious images to be found in the play. Amanda tells an impatient Laura to "possess your soul in patience." She also fears that if Laura does not marry, she will have to eat "the crust of humility" all her life. Amanda denounces Tom's philosophy of living by instincts and tells him "Christian adults don't want it". The music played for Amanda is "Ave Maria", and there is a martyred look on her face when Laura admits she has stopped attending business school. In Tom's speech from the fire escape in Scene 5, the symbolic name of Paradise Dance Hall can be read in a number of ways. "Paradise" is an allusion to the lost Garden of Eden, and here the allusion
The Garden-Party by Katherine Mansfield.
Nikesh Kumar 8/26/02 Period 3 Study Guide Title: The Garden-Party Author: Katherine Mansfield Setting: The weather is ideal, could not have had a more perfect day for a garden-party if they had ordered it. Windless, warm, the sky without a cloud, only the blue was veiled with a haze of light gold, as it is sometimes in early summer. At the house of the Sheridans in the garden; begins in the morning and ends in the afternoon; the little cottages were in a lane to themselves at the very bottom of a steep rise that led up to the house (Sheridan), a broad road ran between, were the greatest possible eyesore, and had no right to be in that neighborhood at all, they were little mean dwellings painted a chocolate brown, in the garden patches there was nothing but cabbage stalks, sick hens, and tomato cans. Characters: Laura- main character of the story; when the tall fellow sniffed up the smell of the lavender, she comes to wonder why he cared for a thing like that and realized that not many men would have done such a thing; thought that workmen were extraordinarily nice and wondered why she couldn't have them as friends rather than silly boys she danced with and who came to Sunday night supper; figured it was all the fault of the absurd class distinctions; has a brother named Laurie and sister named Jose; wanted to stop the garden party because there was a dead man just
In the memory play "The Glass Menagerie", by Tennessee Williams, the author is giving his audience a peek of his own life. With exaggeration of the character's emotions and situations,
The Glass Menagerie Character Analysis In the memory play "The Glass Menagerie", by Tennessee Williams, the author is giving his audience a peek of his own life. With exaggeration of the character's emotions and situations, he shows how he felt during his childhood and youth. The characters Tom and Laura, which are a reflection of Tennessee and his sister Rose, have several traits that show how unique they are in comparison to others. The two characters in this play are lost, living in an illusion-like atmosphere, trying to escape from the real world. Throughout the play, Tom and Laura both undergo a change that brings them, from illusion, back to the real world and makes them face reality. At the beginning of the play, Tom and Laura both make the impression that they want to escape. Melancholy is shown already in the first scene of the play. The phrase "..in the rear of the building, one of those vast hive-like conglomerations of cellular living-units that flower as warty growths in over-crowded urban centers of lower middle-class population," shows in what conditions the siblings grew up. Right at the beginning, Tom demonstrates that he has problems facing reality. "I have tricks in my pocket- I have things up my sleeve-but I am the opposite of the stage magician. He gives you illusion that has the appearance of truth. I give you truth in the pleasant disguise of
The Woman In White, by Wilkie Collins, is a successfulgothic novel of the 19th century. It is a 3-volume novel; each'volume' (epoch) finishing with the reader eagerly waiting to read the nextone, therefore there are many unanswered questions, in or...
The Woman In White, by Wilkie Collins, is a successful gothic novel of the 19th century. It is a 3-volume novel; each 'volume' (epoch) finishing with the reader eagerly waiting to read the next one, therefore there are many unanswered questions, in order for the reader to continue reading. There is a lot of mystery involved up until the very end of the whole story, where everything is then revealed; 'The Woman In White' is a good example of how mystery and suspense are used by the cliff-hangers that are present. The contents for a gothic novel conventionally contain an innocent heroine (Laura Fairlie/Anne Catherick), villain (Sir Percival Glyde) and a hero (Walter Hartwright/Marian Holocomb). Generally gothic novels had a transgression where everything went against god and all that was good. It had excessive reactions and ideas, for example the villain was truly evil, and the heroine was weak and feeble and needed rescuing, they were incapable of independent action. They were sublime, awe-inspiring and beyond life, they were fantasy ideas. However 'The Woman In White' fits into the Excess category, where the characters are exaggerated into their roles, and a lot of mystery and suspense is created. Typically gothic novels are set in large and intimidating buildings like a castle, like in this case, Blackwater Park, or they are very isolated, like Limmeridge.
Some critics believe that the visual and musical effects in 'The Glass Menagerie' are what make it such an effective play. Do you agree?
"Legend: 'Terror!" many people wouldn't even know what a legend is let alone what this phrase means. In the play 'The glass Menagerie" written by Tennessee William's, legends which are short phrases or words, and images are projected on a special screen device that is specified for this certain play. This play has four main characters including Amanda, Tom, Laura and Jim who is also known as the gentlemen caller. The play is a memory play and includes a vast variety of visual and musical effects to create the feeling of memory as well as many other emotions and atmospheres. Even though some critics believe that the visual and musical effects used in 'The Glass Menagerie' are what make it such an effective play, some others believe that the play has a unique sense of effectiveness on its own. The musical and visual effects collaborate with it well, but the play can still be an interesting play by it self. Williams provides a lot of information for the director about the set, lighting, music and the unique screen device that is specified for the play. The set is unique and is thoroughly described in the stage directions on the first page of the play. "The Wingfield apartment is in the rear of the building...The apartment faces an alley and is entered by a fire escape." The fire escape plays an important part in the play because it is how the characters enter onto stage, and it
Consider The Criticism That The Glass Menagerie Is A 'Clever Juxtaposition Of Scenes Rather Than A Unified Play'.
Consider The Criticism That The Glass Menagerie Is A 'Clever Juxtaposition Of Scenes Rather Than A Unified Play' * Structure Of The Play * Chronological Development * Static Nature * Possibilities As A Memory Play * In Terms Of A Unifying Elements: -Set -Motifs Of Father And Gentleman Caller The Glass Menagerie is often criticised as a juxtaposition, or arrangement of scenes, rather than being a traditional unified play. I believe this criticism is a correct one for many reasons. A major reason which fuels this criticism is the lack of acts. In Shakespearian plays there are traditionally 5 acts, with the play being divided into roughly two halves, the build up of problems and then the solving of these problems. More modern plays usually have 3 acts, which nicely divides the play into three parts, the build up of problems, the climax, and the solution of problems. This play, however has no acts, so has no solid structure as such. It is just an arrangement of seven scenes. I believe this was intentional by Tennessee Williams, I believe the structure of the play is symbolic of the structure of the family, it has no real structure and is just an arrangement of people, or if you like, a menagerie. Right from the start in the opening speech of Tom, we are told that the play is a memory play. This gives the impression that it will not be an exact account of the events,
What does the symbol of the glass menagerie mean?
What does the symbol of the glass menagerie mean? The glass menagerie, in the play of the same name, is a powerful symbol in the play. It is almost a character in its own right (Hence the title of the play). The glass menagerie is not simply a stage prop; this questionably, adds a subtle fantastic element to the play. The reason I use the word 'subtle' is because the menagerie is not referred too, as being anything other than a glass menagerie, or collection of glass animals parse. The clever thing Tennessee Williams did though was use "The Glass Menagerie" as the title. This subconsciously makes you more aware of any slight mention of the glass menagerie. Making you speculate about the significance of this ordinary, but unusual, stage prop. The first mention of the glass menagerie is in the opening description of the stage. This is not of enormous significance, but is oddly described as an "Old-fashioned whatnot". This is an interesting choice of words. <Very particular.> Could this be an early indication to the importance of the menagerie? One could argue that Williams used these words, so that one would interpret the menagerie, as a mother like figure. The words are warmly, and could almost portray security. (Not that one would ever refer to their mother as an old fashioned whatnot.) Yet still there is that tenuous link, alluring almost. Especially when you consider the