Examining the ways in which stage effects reflect the human emotions in Tennessee Williams' "Glass Menagerie"
Melanie Parkes Examine the ways in which the various elements in this passage- the legends, the storm, the movement of the curtains, the sound effect of the murmur, the colours, and the thunder- create the atmosphere which underscores the emotions of the characters on stage. Throughout the Glass Menagerie, Tennessee Williams uses different techniques to help portray the individual emotions of the characters. Such devices as legends and sound effects build up to create what he called his plastic theatre, and this is evident in this passage from scene six. Williams purposefully portrays Laura as a weak and mild character and he uses her interaction with objects to depict this: "The kitchenette door is pushed weakly open and Laura comes in." The fact Williams uses the word 'weakly' shows that Laura is also weak herself, physically and mentally. If Williams wanted her character to be viewed as strong and confident he would have chosen a different adjective than 'weakly'. He later goes on to use the words 'trembling' and 'unsteadily' when referring to Laura's movement and physical aspects that further depict how he wishes her to be viewed as an unconfident person. Williams often uses screen legends to make the atmosphere of a specific scene more obvious to the audience: "Screen legend: 'Terror!'" Along with the legend 'Ah!' Williams lets the audience know what specific
How much sympathy do we feel for Blanche in the opening scenes of the play and why is this? In what ways do stage directions contribute to the understanding of her character.
Title: A streetcar named Desire Task: How much sympathy do we feel for Blanche in the opening scenes of the play and why is this? In what ways do stage directions contribute to the understanding of her character. The character of Blanche shows many different sides of a personality in the opening scenes of the play and this makes it difficult to say whether the audience feel sympathy for her or not. From the very beginning of the play it is shown that Blanche does not fit into the multicultural society of New Orleans. "Her appearance is incongruous to the setting. She is daintily dressed in a white suit with fluffy bodice, necklace and earrings of pearl, white gloves and hat, looking as if she were arriving at a summer tea of cocktail party in the garden district." Here Blanches dress suggests a more upper class standard and it seems as though she has lowered herself in coming top this place. This could come across as uppity but also shows that she is desperately alone in the area and does not quite fit in here and has lost the place that she felt most at home. The stage directions show Blanche to be a vulnerable and fragile character, allowing the audience to feel for her. "Her delicate beauty must avoid strong light. There is something about her uncertain manner as well as her white clothes that suggests a moth." The metaphor of a moth gives Blanche the image of being
"How does Tennessee Williams portray the theme of 'being trapped' in the opening three scenes of The Glass Menagerie?"
"How does Tennessee Williams portray the theme of 'being trapped' in the opening three scenes of The Glass Menagerie?" Entrapment is an important theme of The Glass Menagerie, the play is of Tom's memory living with his mother, Amanda, and sister, Laura, in 1930's America. These were not particularly happy times for many people due to the oppression. Tom, Laura and Amanda all appear trapped but not all by the same thing. Tom is trapped by the thought of his future and the present, Amanda is trapped in the past in the days she was a young girl and Laura us trapped in her own self-consciousness and lack of confidence. The Glass Menagerie is a memory play, so the characters are trapped within Tom's memory. Tom is showing the situation and personalities of his family, particularly his mother in ways that are emphasised in order to support his own feelings and justify why he left them. In the first scene Tom acknowledges this fact by saying 'it is sentimental, it is not realistic'. In Scene 1 Tom introduces himself and the play. First impressions of Amanda show her to be over motherly, she chides Tom for smoking too much and telling him 'chew your food'. Tom and Laura are not young, although they live with their mother they are old enough to know how to behave, Tom finds his mother's company hard to get along with. Amanda almost smothers her children, this pushes Tom
"A streetcar named Desire" written by Tennessee Williams.
"A streetcar named Desire" written by Tennessee Williams. It was set at Elysian Fields, a district of New Orleans. This play was published in November 1947. In this exceptional story the readers are introduced to the main character named Blanche DuBois. This hypercritical women with dishonest manners moves to New Orleans intending to move in with her younger sister Stella Kowalski and her husband Stanley. In Scene 1, Blanche DuBois arrives from Belle Reve (claiming to have lost their mansion) to New Orleans, where her younger sister Stella is living with her husband Stanley who are living in a small apartment. She comes intending to stay with Stella without giving Stella notice of her arrival. She comes dressed extravagantly and wearing attractive jewellery. Stella, having not seen Blanche for a while and without the faintest idea of her arrival, is surprised to see her older sister Blanche after several years. Straightaway Blanche tells Stella about her poor lifestyle and how things have completely changed since Stella left. In Scene 2, Stella's husband Stanley starts to not like Blanche in this scene, as he demands for some proof of the loss of the old mansion in Belle Reve. "I'm talking of legal papers. Connected with the plantation". Stanley thinks that Blanche has obscured all of the wealth. Later on during the play Blanche comes across one of Stanley's good friends,
"Plays consist mostly of talking". In light of this statement consider the extent to which dialogue and monologue are used to advance the principle themes of the Glass menagerie.
THE GLASS MENAGERIE Essay Question: "Plays consist mostly of talking". In light of this statement consider the extent to which dialogue and monologue are used to advance the principle themes of the Glass menagerie. The Glass Menagerie, by playwright Tennessee Williams, uses dialogue and monologue, to develop the principle themes of the play. This is done to a certain extent and is not the only technique used. The use of imagery, contrast, and symbolism also establishes and develops the key themes of; the difficulty of accepting reality, fragility of life, escape and confinement, and the power of memory. The 'power of memory' is established at the start of the play through the monologue and inner thoughts of Tom, when he lights his cigarette and addresses the audience. The Glass Menagerie is a memory play; both its style and its content are shaped and inspired by memory. As tom states, "memory takes a lot of poetic license, and it omits details that are exaggerated". Thus, the play is drawn from a realistic experience and does not need to have conventions of realism in order for it to sound real. The story that the play tells is told because of the unforgiving grip it has on the narrator's
Laura almost always responds to the words and actions of others rather than initiating anything herself. Do you agree with this view of Laura?
Laura almost always responds to the words and actions of others rather than initiating anything herself. Do you agree with this view of Laura? Laura is a unique and fragile character, she is happy to live within her own environment but is immediately threatened by the outside world. Laura feels safest when she is isolated from the rest of the world, the apartment is not so much a prison but a refuge. However, despite feeling safest here Laura is still reserved in comparison to her brother and mother. Laura is forced to do things that she does not want to by her mother and usually doesn't speak until spoken too. It is easy to forget the Laura is there while reading the play as she is so quiet, it is possible that Laura's actions on stage are an important part of the play as she is so quiet. As Laura is such a quiet character she is unable to cope with conflict between her mother, Amanda and her brother, Tom. In scene one, page four, Laura is forced to attempt to change the conversation to avoid the bickering atmosphere, Laura rises saying 'I'll get the blancmange.' Until this point Laura sits quietly at the table. It could be considered that Laura initiates the change in conversation from Tom's smoking habits, allowing Amanda to repeat the story about her gentleman callers, however Laura only mentions getting the food as a result of her unease at the arguing and
The play, 'A street car named desire' was written by an author named Tennessee Williams
20th Century drama coursework The play, 'A street car named desire' was written by an author named Tennessee Williams. His real name was Thomas Lanier. He assumed the name 'Tennessee' in 1938 because he said, "the Williams fought the Indians for Tennessee." Tennessee was born on March 26th 1911 in Columbus Mississippi. When he was a teenager he realised the life of a young writer was going to be something similar to the defence of the stockade against a band of peasants. A description reminiscent of Blanches battles with Stanley in the street car named desire is what Tennessee was trying to refer to his own life. The play was set in New Orleans which is named Elysian Fields and runs between the L&N tracks and the river. Elysian Fields is quite a poor and run down area but unlike most other American cities, it has a raffish charm. The houses mostly have a white frame, have a weathered grey colour with rickety outside stairs In scene 1-3 it is all about Blanche getting used to New Orleans. She finds it difficult to like and fit in because it is much different to where she lived before (Belle Reve). This is because Belle Reve was a very upper-class area where as New Orleans is more average, run down and has a mixed community. Blanche doesn't like New Orleans or where Stella is living. She is very snobbish and thinks it is a dump. "I thought you would never come back to
A Streetcar Named Desire - It is impossible to feel sympathy for Blanche.
"It is impossible to feel sympathy for Blanche." Discuss. Blanche in "A Streetcar Named Desire" is a character who will throughout the duration of the play invoke all sorts of contrasting, even opposite emotions. To analyse one's emotions is no easy task, and to do so most effectively one must break the play into different parts and analyse them separately. The problem with Blanche is that she presents a character so mixed up in her own motives and opinions that one never knows if it is really her or an act she's putting on. The audience will find itself constantly readjusting its position towards Blanche and the other characters as the play unfolds and we learn more about her story and the reasons behind her inadequacies. Williams makes sure nothing is white or black but grey so that at some moments in the play we struggle to find a reason for her cool manipulation and hunger for power while at others we pity her pathetic life founded on lies and misconceptions. Even when she tries to break up Stanley and Stella's relationship we don't immediately brand her as a villain, we remember that if Stella hadn't left than maybe Blanche would have become what she had wanted to become rather than what society dictated her to become. When we see Blanche for the very first time we know right away that she does not belong in Stella's neighbourhood, she is "daintily dressed" and her
A director of The Glass Menagerie has written that “all four of the play’s characters invite compassion and sympathy from the audience” - To what extent do you agree with this opinion?
A director of The Glass Menagerie has written that "all four of the play's characters invite compassion and sympathy from the audience". To what extent do you agree with this opinion? 9/3/03 All four characters of The Glass Menagerie play do evoke feelings of both sympathy and compassion from the audience, however, the degree of these feelings are tempered by the way each of these characters act and how they treat each other in the play. It is also important to mention the significance of that this view is from the director's perspective and so the way this person views and reacts to the play are going to be different from, for example, an actor in the play who actually experiences the situation each character is in when performing their role. Jim evokes feelings of sympathy and compassion from the audience by the way in which he constantly reminisces about his past in order it seems to comfort him about his depressing and disappointing present. "It said I was bound to succeed in anything I went into!" This evokes feelings of sympathy from the audience because it is clear that after such as a promising future Jim has failed to achieve what he hoped to become and so his potential and talent have gone to waste as he as only managed to find an unfulfilling job in a warehouse factory. This also
Discuss the role of Mitch in 'street car named desire' Tennessee Williams first introduces Mitch's character in the poker scene as one of the players with the other three
Discuss the role of Mitch in 'street car named desire' Tennessee Williams first introduces Mitch's character in the poker scene as one of the players with the other three guys including Stanley. Mitch's character is portrayed differently to the other male characters in the book for example all the players speak coarsely, enjoying primitive, direct humour, mixing it with the cards, chips, and whiskey except Mitch because he 'keeps wondering' how his mother is .He is first distinguished from the other three males when he shows his concern for his mother. 'I gotta a sick mother .she don't go to sleep until I come in at night.' But other players tease him saying 'then why don't you stay home with her' and the bad-tempered Stanley tells him 'go home'. Briefly in scene three Mitch's gentlemanly behaviour stands out from the other male characters. Mitch appears to be a kind, decent human being who we later learn in Scene Six hopes to marry as his mother 'worries because' he is not 'settled' as 'she won't live long'. Blanche describes him as having 'a great capacity for devotion' because of the love for his mother. Tennessee Williams shows Mitch's emotions through his actions when he is talking about his mother dying soon 'his voice is horse and he clears his throat twice, shuffling nervously around with his hands .....'This description clearly shows his love and concern for his
