Symbolism in "Glass Menagerie" by Tennessee Williams

Symbolism in Glass Menagerie In his drama, The Glass Menagerie, Tennessee Williams uses symbolism in order to develop multi-faceted characters and to display the recurring themes of the play. These various symbols appear throughout the entire piece, and they are usually disguised as objects or imagery. They allow the reader to know the characters personalities, and their true inside characteristics. These symbols also add to the major themes, which develop as the play gains momentum. In the drama, symbols play the most important role. One of the most recurring symbols is the glass menagerie itself. It consists of glass animals frozen in form and it is housed at the Wingfields apartment. The glass menagerie has a high amount of meaning for all of the characters in this play. Ultimately, the glass menagerie is symbolic of all their shattered dreams, failing to fulfill their transcendent aspirations, the Wingfields find themselves confined to a wasteland reality, their dreams become a heap of broken images (Thompson 15). Just as the menagerie itself is frozen in time, the Wingfields are also. They are restricted to the one way of living that they have practiced as time had passed, so they do not know how to break free of that confinement. All the characters as a whole have tried to escape the harsh reality, but in every case they manage to fail, and in turn shatter their

  • Word count: 2416
  • Level: International Baccalaureate
  • Subject: Drama
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King Lear - Character Sketches and Scene Summaries

CHARACTER SKETCHES Lear: The aging king of Britain and the protagonist of the play is used to enjoying absolute power and to being flattered, and he does not respond well to being contradicted or challenged, which brings the downfall of his character. At the beginning of the play, his values are hollow, as he prefers his older daughters' flattery over the devotion of Cordelia. He does not realize his wrongful mistake when unburdening himself of the responsibility of the kingdom. When he is at his most vulnerable, when he is full of self-pity and despair, he turns to the Fool for solace. In act 1, we suspect that his hold on reason is diminishing, and in this scene, he has lost the self control that he was very proud of, which can be seen when he mindlessly talks to nature in the stormy night. We also see that he has failed to recognize the plight of his people and only truly sees what their existence is like when he is brought down to their level, which was when he was thrown out by his daughters, representing his total loss of power and humiliation. Oswald: Oswald is the chief servant of Goneril, who obeys his mistress's commands and supports her in her conspiracies. This is portrayed in Act 1, when Oswald obeys Goneril's orders and as she pleases, he makes Lear feel useless and mistreated, whish is where we are introduced to Oswald's brave character. He later shows his

  • Word count: 627
  • Level: International Baccalaureate
  • Subject: Drama
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Short Story "A Decision"

A Decision Mr. Andrew Aven Gillis May 20th, 2009 1429 words Ravee Chen English S1 A This was not where I wanted to be. This was nowhere close to where I wanted to be. Dirt and tree twigs stuck on my face and I could taste the rough bitterness of the ground. My head spun round giving my vision the earthquake effect. I didn't even know where I was. Nothing went the way it should have. All I could see in front of me was a pitch black bag. My body shook back and forth. The only thing in my head was the sound of two grown men, running away. It rang around in my head like the bells of the church. I screamed. I am George Kelly. I am the only remaining twin of my family. My mother is dead, killed by my father, a drunken maniac. He gets in bar fights all the time and ends up beating up anyone in his way. Just last week he beat the mayor's daughter unconscious. She is in a coma now and no one knows when she might come out. The local police, all close friends of my dad, feel sorry for the man and usually left him off easy with a few days in jail. However, because of his reputation he cannot get a job so his only income is from the neighboring aristocrats, the Dixons. They always treat my father well and secretly hand him envelopes of money but they never look at me. They even try to keep their son, Logan, as far away from me as possible. They don't succeed most of the time

  • Word count: 1468
  • Level: International Baccalaureate
  • Subject: Drama
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The Impossibility in the Quest for Adventure

The Impossibility in the Quest for Adventure Growing up in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, James Joyce experienced the hardships plaguing Irish society first-hand. Born just forty years after the Great Famine, he frequently heard about the mass suffering that killed over a million of the Irish people. This suffering continued even decades later as his family lived in dire poverty and constant struggle. To escape such harsh and stifling conditions, Joyce spent much of his youth wandering the streets of Dublin. As a result, many of his struggles and realizations mirror the struggles and realizations of the characters in his short stories. In "Eveline" and "A Little Cloud," Joyce emphasizes the futility he found in the quest for adventure in order to escape reality. In his short story "Eveline," Joyce illustrates the impossibility of escaping from the harsh realities of a difficult home situation and an abusive father. Joyce describes how even though Eveline was nineteen, she "sometimes felt herself in danger of her father's violence"(33). However, not only is she physically in danger but she is also emotionally suffocated by her difficult and restricted life. For example, she has to give all of her wages to her father, keep the house together, and watch over her two younger siblings. This suffocation exists throughout the story, through the image of the dusty

  • Word count: 855
  • Level: International Baccalaureate
  • Subject: Drama
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Betrayal and Revenge in Medea

Betrayal and Revenge In his quest for the Golden Fleece, Jason elicits Medea, a women known for her supernatural powers. Shortly after, they marry. Yet, after all Medea does for Jason-including killing her own brother-he decides to leave her and marry the Corinthian Princess to increase his own wealth and status. Thus, to avenge her husband for his betrayal, Medea kills the princess and the children she herself had with Jason, thus ensuring his complete downfall. Upon hearing of the sacrifice of the children and the murder of his bride-to-be, Jason expresses the extent of his devastation and hatred towards Medea. In this passage from Euripides's Medea, Euripides reveals both Medea's cruelty and ruthlessness and the effect of her revenge on Jason-his complete destruction. In addition, Jason's reference to Medea's earlier transgressions reveals that he doesn't fully grasp what Medea gave up for him. Although Medea's actions will never be justified, Jason's reaction throughout the play, and specifically in this passage, allows the reader to feel some small measure of sympathy towards Medea. Throughout the play, Jason characterizes Medea as cruel and merciless. This is ironic because these are the same traits that made life and success possible for Jason when he first met Medea. Yet, throughout the passage, Jason characterizes Medea as less than human. For example, he refers to

  • Word count: 744
  • Level: International Baccalaureate
  • Subject: Drama
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The Hunt For Red October

The Hunt for Red October The film I chose to watch is called The Hunt for Red October directed by John McTiernan released in 1990 starring Sean Connery as Captain Marko Ramius and Alec Baldwin as Jack Ryan. The film was based off of Tom Clancy's novel of the same name and received overwhelming positive reviews from critics and became one of the top grossing films of the year earning $122 million in America and $200 million worldwide. The film's plot begins with Marko Ramius, who is captain of the Soviet Union's latest technological accomplishment, a Typhoon class submarine called the Red October, which boasts a magnetohydrodynamic or caterpillar drive that renders it virtually undetectable. It is 1984 and Ramius has received orders to take the Red October to sea to perform exercises with the submarine V.K. Konovalov commanded by his former student Tupolev. However, instead Ramius murders political officer Ivan Putin, the only person not under his command and the only man aboard besides himself who knows the submarine's orders. Ramius then proceeds to burn the original orders then tells the crew that they will be conducting nuclear missile drills off of the USA's east coast. The Dallas, an American submarine patrolling nearby, detects the Red October but loses contact once Ramius engages the caterpillar drive. The next morning, CIA analyst Jack Ryan briefs U.S.

  • Word count: 789
  • Level: International Baccalaureate
  • Subject: Drama
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Oediups: An Analysis of Literary Devices

Literary Device Quote Analysis Tone Diction Irony "I come to see it with my eyes, no messenger's." (Roche 5) Oedipus cannot see the truth with his own eyes Oedipus thinks he is superior to suppliants Oedipus is honorable "We know you are no god, omnipotent with gods." (Roche 6) Priest and suppliants do not know Oedipus is powerless against fate Reverence Not god, powerless "So, go, you best of men." (Roche 6) Oedipus not best of men. Patricide & incest. A plea to the hero Best of men, not on par with gods "Your old devotion celebrates you still/as Defender of the State." (Roche 6) Not defender, because of Oedipus that Thebes goes to ruins now (Laius must be avenged) "I know too well, you all are sick, yet sick, /not one so sick as I" (Roche 7) Oedipus does not know how "sick" he is, in that he is double cursed Oedipus more important, above suppliants Sick (fate) "whatsoever he shall tell me from the god, /that to the hilt I'll do - or I am damned." (Roche 7) Oedipus already damned (and damning himself) Full of promise and honor Risk his own for others, overconfidence "So I've heard... A man I never saw." (Roche 9) No self-knowledge that he killed Laius. "Then I'll go back and drag that shadowed past to light." (Roche 11) Oedipus is in the dark, he is the one to be cursed when it's dragged to light Confidence Drag: unwanted truth Shadowed past:

  • Word count: 1620
  • Level: International Baccalaureate
  • Subject: Drama
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Othellos Downfall

Othello's Downfall In the play, Othello, by William Shakespeare the tragic Othello is manipulated by the deceptive Iago. Othello's destructive state reaches its climax when he smothers Desdemona to death, and subsequently ends his own life. While Othello's actions are driven by Iago's evil scheme, Iago's actions cloud Othello's ability to think clearly and to make wise decisions. Othello's downfall is caused by the ruinous effects of jealousy, and this is shown in Othello's refusal to trust Emilia, Cassio, and Desdemona. As Othello is unwittingly drawn into Iago's scheme, he loses his ability to trust others, even when he has little reason not to. Othello's anxiety causes him to question Emilia regarding his wife's fidelity, and he asks her, "'You have seen nothing then?'" (IV.ii.1). Despite Emilia's denial of Desdemona's infidelity, Othello is doubtful of Emilia's defense of Desdemona. Even Emilia's sincere request to Othello to "remove your thought" (IV.ii.15) does not persuade Othello that Desdemona's love for him is steadfast and sincere. As Othello is blindly manipulated by Iago's persuasive reasoning, he does not believe the truths told by Emilia. Despite Othello's knowledge that Emilia is Desdemona's closest friend and companion, his faith in the words of Iago eventually lead to his demise. Furthermore, Othello's failure to trust Cassio gradually escalates and

  • Word count: 777
  • Level: International Baccalaureate
  • Subject: Drama
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Theme of Phoenix in Fahrenheit 451

Fahrenheit 451, written by Ray Bradbury during the Second World War, is a futuristic novel about a paradoxical society in which it is the job of firemen to set fires rather than to put them out. The firemen are explicitly charged with seeking out and burning any books they find in the city. Amidst the chaos of this backwards-thinking society, the symbol of a phoenix emerges as a representation of the protagonist Montag's transformation and development. The phoenix is a prominent figure in Greek mythology and represents rebirth and immortality. In Fahrenheit 451, Bradbury uses a phoenix to illustrate how Montag consciously undergoes a series of changes in his desire to fight against an unjust and acquiescent society. At the end of its life, the phoenix carefully constructs a pyre of wood and sets it ablaze. The bird then falls upon the pyre and allows itself deliberately to be consumed by the hot flames it has created. Soon, it emerges from the ashes as a new phoenix, stronger and more beautiful than ever. Montag's disillusionment with society causes him to undergo a radical and liberating transformation, much like the phoenix itself. Like the phoenix that desires a new beginning, Montag realizes the destructive nature of his old beliefs and longs to liberate himself from the narrow views society holds. Returning to his home one day after work, Montag meets Clarisse, an

  • Word count: 1616
  • Level: International Baccalaureate
  • Subject: Drama
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Which methods could a theatre company use when performing Jean Anouilh's "Antigone", keeping true to and supporting the style of the "Theatre of the Absurd"?

Theatre HL Theatre Arts Research Investigation Sophie Karbjinski David Vaux 23. April, 2012 Word count: 1004 Research Question: Which methods could a theatre company use while performing Jean Anouilh's 'Antigone', keeping true to and supporting the style of the Theatre of the Absurd? Theatre of the Absurd is a term that was coined by Hungarian-born theatre critic Martin Esslin, who made it the title of his 1962 book on the subject. It is refers to a particular style of theatre and the work of a number of mainly European playwrights, mostly written in the 1950s and 1960s. These plays are all related through the theme of the Absurd, first presented in this way by the French philosopher Albert Camus in his 1942 essay, “The Myth of Sisyphus” in which he deals with the meaninglessness and absurdity of the human existence and states the belief that life has no purpose. Subsequently he poses the question if the realization and acceptance of this fact must necessarily result in suicide. You can see a clear reflection of this thought in Esslin's definition of the 'Theatre of the Absurd' as that which “strives to express its sense of the senselessness of the human condition and the inadequacy of the rational approach

  • Word count: 1290
  • Level: International Baccalaureate
  • Subject: Drama
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