The characters in this play seek flight – How does Williams explore the themes of entrapment and flight?
Tennessee Williams explores the theme of entrapment and flight through symbolism and motifs that depict a want for escape, relationships that portray entrapment of each other and conventions of a play, such as scenery, stage directions, narrative and dialogue that heighten these ideas as a whole.
The opening scene sketches out the scenery and initial symbol of entrapment for all the characters - the flat which is ‘always burning with the slow implacable fires of human depression’. As Williams describes, the flat is a symbol of depression, formulated by the era the play was set in, the 1930s - just after the Wall St. Crash, in which
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In terms of Laura herself, the glass menagerie in the central symbol to the play and represents, not only the different aspects of Laura, that is delicate and fragile, but also how Laura is trapped within a cabinet - within the fantasy world of glass figures. This links into the phrase ‘left on the shelf’, the idea that Laura, being part of the glass collections, has been left away from leading the normal life of romance which she fantasises about with Jim, showing how she has trapped herself on the shelf by being out of touch with reality, trapped within the cabinet. Linking on from the glass figures being symbolic of Laura, the delicacy could be seen as symbolic of her disability, something Laura also believes traps her from being ‘normal’. However, this links onto the next aspect of exploring relationships, and in many ways Amanda is responsible for Laura’s belief that her disability entraps her.
In Scene 2, Amanda’s entrapment of Laura becomes evident in three different lights, Laura’s fear of disappointing Amanda, Amanda’s overbearingness as a parent and the idea planted in Laura’s head by Amanda that her disability my hinder her in life. This becomes more apparent when Laura states to her mothers ‘I couldn’t face it’, referring to the fact the disappointment that would received if Laura had told Amanda that she ad quite the typewriting course. This shows how Laura feels there is a
This creative use of allegory by Williams significantly supports the theme of sexual intimacy and desires of the play due to its impactful sequence of literal events connoting the protagonist’s life. (322)
One of the main ways Williams dramatises fantasy’s inability to overcome reality is through an
One of the big motivations shown through the characters in The Glass Menagerie is the yearning of escape from the real world. One example shown through Laura’s character is she finds a way to escape reality through her glass menagerie and the old records she plays that once belonged to their father. The mother, Amanda, tries to escape her current life as a deserted wife who must constantly scramble for money by retelling stories of when she was young. Her favorite story to retell regards one day when she received the attentions of seventeen gentleman callers. For her, those gentleman callers represent what her life was and what it could have been if she had not married her husband, “the telephone man who fell in love with long
Throughout the course of an individual’s life, each will come face to face with the monstrous beast of truth at one point or another. Whether he chooses to elude this monster, grapple with it head on, or simply accept and subsist it, each person will embark upon his own distinctive journey. In Tennessee Williams’ well known theatrical work, A Streetcar Named Desire, each character struggles coping with painful truths that emerge within their lives overtime. In an attempt to raise societal awareness of its beastial nature, Williams intends for his characters to demonstrate these unconventional repercussions and unfavorable outcomes that one shall face while navigating through his journey to truth.
Laura Wingfield has chosen to hide from reality in the play The Glass Menagerie. She seems to live in a world of her own, and hides from everything and everyone outside of the apartment. Laura is terrified of anything new or different. Her mother sent her to business college, but Laura was so afraid that ‘The first time [they] gave a speed-test, she broke down completely – was sick at the stomach and almost had to be carried into the wash –room.’ (p 243). Laura uses her limp as an excuse to hide from the world. She believes that her slight limp makes her crippled and that she cannot be a part of the real world because of it. Laura’s glass menagerie and the victrola act as things which protect her from the real world in the play. Whenever she is
In Tennessee Williams's drama The Glass Menagerie the setting and dramatization in the play are used to convey each member of the family's hopes, desperations, and fears. He uses symbols throughout the story to add a deeper meaning and give his characters a sense of mystery. Also, though maybe inadvertently, The Glass Menagerie actually parallels the people and events in Tennessee Willliams's life.
In The Glass Menagerie, Tennessee Williams beautifully encapsulates man’s desire to escape from uncomfortable emotional and physical situations. Whether he’s showing a young man trapped in a factory job he hates, an aging single mother who mourns for her life as Southern belle, or a young lady who fears that she’ll spend her life alone, he clearly demonstrates these desires and fears for his audience. Williams shows us through the actions of his characters how humans handle a wide variety of uncomfortable situations, and how these situations dramatically influence one’s ability to thrive. The playwright doesn’t seem to believe in the idea of “bloom where you’re planted”, and the desire to escape becomes a major theme of the play, demonstrated across multiple characters in a wide variety of ways. Creative individuals often do not thrive in noncreative, industrial environments. Williams demonstrates this clearly in this “memory play”, which carries many autobiographical element. Tom Wingfield represents his own character, Williams himself, and also serves as a narrator, making him quite the complex character. Williams’s uses Tom to show how an emotionally complex, creative individual can quickly feel trapped and tied down in a factory job, longing to get out, see the world, and pursue a job with more creative elements. Tom’s escapism, drinking, and evening theatrical adventures all reflect the life of the playwright himself, as Williams was known to struggle with alcoholism
Williams does not infuse his plays with poetry and instead writes with “language flowing from the soul,” that overall enhances the realness of his character’s dialogue and calls for symbolism in technical and theatrical devices to create a meaningful story (Miller xi). The italics are a way for Williams to translate the specific vision of the story he has in his mind to paper and the stage. Williams dubs his experimental techniques as part of his “plastic theater” that must replace old theater to “resume
Throughout the play Tennessee Williams’ play A Streetcar Named Desire presents how illusions and reality are affecting an individual. Blanche DuBois' and character in A
Through the use of symbols, Williams conveys the incessant confinement of the Wingfield’s by circumstance, while also demonstrating the damaging effect of the characters’ illusionary worlds. Williams’s description of the Wingfield’s apartment as a vast “hive-like conglomeration” of cellular living-units establishes a prison-like feel, compelling audiences to consider whether American lower-middle-class populations only function as one inter-fused mass of automatism. Moreover, the Wingfield’s confinement, highlighted through stage directions, is emphasised through the symbolic fire-escape which demonstrates the elusive prospect of the characters escape and is symbolic of “an entrance and exit” out of the characters illusionary worlds. William’s
It is fair to say she may be somewhat out of touch with reality due to a slight disability, in which her glass menageries comfort her. Amanda views her daughter, Laura as fragile, like glass. As the title of the play informs us, “The Glass Menagerie,” or collection of animals, is the central symbol. Her collection of glass animal figurines represents the different facets of Laura’s own personality. Comparable to the figurines, Laura is delicate.
Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire is considered by many critics to be a “flawed” masterpiece. This is because William’s work utilizes and wonderfully blends both tragic and comic elements that serve to shroud the true nature of the hero and heroine, thereby not allowing the reader to judge them on solid actuality. Hence, Williams has been compared to writers such as Shakespeare who, in literature, have created a sense of ambiguity and uncertainty in finding a sole “view or aspect ” in their works. Because of the highly tragic elements encountered in Streetcar, many immediately label it a tragedy. Nevertheless, the immense comical circumstances encountered in the play
A Streetcar Named Desire is a play with many complex and understated themes which made it difficult to limit the focus of my paper on a topic that was not too general. The paper’s thesis is centered around Williams’ brilliant characterization
Thomas Lanier Williams III’s first two plays produced on Broadway found great success, establishing his prowess as a great American playwright. Williams created not only great works, but the character of the tragic southern woman, faded, fallen, and led somewhat astray. To understand this constant character, most vivid in The Glass Menagerie, and A Street Car Named Desire, and Cat On A Hot Tin Roof we must
Amanda’s strong and outgoing personality has made Laura become submissive painfully shy and self-conscious. She never let Laura make her own decisions. Laura was forced to attend a Business College because her mother wanted to, which resulted her escaping from school. So, to retreat from the real world, she resorted to playing her victrolla and admires her glass menagerie collection.