Considering the opening two scenes of The Glass Menagerie Essay Example

fire escape, serve as symbols for underlying themes. Williams describes the fire escape as an "accidental poetic truth," symbolizing the literal escape from the frustration and dysfunction that characterizes the Wingfield household.

In "The Glass Menagerie," Williams explores the theme of family relationships through a large "blown-up photograph" of the father that is described in the stage directions. Despite the fact that the photograph portrays the father as a gallant man with admirable qualities, he is consistently portrayed as evil throughout the play, with his positive traits being reframed in a negative light. The photograph is first mentioned in Tom's opening speech, where he recalls his father's departure and his memory is a prominent theme throughout the play, which is described as a "memory play" that is narrated by Tom in the past tense, as he "turns back time."

Tennessee Williams' play is characterized as non-realistic. It omits some details while exaggerating others. Williams employs the concept that memories are products of real experiences, allowing the characters to manipulate and distort their memories while still maintaining their substance. The opening scene concludes with Amanda reminiscing about her past as a Southern belle in the Old South. She boasts about having "seventeen gentleman callers" in one Sunday afternoon, and enhances their looks, wealth and intelligence. She also embellishes her own features with descriptors such as "nimble wit", "pretty face" and "graceful figure". Tom becomes increasingly annoyed with Amanda's idealized memory, aware that it is different from reality.

Williams conveys Tom's frustration through stage directions, as he throws down the paper and jumps up with a groan. This effectively suggests that memory is personal and can have different

meanings for different people, but also highlights its fallibility. Amanda becomes increasingly defensive about her memory of 'Blue Mountain' when Tom highlights its flaws, which reinforces the theme of memory being individual. In addition, Amanda's hyperbolic description of her trip to 'Rubicam's Business College' is insensitive to Laura's delicate nature and brings up the traumatic memory of her illness.

Tennessee Williams uses imagery to suggest the theme of relationships in "The Glass Menagerie". The picture of the father instantly shows the weakness of the relationship between him and the family. The postcard sent to Tom indicates that this weakness resulted in Amanda's failed marriage. Additionally, Williams explores how the theme of memory can relate to understanding others and portray a weak relationship between characters. For example, Laura shares her first love memory with her mother for the first time, illustrating the lack of communication between them. The language and gestures used by Amanda towards Tom also portray a weak relationship as she treats him like a child by telling him to 'chew-chew' his food.

Williams portrays the tension through stage direction, with Tom 'deliberately' pushing his chair back from the table to show his frustration. This is a recurring action for Tom, indicating stress and anger. The significance of the speech is emphasized through Tom's imaginary food. Despite her quiet and shy demeanor, Laura acts as a mediator between Tom and Amanda. Tom heeds Laura's request to listen to Amanda's story, demonstrating her importance in preventing him from leaving.

Williams establishes the strong relationship between Tom and Laura right from the start, even though there is minimal dialogue or action. Through facial expressions and gestures, a

solid bond is implied. The discrepancy between Amanda's perceived closeness with her children and their actual relationship is highlighted in scenes one and two, indicating the theme of illusion. Williams introduces this theme early on, as Tom speaks directly to the audience.

The text suggests that the non-realistic style of plays departs from the typical expectation that characters and actors should remain in character and ignore the audience's presence. The author explains that, unlike a stage magician who portrays illusions as truth, their work offers genuine truth disguised as illusion. Later, upon returning from the cinema, the concept of magicians is revisited to further highlight the theme and convey the unrealistic connotations of words such as "magician," "disguise," and "illusion."

In his work, Williams explores the notion that illusion can serve as a means of escaping reality. Amanda's illusion centers around Laura, whom she envisions as popular and outgoing, eagerly awaiting gentleman callers. This illusion is crucial to Amanda's belief that society will accept Laura once she is married - a societal norm for women at the time. By living vicariously through Laura, Amanda is able to avoid disappointment in her own life and in her children. Disappointment is a recurring theme in the lives of the Wingfield family. Williams first introduces this idea when Amanda expresses regret for selecting their "father" from among numerous gentleman callers. Williams highlights the fact that disappointment can result not only from one's own actions but also from the actions of others. Amanda is disappointed that her life in Blue Mountain is not as idyllic as she once imagined, leaving her with a disgruntled son and a "crippled" daughter without qualifications

or gentleman callers due to her shyness.

Scene two of Williams' play effectively portrays Amanda's disappointment and anguish in her children through both imagery within the stage directions and speech. The character's physical movements, such as entering with a disapproving shake of the head and slow pacing, are exaggerated to extend the sense of sadness. Additionally, Williams uses stage directions to control the situation, commanding Amanda to repeatedly count to add to the dramatic tension and provide a slight touch of humor.

In addition to Laura, Williams presents the theme of reputation through Amanda's attire. Although Amanda is dressed elegantly, her clothes are made of "cheap" and "imitation" materials that she considers her "full dress outfit." While reputation is crucial for Amanda, it is not as significant for Laura or Tom. Williams conveys this theme because reputation was highly valued during that time. Amanda discusses her wealthy gentleman callers' good reputations and hopes that Laura will not become an "old maid" but marry instead.

The period depicted in the play had racial prejudice, which is demonstrated by Amanda's game where she plays 'the darkey' and Laura is 'the Lady'. This highlights the existence of segregation and the importance of image in society. The significance of reputation can be observed in scene two when Amanda discovers that Laura did not attend Business College. Amanda feels extremely embarrassed, wishing to disappear. She becomes vulnerable and cries in front of others, which damages her pride and reputation. Laura realizes that Amanda is disappointed with her, causing Amanda to be upset about her shattered dreams and illusions. Williams portrays Amanda's emotional distress caused by this event.

The play

explores the theme of dreams and ambitions, which are important to each character. The characters struggle to live in the present due to the painful reality they face. Amanda's dreams are revealed in the first two scenes through her memories. Williams depicts Amanda's desire to become a Southern Belle again and have financial and social stability. He uses imagery to show her concern about the future as she questions "what are we going to do." Although Amanda is nostalgic, her ambitions easily shift, and in scene two, she dreams of Laura finding a job as a typist or marrying "some nice man."

Laura and Tom both yearn to escape their current lives, whether through memory, dreams, or physical means. Laura dreams of Jim and her past, while Tom feels suffocated by his role as breadwinner and father figure while being treated like a child by Amanda and trapped in his job. Essentially, all the characters share a desire to break free from their respective traps. Tom sees his family life and work at the warehouse as a stifling, confined existence - one that is symbolized by the promise of escape represented by his father's picture.

Tom makes light of his father's preference for long-distance relationships, but Williams reveals early on that Tom harbors resentment and jealousy towards his absent father. Tom longs to escape like his father did, and seeing the smile on his father's face as he left reinforces the idea of escape as simple, noble, and attainable. The fire escape serves as a constant reminder of this possibility. In scene two, Laura seeks solace in the Victrola, which belonged to her father, after a

conflict with Amanda. She also finds comfort in caring for her glass ornaments, which provides a sense of control and purpose, while referring to herself as "a cripple" symbolizes feeling trapped both physically by her disability and psychologically by her shyness.

Williams depicts psychological entrapment by using the memory of the protagonist's illness related to her poor performance in a typing class. Along with illusion and dreams, the play also explores the theme of reality. While the initial scenes emphasize less on reality, Laura's honest comments to Amanda at the end of the first scene reveal a realistic perspective. Laura's unexpected revelation shocks Amanda as she expresses disbelief in receiving any gentleman callers. Despite appearing naive and abnormal, Laura can be considered the most sane and stable character as Williams uses her to convey the surprising realism in the play.

Tennessee Williams skillfully employs music to serve as both an accentuation of themes and a propellant of drama in The Glass Menagerie. The theme song of the play is gentle and melancholy, evoking the same fragility and elegance as the play's carefully crafted glass figurines. It is readily associated with Laura, who bears the same character of delicacy. The tune first plays at the close of scene one, redirecting attention from Amanda onto Laura, and signaling the end of the scene's intensity.

Tennessee Williams has discussed the role of music in his play, stating that it is most prominent when Laura's delicate nature is being portrayed. Tom also makes a statement regarding the significance of music in memory during his first speech. This suggests that Williams prioritizes the use of music to serve his dramatic purposes instead of

focusing on realism since the play is categorized as a memory play. The lighting in the play is also sentimental and unrealistic, reflecting the themes and symbolism presented. In the production notes, Williams explains that the dim lighting is consistent with the memory's atmospheric tone.

The usage of lighting in cinema is crucial and it often involves shifting focus to certain characters. It is sometimes in contrast to what appears to be the main focus. The lighting's color could be described as having a 'peculiar pristine clarity', further adding to the pure portrayal of Laura. Notably, bright light is not focused on certain characters in the first two scenes. The play's most unique and stylistic feature is the screen device, which emphasizes important words and images referenced by the characters. Williams incorporated it because he believed it had a strong emotional impact.

At the start of scene two, the audience is introduced to the image of blue roses, which serves as a reminder when the phrase "Blue Roses" is mentioned later in the scene. This technique effectively emphasizes important parts of the dialogue and portrays flashbacks. Despite this, in a recent production directed by Rupert Goold, the suggested screen device was not used, yet the performance still evoked strong emotions and left a lasting impression. In conclusion, Tennessee Williams employs imagery and dramatic devices skillfully in the first two scenes to establish and foreshadow the theme of the play.

The plot development of "The Glass Menagerie" depicts the aspiration of Amanda, Tom, Jim and Laura to fulfill their dreams. However, only Tom achieves his ambition and escapes from the apartment and the warehouse. Despite his physical escape, he

remains psychologically trapped due to his memories of Laura. Conversely, Laura is shown to come close to realizing her dream with Jim and ultimately finds solace with her glass menagerie, as hinted in the opening scenes. The characters, throughout the play, are drawn to illusions as a way to cope with the harsh reality. Williams argues that even the "American dream" is an illusion employed to evade real issues. Lastly, he emphasizes that clinging on to past memories can hinder personal growth and prevent one from living in the present.

Tennessee Williams conveyed through the play that none of the characters were able to completely escape or avoid reality, suggesting that avoiding problems is not a viable solution. The ultimate escape in life comes through solving problems rather than evading them.