This paper compares two plays by Tennessee Williams, "A Streetcar Named Desire" and "The GlassMenagerie": Characters (Amanda and Blanche), symbolism, plots, themes and the playwright's intentions.
2,700 words (approx. 10.8 pages), 2 sources, 1991, $ 95.95
From the Paper "The purpose of this paper is to compare two plays by Tennessee Williams, "A Streetcar Named Desire" and "The Glass Menagerie". We will compare the two characters, Amanda Wingfield, and Blanche Dubois, two people who are living in the world of illusions. We will look at the symbolism that is most common in the two plays. We will compare the plots of the two plays, the themes in the two plays, and look at Tennessee Williams' intentions as a playwright in the two plays.
In contrast to Tom, who sets the mood in Glass Menagerie, Amanda Wingfield is a mover, the major character who sets the story into motion. Basically, she is the play's main character. Throughout the course of the play, Tom, Laura and Jim react to Amanda's stimulating and complicated personality. Even Amanda's husband, who has run away from her, showed a definite and ... "
Abstract A paper which examines the theme and structure of Tennessee Williams' influential play "A Streetcar Named Desire", and relates its development to the playwright's own history and to the times in which it was written. Its evolution from stage play to film was a singularly significant one, as by doing so it captured an enormous and highly receptive audience for Williams' message. It continues to be one of the most consistently revisited dramas of the twentieth century, on stage, remade as a film, as made-for-television movies, and even as opera. This paper explains both its historical significance and its seeming timelessness.
From the Paper "Williams drew heavily on his own experiences and his family;s problems as subject matter for his plays, while not specifically making the material autobiographical. He created original, distinctive characters, then placed them in a familiar setting: the South at a time when the antebellum aristocratic culture was fading and being replaced by a crude, vigorous, entrepreneurial society. His thematic structures were intrinsically tragic, and like Greek tragedy, the downfall of the protagonist is due to a tragic flaw, some form of hubris."
Abstract This eleven-page undergraduate academic paper discusses Tennessee Williams and how his personal life parallels and reflects the lives of the fictional characters in his play "The GlassMenagerie".
Abstract This paper discusses the character of Amanda Wingfield in Tennessee Williams' play "The GlassMenagerie". It shows Amanda as an embattled mother who, along with her two children, lives in a world of illusions.
From the Paper "Amanda Wingfield described by Preston Fambrough as an embattled mother is a woman desperately anxious to ensure that her daughter Laura will ensnare a suitable husband and that her son Tom will provide the support that Amanda needs for herself and for her family. The entire Wingfield family lives in a world of illusions or hopes. The thesis to be addressed herein is that in Tennessee Williams' The Glass Menagerie there are many different personalities living in ..."
Abstract This paper explores one of the main themes of "The GlassMenagerie," namely reality vs. illusion. The paper deals with uses of fantasy and examines how the main characters deal with the disappointments of their lives.
From the Paper In Tennessee Williams' classic American play; "The Glass Menagerie," the main characters all struggle to deal with the disappointing realities of their lives. Indeed, Laura, Tom and Amanda Wingfield all turn to comfortable illusions in order to combat the loneliness and desperations of their daily lives. Thus this conflict between reality and illusion becomes the central theme of Williams' play as he uses his characters to depict the way in which one can use fantasy to escape an unpleasant reality."
Tags:glass, menagerie, williams, theme, reality, illusion, laura, tom, amanda, fantasy
Abstract This paper introduces, discusses, and analyzes the play "The GlassMenagerie" by Tennessee Williams. Specifically it highlights the character of Laura in the play and what she represents. The paper's author describes Laura as afraid of everything, including life. The paper also examines the relationship between Laura and her mother.
From the Paper "Laura Winfield is a grown young woman who still lives at home with her mother and brother. One of her legs is shorter than the other and so she wears a brace on her leg, and she is very self-conscious about it. She thinks it makes her unattractive and people make fun of her because she wears it. That is not the truth, however. In reality, her brace is not really that noticeable. Laura is handicapped, but it is not the brace that is her handicap. The way she lives her life is really her handicap, and it makes her a recluse and afraid. She is afraid of life and of really living life, and so, she uses her handicap as an excuse not to have to really participate in life."
Abstract This paper discusses two of the main characters in the Tennessee William's drama "A Streetcar Named Desire". This paper also discusses some of the sources available reviewing this play. The sources used provide excellent insight into the study of "Streetcar Named Desire" and into the playwright himself. The paper also reviews some of William's other works.
From the Paper "'A Streetcar Named Desire' by Tennessee Williams has an interesting title that first attracted me to his play. After reading the first few lines, I found myself interested because the description of the setting had details that captured my attention further. Williams uses words such as "raffish charm" (Williams 1797) and "quaintly ornamented gables" (Williams 1797) that paint a picture of the section of New Orleans where the action starts. The action of the characters led to questions in my mind after I finished reading the play. This play raised many questions about the human spirit and the ways that people deal with situations that they face. The two sisters in the play, Blanche and Stella, were raised in similar circumstances. Why did these two sisters deal with life in ways that are so different? The relationship between Stella and her husband also presents important questions."
Abstract This essay analyzes the dream imagery in the play by Tennessee Williams, The GlassMenagerie. Laura's illusions exist in her glass figurines, a symbol for her desire to be reflected in some way other than how she is. Her mother, Amanda, chooses to live in a past dream world where she was someone other than who she is now. By choosing their different illusions, the mother and daughter are vulnerable to the world they avoid. This essay considers how the illusions work in the conflicts of the play.
Abstract This paper discusses the story behind the play, "The GlassMenagerie". The focus is on explaining the symbols used in the play. Some of the symbols explained are the fire escape, the use of irony, the glassmenagerie, the search for a man by both Laura and Amanda. The paper concludes by suggesting that the family in this play is dysfunctional and explains the reasons for this suggestion.
From the Paper "Amanda is obsessed with her past as she constantly reminds her children of "one Sunday afternoon in Blue Mountain" when she received seventeen gentlemen callers (Williams 32). Amanda refuses to acknowledge that her daughter is handicapped and refers to her disability as "a little defect (that is) hardly noticeable" (Williams 45). Only for brief moments does Amanda ever admit that her daughter is "crippled" but then quickly reverts back into her state of denial. Amanda doesn't see anything in realistic terms. She believes that the gentleman caller, Jim, is going to be the one man who will rescue Laura, even though she has never seen or spoken to him at this point. Again, she is wrapped up in her own fantasies and delusions about men, who must act as saviors to all young women."
Tags: wingfield, woman, figurines, family, depression, tom, fragility, glass, music, jim
Abstract This paper explains that, although ?The GlassMenagerie? centers its attention on Tom, another character, Laura Wingfield, Tom's sister, emerges as a powerful individual in the story. The author points out that establishing Laura's character takes more than physically describing her deficiencies, such as her being crippled. Laura is also characterized as a woman who has lost all hope of attaining a wonderful life in being a wife and mother. The paper relates that author Williams achieves self-actualization through Laura's character in the same way that Tom and Laura finally free themselves from their emotional burdens in the play, ?The GlassMenagerie?.
From the Paper "Laura's low regard for herself is not only developed within her but also by the people who are with her, especially Amanda, her mother, and Tom. This observation is expressed among critics who have illustrated Laura's character as ?symbolic,? i.e., laden with hidden meanings meaningful only to Williams?. Indeed, she is identified as the character who is ?burdened by self-consciousness,? experiences a ?sense of worthlessness,? and ??yearning for ? ideal or mystical beauty and spiritual or romantic love? absolute emotional and artistic fulfillment??. The third symbolic description of Laura, which pertains to her inherent likeness for "mystical beauty" is symbolically represented by her fascination of her glass collection, considering them as objects that compensate for her imperfection."
Abstract This paper explores how, in Tennessee Williams' "The GlassMenagerie", a mother's solipsism and self-absorption have destroyed the relationship between her and her children. The author points out that, like pieces of a glassmenagerie, the family members are stuck in grid they really cannot escape from. The paper relates that the irony is that the tighter the mother clings to her children, the more distant they become.
From the Paper "Tennessee Williams' famous play, "The Glass Menagerie", is a remarkable rendering of the human experience. This paper will explore human experience as it is presented in Williams' master-work. Specifically, this paper will talk about the tragedy visited upon the family by a mother who cannot let the past go and cannot bear to confront the present. By retreating to tyrannically control those things she can -chiefly her children - she ensures that they will not be able to escape the past, either. With that in mind, this paper turns now to Tennessee William's haunting masterpiece. In the preface to the play, Williams describes Amanda Wingfield as 'not paranoiac, but her life is paranoia' (5). She is a petite women of 'confused vitality' clinging pertinaciously to a world that no longer exists (Williams 5)."
Abstract In this article, the writer discusses that the characters in Tennessee Williams' "The GlassMenagerie" are faced with the difficulties of facing reality due to their inability to escape from the world they have been confined to for so many years. The writer looks how Williams handles the subject of escaping and dealing with reality through the various characters of the play and maintains that Tennessee Williams does an excellent job of portraying this theme throughout the play. The writer concludes that, in "The GlassMenagerie", the characters are faced with many difficult and life altering choices and that unlike his mother and sister, Tom opts to choose to leave this world behind and to finally chase his dreams.
From the Paper "The reader soon understands that this house was never one of merriment, but rather one of confusion and neglect by the father. When Amanda and Laura are introduced, they are seen eating. However, this is no ordinary meal. In pantomime fashion, the two women sit at the table pretending to eat. This image is one of the first reflections of the theme of inability to face reality.
"This theme continues most strongly with Laura. Her glass menagerie is a collection of numerous different, tiny, delicate glass animals. Laura devotes the majority of her time during the play to admiring and cleaning this ornate collection."
Abstract This paper looks at the characters of Amanda and Tom in Tennessee Williams' play "The GlassMenagerie". It discusses how they are examples of tragic characters even though they are not tragic heroes. The paper explores how they are tragic and explains the effects they have on other characters and events in the play.
From the Paper "This play by Tennessee Williams describes a series of failures, defeats and losses, some of which occurred in the play's more distant past, some in the present and some must be assumed of the future. While the Aristotelian model demands that a hero fall from a great height in order to present a real tragedy, Williams instead creates several tragedies from everyday people who never had any hope of heroism, the gradual dissolution of people barely rising above mediocrity, which is even more tragic and more pathetic than the fall of one who had been great. The Glass Menagerie has five characters, including the absent father with the omnipresent photograph, all of whom are tragic figures in some way or another. Even Jim, the Gentleman Caller and former high school hero, hasn't managed to escape the slow decline to anonymous ..."
Abstract Williams's play, "A Streetcar Named Desire," is the story of the final decay of Blanche DuBois, a woman who fell from grace until finally losing her mind. This paper focuses on Blanche's lies and how Williams symbolized them in several different ways, including the use of light. It shows how, throughout the entire play, Tennessee Williams uses light to symbolize Blanche's deceptions as they differentiate from the actual truth that is slowly revealed.
From the Paper "A Streetcar Named Desire is a great play, where Tennessee Williams uses many different types of symbols and metaphors for other things in the play, and his usage of light to show Blanche DuBois' artificial realism was incredible. The way that each event in the story where Blanche was involved directly with lighting led up to a later important event in the story keeps the reader interested. Blanche's lies were eventually her undoing, if she had gone to visit her sister and been able to stand in the open light and face the truth about her life, she may have been married to Mitch. However she was scared of what she would see if stayed in the light, and more scared of what other people would see in her, so she hid in the metaphorical shadows created by Tennessee Williams and tried, unsuccessfully, to live in her false reality."
Tags: american, desire, light, literature, named, streetcar, sybolism, tennesse, williams
