To what purpose does Williams use on-stage projections? How
For a play written in America, Tennessee Williams’ work of the Glass Menagrie was definitely considered an outrageous first for its time in American theater, which until now glorifies still the Broadway tradition that stuns audience with elaborate dance coreography and chart-busting musical scores. However, unlike Broadway, Williams’ Glass Menagrie, like many of his works, stand as testaments against one of the msot exalted ideals in human cultural history, the American Dream. Through his allegorical play of the Glass Menagrie, Williams conveys the message that not everybody is a winner in the capitalist system and he shows this through characters such as Tom and Jim, one seeking adventure while the other seeks status and prestige while deluding themselves in the process, indulging in the fantasy of the American Dream consisting of great frontiers of prospects and opportunities for each and everyone willing to seek and strive. The other two central characters of the play, Amanda and Laura are also lost in self-dellusion but theirs differs in nature from that of Tom and Jim. Both the mother and daughter live in times long gone with the passing of history. Amanda revels in a mythologise southern America of chivalry and gentility
Another very solid example which contributes greatly to the memory atmosphere of the play is one which appears earlier in Scene Two when Laura converses with Amanda on the subject of marriage. Although the image appears fairly early in the play, it is almost a prelude to the outcome of the play already and a herald of the coming of the “gentleman caller” Jim. The projection itself, one showing blue roses, supposedly Jim’s misinterpretation of Laura’s condition is an allegory within the allegorical play itself. The blue roses seem to be a symbol of Laura in a sense that she is beautiful like a rose but she is definitely not in reality, unnatural and unearthly just like the concept of a blue rose. The colour of the rose also represents memory itself, remenisence perhaps as Tom recalls Laura in his mind, which is the setting of the play, surreal and unreal in itself. Another point worth noting is that Laura is a rarity in that day and age when the great depression made many, including young women of Laura’s age into hardy, assertive and industrious characters scrapping a living through whatever means they can. The blue roses are definitely a rarity in this world, an unearthly rarity and Laura is just that: not of this world, rare and yet beautiful in a sense nonetheles, or to be more accurate, reflecting a kind of beauty lost in pre-20th century social history. while Laura retreats fully into a world where she is the ideal pre-20th
Some topics in this essay:
Scene Laura,
Tom Jim,
Treasure Island,
Williams Tom,
Glass Menagrie,
Jolly Roger,
American Dream,
Menagrie Williams,
Amanda Laura,
glass menagrie,
blue roses,
,
play set,
williams’ glass menagrie,
tom jim,
pre-20th century,
retreats world,
laura retreats,
american dream,
message audience,
allegorical play,
laura retreats world,
Join now to see the rest of the essay!
Approximate Word count = 978
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
|
Example Essays Home
