Tennessee Williams is an extraordinary playwright. His excellence lies in the way he writes symbolism through his poetic prose. Tennessee also uses a variety of expressionism. Expressionism is a theatrical style that attempts to reveal the truth beyond superficial facts. It uses symbols, lighting, music, signs, sounds, movements, costumes, and setting to emphasize certain characteristics. In his play The Glass Menagerie, Laura Wingfield exemplifies his use of this technique of expressionism.
The physically and emotionally crippled Laura displays a pure compassion that stands in stark contrast to the selfishness and grudging sacrifices that characterize the Wingfield household. Laura also has the fewest lines in the play. Yet she is the axis around which the plot turns, and the most prominent symbols all represent her, in some sense. Laura, though, is trapped in a fantasy world. The symbol that represents this is the glass menagerie itself. . Laura’s collection of glass animal figurines represents a number of facets of her personality. Like the figurines, Laura is delicate, fanciful, and somehow old-fashioned. Glass is transparent, but, when light is shone upon it correctly, it refracts an entire rainbow of colors. Similarly, Laura, though quiet and bland around strangers, is a source of strange, multifaceted delight to those who choose to look at her in the right light. The menagerie also represents the imaginative world to which Laura devotes herself. Her world is colorful and enticing but is based on fragile illusions. The unicorn is one figurine in Laura’s collection, singled out because it represents well another trait of Laura’s: her peculiarity.
The Essay on The Glass Menagerie 8
... is, reality.Laura's vulnerability is seen in her glass menagerie. Her collection of glass represents her own private world. This is set apart from reality, a ... as the broken figurine represents all that he has taken from her and destroyed in her. Moreover, to Laura, Jim represents the one thing ...
As Jim points out, unicorns are “extinct” in modern times and are lonesome as a result of being different from other horses. Laura, too, is unusual, lonely, and ill adapted to existence in the world she lives in. The fate of the unicorn is also a smaller- scale version of what happens to Laura in scene seven. When Jim dances with and then kisses Laura, the unicorn’s horn breaks off, and it becomes just another horse. Jim’s advances endow Laura with a new normalcy, making her seem more like just another girl, but the violence with which that normalcy is thrust upon her means that Laura cannot become normal without somehow shattering. Eventually, Laura gives Jim the unicorn as a “souvenir.” Without its horn, the unicorn is more appropriate for him than for her, and the broken figurine represents all that he has taken from her and destroyed in her.
Leading out of the Wingfield’s apartment is a fire escape with a landing. The fire escape represents exactly what its name implies. It is an escape from the fires of frustration and dysfunction that rage in the Wingfield household. Laura slips on the fire escape in Scene four. This event points to Laura’s inability to escape from her situation.
One of the play’s most unique stylistic features is the use of an on-stage screen, on which words or images relevant to the action are projected. It is called a screen device. Sometimes the screen is used to emphasize the importance of something referred to by the characters. The screen is used in a variety of experiences to describe Laura. The screen image displays “The Crust of Humility.” This occurs when Amanda confronts Laura about not attending business school. Laura responds to Amanda by telling her she has gone to see flowers and penguins at the museum and zoo. These two places that she visits are very important in characterizing Laura. The flowers are tropical and have to be given special care. The penguins represent a species of birds that have wings but can not fly. The penguins are like Laura in the regard that they are cripple, both in their own ways. Another time in the play, the phrase “blue roses” appears on the screen. Like the glass unicorn, “Blue Roses,” the nickname Jim gives Laura, symbolizes Laura’s uniqueness. It is also associated with Laura’s attraction to Jim and the joy that his kind treatment brings her. This nickname also recalls Tennessee Williams’ sister Rose, on whom the character of Laura is based.
The Term Paper on Glass Menagerie Symbolism Laura Jim Tom
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 ...
Another symbol, which deals with both Amanda and Laura, is Jim O’Connor. To Laura, Jim represents the one thing she fears and does not want to face, reality. Jim is a perfect example of “the common man.” In fact, Jim is rather awkward, which can be seen when he dances with Laura. To Amanda, Jim represents the days of her youth, when she supposedly had “seventeen gentlemen callers on one Sunday afternoon.” Although Amanda desires to see Laura settled down with a nice young man, it is hard to tell whether she wanted a gentleman caller to be invited for Laura or for herself.
Symbolism in The Glass Menagerie associates with the unreal world in which each character lives. Laura tended to private collections of dreams and hopes that only made the present time more bearable, revealing her innermost character and desires. Williams’ usage of symbolism to develop character and theme, to elaborate on character’s aspirations, and to reveal their true identity, played a key role in the grand theme of illusive reality. Mr. Williams sister rose, in reality, is much like Laura. I think he has created the character Laura as an outlet of his real life experience.
