Peru, an outstanding American playwright and prose writer, winner of the prestigious Pulitzer Prize of Tennessee Williams (full name is Thomas Lanier (Tennessee) Williams III), owns the play The Glass Menagerie.
At the time of writing this work, the author was quite young - he was 33 years old. The play was staged in Chicago in 1944 and was a resounding success. Reviews of the Tennessee Williams Glass Menagerie were so numerous that the author quickly became famous. This served him as a good springboard for the beginning of a successful writing career.
Very soon, the replicas of the heroes of the Glass Menagerie were listened to already at the Broadway Theater, and, receiving the New York Theater Critics Circle award "for the best play of the season," the play began to be considered a hit.
The further fate of this work also developed successfully - many times it went on the theatrical stage and filmed.
The article provides a summary of Williams' Glass Menagerie and analysis of the play.
Topic
This work is not accidentally designated by the author as a "play-memory", that is, it is partly written on autobiographical material. We can say that the Wingfield family depicted in the play is “written off” from the playwright’s own family, in which he grew up. Among the characters there is a mother, prone to fits of anger, and a sister with depression, and even absent, but as if invisibly affecting the fate of the protagonist, father.
Illusions or reality - which is more important? To understand this, the main character will have to make his choice. The existential theme of the uniqueness of every human being is one of the main ones in the play.
At the same time, according to reviews of the Tennessee Williams' Glass Menagerie by contemporary critics, material from an emotional point of view is not yet submitted with the same force as in the subsequent works of the playwright. In fact, this is only the first, rather timid attempt.
Play title
The author called the glass menagerie a collection of figures, which is collected by the sister of the hero Laura. According to Williams, these few glass figures were supposed to symbolize fragility, toy, and the illusory nature of the life in which the characters, members of the Wingfield family, live.
Mother and sister are so well “hidden” in this glass world, absorbed in it, that themselves, indulging in self-deception, become unreal, and have no desire to think about the goals and tasks that reality sets before them.
"Glass menagerie" as an experimental play
So, the play is called a memory play. In a brief summary of The Glass Menagerie, we mention the narrator's opening remarks. He says that memories are an unstable thing, each one has their own, so some, with a stage embodiment, should be muffled depending on its significance for the recaller, and some, on the contrary, are presented brightly and convexly. To highlight the importance of individual memories, the author at the beginning of the play explained by what means this artistic task can be achieved.
From the point of view of the textual material, the play The Glass Menagerie contains many remarks, which is uncharacteristic of a usual dramatic work.
The designation of time is also unusual: "now and in the past." It is understood that the monologue is worn by the narrator at the present time and talks about the past.
Visual row
On the stage, according to Tennessee Williams, a screen should be installed on which a special lamp will project various images and inscriptions. Actions should be accompanied by a "single repeating melody." This is the so-called through music, which serves to emotionally enhance what is happening.
To emphasize events on the hero who is on the stage, a ray of light should fall. If there are several characters, the one whose emotional tension is stronger will be highlighted with a light spot.
All these violations of tradition, according to Williams, should prepare the appearance of a new plastic theater,
... which should replace the exhausted theater of realistic traditions.
The main character
Tom Wingfield, the protagonist and "storyteller of the play" is
... a poet working in a store. By nature, he is not insensitive, but in order to get out of the trap, he is forced to act without pity.
The hero lives in St. Louis and works for Continental Shoes. He is burdened by this work. More than anything, he would have dreamed of quitting everything and leaving as far as possible. There, far away, he would have healed his life, only writing poetry. But to realize this plan is impossible: he has to earn in order to support his mother and disabled sister. After all, after their father left them, Tom became the sole breadwinner of the family.
To forget about the crushing and dreary daily routine, the hero often spends time in cinemas and reading books. His mother criticizes these activities.
Other characters
In the play, in addition to Tom Wingfield, there are only four characters. It:
- Amanda Wingfield (his mother).
- Laura (his sister).
- Significant character for the development of the plot is Jim O'Connor, a visitor, acquaintance of Tom.
We give the characteristics of these characters, according to the text of the play and the comments of the author himself.
Laura, Tom's sister. Due to the disease, the girl's legs became of different lengths, so she feels awkward in the company of strangers. Her hobby is a glass collection of figurines located on a bookcase in her room. Only among them is she not so alone.
Regarding the image of Tom’s mother, Amanda, the author gives the following explanation:
A small woman of enormous but erratic vitality clinging frantically to another time and place. Her role must be carefully created, not copied from an established pattern. She is not paranoid, but her life is sheer paranoia. Many can admire her; she is funny in many ways, but she can be loved and pitied. Of course, her stamina is akin to heroism, and although sometimes her stupidity unwittingly makes her cruel, tenderness is always visible in her weak soul.
The last and inactive character the narrator himself calls his father - in the photograph. He once left the family "for a fantastic adventure."
Summary. Part one
It is called "Waiting for a Visitor".
The story is led by Tom, who appears and moves across the stage towards the fire exit. He says that his story is turning back the clock, and his talk will be about America of the 30s.
The play begins in the living room of the apartment where Tom lives with his mother and sister. Mother is looking forward to the fact that her son is about to build her career in a shoe company, and her daughter will marry favorably. She does not want to see that Laura is unsociable and is not going to seek love, and Tom hates his work. True, the mother tried to attach her daughter to typing courses, but this work was beyond the power of Laura.
Then the mother turned her dreams to a good marriage and asked Tom to introduce Laura to a decent young man. He invites Jim O'Connor, his colleague and only friend.
Second part
In a brief summary of the “Glass Menagerie” we mention the name of the second part - “The Visitor Comes”. It begins with the sixth scene. Although this division is arbitrary for the play: the whole work is a monologue of the narrator, that is, of Tom himself.
Laura immediately recognizes Jim - she remembers him from school. Once she was in love with him. He played basketball and sang in school productions. Until now, she keeps his photo.
And shaking Jim's hand when meeting, the girl is so embarrassed that she runs away to her room.
Under a specious pretext, Amanda sends Jim into his daughter's room. There, Laura admits to the young man that they have known each other for a long time. And Jim, completely forgetting about this strange girl who once called the Blue Rose, recalls her. Thanks to Jim's goodwill and charm, a conversation ensues between them. Jim sees how awkward the girl is and how complex she is, and tries to convince her that her limp is completely invisible. Do not think that she is the worst.
We note in the summary of the Tennessee Williams Glass Menagerie the culmination of the play: timid hope appears in Laura’s heart. Having trusted her, the girl shows Jim her treasures - glass figures standing on the whatnot.
From the restaurant opposite, the sounds of a waltz are heard, Jim invites Laura to a dance, and young people begin to dance. Jim compliments Laura and kisses her. They hit one of the figures, it falls - it is a glass unicorn, and now its horn is broken off. The narrator emphasizes the symbolism of this loss - from a mythical character the unicorn turned into an ordinary horse, one of many in the collection.
However, when he sees that Laura is fascinated by him, Jim is frightened of her reaction and, in a hurry to leave, tells the girl common truths - that she will be fine, you just need to believe in yourself and so on. Saddened, deceived in her dreams, the girl gives him a unicorn - in memory of this evening.
The final
Amanda appears. Her whole appearance exudes confidence that the bridegroom for Laura is found, and it is almost an ointment. However, Jim announces that he needs to hurry in order to meet the bride at the station, he takes leave. In a brief summary of Williams' Glass Menagerie, we especially note Amanda’s ability to restrain her emotions: smiling, she escorts Jim and closes the door behind him. And only after that gives vent to emotions and, furious, throws herself at her son with reproaches that, they say, what was the lunch and such expenses if the candidate is busy, etc. But Tom is no less furious. Tired of constantly listening to mother’s reproaches, he also yells at her and runs away.
Silently, as if through glass, the viewer sees Amanda comforting her daughter. In the guise of a mother
... stupidity disappears, and dignity and tragic beauty appear.
And Laura, looking at her, blows out the candles. So the play is over.
Epilogue
When summarizing Williams' play The Glass Menagerie, it is important to note the importance of the final scene. In it, the narrator reports that soon after that he was fired from work - for a poem that he wrote on a shoe box. And Tom left St. Louis and set off on a journey.
In analyzing W. Tennessee's play The Glass Menagerie, it is worth noting that Tom acts exactly like his father. That is why at the beginning of the play he appears before the audience in the form of a merchant ship sailor.
Nevertheless, the past in the form of a sister pursues him:
Oh Laura, Laura, I tried to leave you behind; I am loyal to you more than I would like!
His imagination once again draws him the image of a sister blowing out a candle: “Blow out your candles, Laura - and goodbye,” Tom says sadly.
We have analyzed, summarized, and reviewed the Tennessee Williams Glass Menagerie.