Tennessee Williams The Glass Menagerie Essay -- Williams Glass Menage

Tennessee Williams The Glass Menagerie If The Glass Menagerie were performed without the effects Williamswrote into the script, then the play would barely beat a plot.Williams use of music, igniter and a television screen add depth andmeaning to the play. He uses effects to portray the feelings of thecharacters, rather than their words or actions.In gobblers disruption speech he states thatThe play is memory. Because itis about his memories of his mother and her memories. They both topthe play living in the past.Tom is apparently living in the past because the play is based aroundpost-warfare Toms memories of his disembodied spirit prior to the war when he wasliving with Amanda and Laura.Amanda seems to be divided between her world as an abandoned mother of devil, and her youth back in Blue Mountain. When Amanda introductory appears inthe play, so does the legend on the television screen Ou sont lesneiges and later, Ou sont les neiges dantan? which doer whereare the snows a nd where are the snows of yesteryear? thisemphasises the idea that Amanda is longing for the past. She thenbegins to enunciate her children- and judging by Toms reaction, for thehundredth time- of her youth and her many gentlemen callers and howwonderful her life was.The Glass Menagerie is a very static play, the audience do not leavethe two rooms of their apartment and the characters lives are souninteresting the highest point of the play is when a gentleman comesto the house for dinner. The family have arrive so consumed by thepressure and worries of the American depression, that their lives havebecome monotonous and droplustre. Their struggle for survival is soapparent, that their dreams and life have been oppres... ...s vie to express Lauras silent fears but othermusic is played in other flicks to express general feelings. Forexample in scene five, trip the light fantastic music called The World Is Waiting forthe Sunrise, this is used to show societys general lack ofmotiva tion not just the familys.The last scene of the play is when Tom storms out of the apartment andhe is standing on the stairs state the audience what he then went onto do. In the background is Amanda comforting her daughter, and it isnot a side that the audience has witnessed of Amanda before. Thisfinal moment is obviously a very important moment for Amanda and Laurabecause they are bonding, yet Williams has this scene in silence. Thissilence does not devalue this moment between the two at all, but makesit more powerful, because acts speak louder than words, hence A playis not just language....