Glass Menagerie Research Articles

Traumatized Interpretations of Female Characters in American Southern Culture in The Glass Menagerie

Traumatized Interpretations of Female Characters in American Southern Culture in The Glass Menagerie

Caring for/with Modernist Playthings: Fidgeting with Objects in Tennessee Williams's The Glass Menagerie.

Modernist literature of the early to mid-twentieth century on both sides of the Atlantic is replete with examples of a particular kind of relationship with objects, namely, the touching, collecting, and grasping of small, often highly personal, and ostensibly quotidian objects. From John's glass collection in Woolf's "Solid Objects," Peter Walsh's stroking of his pocket-knife in Mrs. Dalloway, Miriam's frenzied absorption with flowers in Lawrence's Sons and Lovers, to Laura's fiddling of her glass menagerie in Tennessee Williams's eponymous play, fidgeting in modernist literature and drama reveals a particular tendency of not just characters' possession of things but also their possession by things. This phenomenon, I argue, allows characters to practice care as they withdraw from oppressive narratives of normalcy and (economic and biological) productivity, challenging their exclusionary and othering configurations. My paper looks at fidgeting in The Glass Menagerie as a part of this larger ideological and haptic orientation in modernist literature. The care invested by Laura in her intimate relationship with these "playthings" allows her to intercept not only male narrativizing forces and articulation of herself but also the rhetoric of productivity that circulates both within the play and in the larger economic backdrop of post-depression America. My paper attempts to foreground these objects of care in our readings of the play and modernist texts in general and, in so doing, highlight their importance as lenses of analysis that render visible alternate forms of agency and resistance. Lastly, it attempts to reframe fidgeting as an act of embodied refusal, evoking the radical potential of refusal within feminist and disability studies.

Emasculated Masculinity: Tom Wingfield’s “illusion” in The Glass Menagerie

The experience of reading Tennessee Williams’s The Glass Menagerie can often draw the readers in multiple directions. One of the conflicting and poignant directions leads us to Tom Wingfield and his struggles. Set during the Great Depression in America in the 1930s, Tom is at a crossroads trying to find his masculine identity. However, his journey into manhood is hindered by several factors; social, economic, and domestic. Since American hegemonic masculinity has traditionally linked men’s identity to that of a successful man, Tom’s failure to climb the social ladder is equated to his failure in defining his masculine identity and asserting his manhood. This article explores the milieu that leads to Tom’s increasing masculine anxiety which ultimately emasculates him. By analysing Tom’s failure to embody the mandates of traditional masculine ideals, this article argues that Tom’s search for a masculine identity remains an “illusion” with no objective reality.

To Defeat “Blue Devils”: the Intertextual Study of The Glass Menagerie and The Night of Iguana

Tennessee Williams was an American 20th-century Southern dramatist. The Glass Menagerie and The Night of Iguana are two of his well-known plays, which explore how people can find help and hope in the illusion of life in order to return to reality and regain freedom. Based on the theory of intertextuality, this paper explores the themes of escape and salvation between the two plays to reveal the intrinsic connection between them.

The Fragile Home of a Precarious Girl: A Butlerian Study of Tennessee Williams’s The Glass Menagerie. Part One

The present article aims to explore Butler’s notion of precarity in Williams’s The Glass Menagerie. Agencies that induce precarity in characters of the play, Laura in particular, reaction to the repercussions of precariousness and the ways it leads to a new identity are also put under scrutiny. In the last decades, feminist and gender studies, with all their subcategories and subdivisions, have been one of the main concerns and interests in literary criticism as well as in social and cultural studies. A highly influential scholar in feminist and gender studies is Judith Butler. Normative power and gender related issues are sustained motifs throughout the study, which addresses the following questions: What are the roots of Laura’s feeling of precarity? How does her precarity affect and inflict those around her? How does she cope with or respond to her sense of precarity? To answer these questions, the researcher will draw upon Butler’s conception of precarity and precariousness and will focus on such key terms as femininity, patriarchy, pipe dreams, physical impairment, regulative system, and financial insecurity. This section of the article is divided into three main parts, namely, “Introduction,” “Theoretical Framework,” and “Analysis,” which comprises “Femininity” and “Disability.”

The Personalities of the Main Characters in the Drama “The Glass Menagerie” by Tennessee Williams

Literature serves as a reflective medium that captures and articulates the intricacies of social reality, providing a profound portrayal of real-life phenomena. It functions as a vital record, encapsulating the observations and perceptions of individuals in their lived experiences. In essence, literature is an eloquent description of life itself. This study specifically delves into the exploration of personalities within the context of the play "The Glass Menagerie" by Tennessee Williams, elucidating the significance of the characters' actions. To achieve a nuanced understanding, this research adopts personality theories to delineate the distinctive traits of the main characters and draws upon psychological and motivational theories to discern the underlying meanings of their actions. Employing a qualitative descriptive method with content analysis, the study aims to fulfill its research objectives, namely, providing detailed characterizations of Amanda, Tom, and Laura Wingfield, and unraveling the meanings and implied messages conveyed through their actions. The analytical process involves the systematic collection, scrutiny, and interpretation of data, culminating in well-grounded conclusions. The findings of this research shed light on various personalities, actions, and the implicit messages embedded in the conduct of the main characters, namely Laura, Tom, and Amanda Wingfield. Notably, the study identifies Laura as a character predominantly influenced by her Id, while Tom and Amanda are portrayed as personalities shaped by their Egos. The outcomes of this investigation contribute valuable insights that can inform the implementation of drama-based learning. By engaging with and appreciating literary works, students stand to enhance not only their language proficiency but also cultivate a sense of comfort and familiarity with the nuanced complexities of human behavior and interpersonal dynamics.

Exploring the Line between Creation and Creator in Mabou Mines’s Glass Guignol: The Brother and Sister Play

Abstract During the last ten years of his life, Lee Breuer, who passed away in 2021, had been interested in framing Tennessee Williams’s canon, particularly the late plays, through the perspective of the grotesque and the Grand Guignol. Mabou Mines’s Glass Guignol: The Brother and Sister Play (2017), directed by Breuer and conceived by Breuer and Maude Mitchell, views Williams’s work alongside Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1818) in order to expose the grotesque truth of the messy and complex creative process. On one level, Glass Guignol is a multilayered exploration of the relationship between Williams and his sister Rose, whose story of courage in facing the mental and emotional challenges that culminated in an eventual lobotomy in 1943 was the inspiration for several of the female characters in both his canonical early plays and his less familiar later works. Developed through various workshops and staged scenes since 2011, the finalized version of Glass Guignol interweaves the story of Rose herself with Williams’s various fictional creations of women who reflect her spirit, if not necessarily her actual experiences: Laura in The Glass Menagerie (1945), Catherine in Suddenly Last Summer (1958), Clare in The Two-Character Play (revised between 1967 and 1976), and Nance in A Cavalier for Milady (c. 1976). While a symbiotic brother-sister love is at the center of The Two-Character Play, which serves as the primary framework of Breuer’s piece, it was also a common preoccupation for Romantic poets. Glass Guignol uses this relationship to delve into broader territory, asking questions about the relationship between creator and creation, and taking Frankenstein as yet another framework for the complexities and contradictions of this partnership. With its nineteenth-century asylum staging, the play foregrounds the grotesque and the Grand Guignol, both sensibilities that embrace contradiction, instability, and a lack of boundaries. Ultimately, Breuer explores how the artist sews together bits and pieces of identity, emotion, and experience in the pursuit of that seamless and perfect illusion of reality.

Interrelation of Literature and Choreography in the Works of John Neumeier

The subject of the study is one of the main lines in the work of choreographer John Neumeier - the interpretation of literary works on the ballet stage. This article discusses his productions based on literature such as "The Lady with Camellias" (1978), "Peer Gynt" (1989/2015), "The Seagull" (2002), "Death in Venice" (2003), "Anna Karenina" (2017), "The Glass Menagerie" (2019). Neumeier's ballets reveal a special relationship between literature and choreography. The performances created by him are not just a fact of illustrating the plot of the original source, but an attempt to penetrate into the essence of the author's idea, reflect and emphasize the details found in the text in the language of choreography. The novelty of the research lies in the fact that when analyzing several key performances from the choreographer's creative biography, the prospect of considering the literary line of his ballets as a separate phenomenon opened up. As a result of the study, the following conclusions were made. Firstly, an important feature of Neumeier's ballets, based on literary works, is a clearly structured dramaturgy of all components of the performance: action, music, choreography, set design. Secondly, when working with a literary source, most often the choreographer transfers the action to the modern world, while not going against the author's intention, but on the contrary, enhances the relevance of the themes embedded in the works, declaring the timeless existence of the meanings of the text. Thirdly, the interrelation of literature and choreography in Neumeier's work takes the choreographer's work with the text to an absolutely new level, which allows us to talk about the great possibilities of non-verbal interpretation in the ballet theater as a whole.

MENDACITY - A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF THE ANGUISH OF SUBTERFUGE AND SELF-DECEPTION IN THREE PLAYS OF TENNESSEE WILLIAMS

Tennessee Williams is often referred to as one of 20th century Americas greatest playwrights, alongside the likes of Arthur Miller and Eugene ONeill. A staunch proponent of the realism movement, Williams is known for his enduring characters and their tragic stories. His contribution to the tumultuous literary climate of the 1940s with his distinctive, brutally honest, and emotionally complex voice, makes his work a riveting basis for research and analysis. This thesis explores the moral vision of Williams through the deceptive practices of his dramatic characters. Though illusion may be effective in disguising the bare ugliness of man, Williams emphasises the importance of mustering the courage to confront the truth, no matter what the situation. The struggle to accept truth as a necessary path to salvation is explored through the characters of three of his most iconic plays. The paper will attempt a cross-referential study amongst three of Tennessee Williams most acclaimed works Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1955), A Streetcar Named Desire (1947), and The Glass Menagerie (1944) and will analyse and compare the presentation of mendacity, self-deception, and subterfuge through the contextual and historical factors that influenced the playwright, the nature of the characters, as well as his interpretation of the literary movements of social realism and existentialism.

Memory, Media, and Modernity in Tennessee Williams’ The Glass Menagerie: A Twenty-first Century Perspective

This article explores how effectively Tennessee Williams in The Glass Menagerie uses ‘memory’ to add new dramatic elements by recounting historical occurrences, ‘media’ to accurately depict people’s circumstances and an authentic picture of society, and ‘modernity’ through his characters that affected their lives in the play. In this study, a descriptive study design with a component of qualitative analysis is used to find out answers to three research questions based on “memory, media and modernity” in The Glass Menagerie, and get a credible solution to strengthen our arguments. The in-depth analysis reveals Williams’ concerns about middle-class people, society, and the office’s authority during this era of transition. Additionally, it underscores how The Glass Menagerie incorporates shards of memories, media, and modernity to exhibit a congenial depiction of a modern spirit that Williams shares with the common people and readers whose voices he intercepts. The article intends to see how far Williams accomplished his objectives in portraying the deterioration of values, culture, traditions, and socio-economic problems to bring new force and genre to American drama. The in-depth analysis is sufficient to deem the play a quintessential, play for readers of all ages, a “Plastic Glass” genre that blends the middle class, experiences, characters’ displays, and cultures. Finally, the discussion proves that the new genre is enlivened by the common people and eternal survivors of the 21st century.

Attachment Anxiety and Covert Narcissistic Pangs as Reflected in Tennessee William’s The Glass Menagerie

This paper aims to provide an interdisciplinary space for fruitful debate concerning psychoanalytical representations of attachment anxiety and the fear of abandonment of a covert narcissist within the ambit of narcissism, and its implications in artistic, literary, and health discourses. Researchers in psychiatric, clinical, developmental, personality, and social psychology are interested in the issue of narcissism since its resurgence has hit the world on a pandemic scale in the last few years. Despite the extensive research on the construct of narcissism conducted so far, one of its under-represented clinical subtypes, "covert narcissism," which is intrinsically intertwined with the fear of abandonment and attachment anxiety (Cramer, 2019) remains largely unexplored as opposed to its counterpart, grandiose narcissism. Extending this hypothesis, the primary objective of the current scholarly investigation is to examine the correlations underlying the maladaptive attachment anxiety and fear of abandonment that Amanda Wingfield, the female protagonist of Tennessee Williams's most autobiographical play, The Glass Menagerie, wrestles with in her interpersonal and intrapersonal relationships. The study's secondary purpose is to further scrutinize and unearth a slew of unconscious yet toxic expressions of covert narcissism that Amanda embodies in her machinations to remain in her 'secure base'.

Long Day’s Journey Into Night

Long Day’s Journey Into Night

Southern Pride as Reflected in Tennessee Williams’ The Glass Menagerie

This research is mainly intended to reveal the old southern pride reflected in the characteristics of Amanda, a southern lady. In conducting this research, the writer uses qualitative research, in which the data are collected in the form of words and the writer is the key instrument. The data were taken from the work itself and other relevant books supporting the data. In analyzing the data, the writer uses a mimetic approach, which considers that literary work is a reflection and imitation of aspects of the universe. The result of this research shows that in the southern part of America before the Civil War, there was a custom called "southern gentility." This is one of the aristocratic values that consists of the manner of speech, the way of wearing the clothes, and the manner of treating the caller: the way to welcome and praise the gentleman caller, his wealth, and his beauty. This southern gentility represents old southern pride or honor. These values are reflected in Amanda’s attitude as an old southerner. However, a change in period is followed by a change in values; the aristocratic values mentioned above are no longer all relevant to the new South's way of life because they faded away after the Civil War in 1861-1865. Amanda, as an old southerner, has always held these values; however, realizing that they are no longer applicable in the present, she attempts to adapt the new southern values. Yet, she is too late to adjust because her son, who possesses new southern values, refuses to accept her advice, so he runs away.

Memory and Modern Drama: Tennessee Williams’s The Glass Menagerie as a Case Study

Tennessee Williams is one of the foremost playwrights in modern drama. In 1945, the American theater witnessed his mind-blowing play, The Glass Menagerie. Because of the latter, Williams received a great deal of fame and winnings. Since The Glass Menagerie is a memory play, this paper will focus on the subject of memory and its interconnectedness with modern drama first, then delve into memory theories, and lastly discuss memory mechanisms in The Glass Menagerie.

A Marxist analysis of disability in Tennessee Williams’ The Glass Menagerie

A Marxist analysis of disability in Tennessee Williams’ The Glass Menagerie

Realism and Illusion in Tennessee Williams’ Plays

This diploma paper examines realism and illusion in modern drama, particularly in Tennessee Williams’ plays, A Streetcar Named Desire and The Glass Menagerie. It explores the influence and importance of these themes in shaping modern literature, evolving from traditional dramatic structures to enrich storytelling. The paper provides an overview of Williams’ life and his distinctive style. Through a close analysis of the selected plays, it delves into the complexities of the characters, their desires, fears, and struggles in navigating truth and illusion. Additionally, the study explores the symbiotic relationship between realism, illusion, and the theatrical techniques employed by Williams. The primary objective of this study is to unveil the profound influence and immense significance of realism and illusion in shaping the landscape of modern literature. Throughout the history of dramatic storytelling, these themes have undergone a remarkable evolution, breaking free from the constraints of conventional dramatic structures to find liberation and prominence in the realm of modernity. As a result, playwrights have been able to explore the complexities of human existence and society more deeply, crafting narratives that touch the core of the human psyche.

Fantasy and Realism in the Subalternized Characters of Tennessee Williams

The paper proposes to investigate the elements of illusion and reality in the realm of subalternism in the characters of Laura Wingfield, Amanda Wingfield from Glass Menagerie (1944) and Blanche Dubois from A Street Car Named Desire (1947. As can be seen, the plays from which characters are chosen were written at different periods in Williams’ writing career when he was at the peak of his dramatic powers. Moreover, both these plays drew a lot of critical attention at the time that they were performed first. The fact that more than half a century has elapsed since they first came to light has neither diminished nor dimmed their dramatic power or relevance or appeal to audiences and scholars all over the world.

Death of a Salesman

Death of a Salesman

Inferiority complex in women's oppression on Medea & The Glass Menagerie

The purpose of this study is to analyze the inferiority complex of women characters from various eras based on their stories. This study uses the id, ego, superego, and defense mechanism by Freud and inferiority complex by Heidbreder. Through the descriptive analytical method, this analyze is to help the interpretation of the women characters state of minds including their stress coping mechanism and classify their types of inferior complex. The results of this study shows that Medea had a high tendency to feel insecure as a result of her husband’s betrayal, and she mostly used projection as a defense mechanism to revenge her husband. Meanwhile, Amanda demonstrates the use of identification as a stress escapement from societal pressure, as well as her inferiority complex when faced with a guy caller. Due to the stress of high expectations in attracting gentleman caller, Laura mostly used rationalization as a defense mechanism.
 
 Keywords: Inferiority Complex, Defense Mechanism, Psychoanalysis, Oppression.

Metaphorical Disability in Tennessee Williams’s The Glass Menagerie

This paper analyses the disability in Tennessee Williams’s The Glass Menagerie at three levels: the physical disability, cultural disability, and social disability, which is reflected in Laura’s vulnerability, Tom’s spiritual struggle as a gay man, and their mother Amanda’s neuroticism. Through representations of the repressive social culture against the disabled and dramatizing the interconnected collision between the old South and modern society against the homophobic cultural background, Williams expresses his humanistic concerns.