The Play’s Analysis
It is considered as a memory play. It can therefore be exhibited with rare independence of convention. Owing to its noticeably subtle or questionable content, environmental inferences and finesses of direction take up a very pertinent role. Expressionism as well as other untraditional approaches in drama possesses just a single valid goal which is a quicker methodology to realism or truth.
When a playwright chooses to use exceptional methods in writing his play, it is not thought or should not be in a bid to elude its mandate of countenancing reality or inferring knowledge, but it should be a process of trying to get an easy way to show or clear way to express issues as they exist.
Music, screening, and lighting are important factors of consideration when developing a play and should be well done. All these are achieved in the play as one experiences reading through its plots and lines.
Tom Wingfield
Tom takes a double role in this play. The first role is that of a character having memoirs that the play writes about. The second role is that of a character who mainly acts bound by these very memoirs. It is these double roles which underpin the tension in the play pulling between dramatic realism shown in the play and recollection’s disruption of realism.
There are moments in the play when Tom speaks directly to the audience in a bid to offer a more isolated clarification and evaluation of events that have occurred on stage. The other characters do not do this. Nevertheless, at the same moment, he exhibits actual and at times infantile sentiments as he participates in the acts within the play.
This kind of dualism can upset our consideration of Tom since it is difficult to come to conclusion whether he is that kind of person whose evaluations should be taken seriously or a character who permits his feelings to dent a blow to his personal judgment. In addition it shows the way recollection is intrinsically challenging. This is because memory is normally incorporated to deal with a past where an individual was not as virtuous as he may be at present.
Even when considered as the only character within the play, contradiction seems to fill his life. On one side of the coin, he immerses himself into reading literature, writing poetic contents, and hopes for the better things in life. However, on the other side of the coin, Tom appears intricately bound for the grotesque, simple environment of the Wingfield family.
Amanda Wingfield
One distinct character which marks the play’s dramatic plot can be said to be that of a faded southern belle. Wingfield clearly represents this attribute. Typically, the playwright’s faded belle is one from a well-known community or family from the south, has been brought up in a conservative way, and has gone through the pains of dealing with a reverse of financial as well as social well-being at one time in life.
Just like Wingfield, such ladies have all gone through a difficult time in appreciating the new status that they enjoy in the society and particularly with the new society which fails to take into consideration the social differences which they were taught to hold dear. How they relate with men as well as their families is quite problematic, and they strictly conserve the norms of their past.
As it is with Wingfield, their conservation of proper conduct in very impolite environments may be seen as disastrous, amusing, or totally ugly. Amanda Wingfield comes across as the most vociferous as well as theatrical actor, and one among the contemporary American drama most admired female characterization.
Laura Wingfield
Laura is physically as well as emotionally deprived as can be seen from the play. She is also the only actor within the play who avoids doing deeds that might be hurtful to others. Despite the fact that she faces too much trouble handling her personal challenges, she exhibits true kindness. This is evident when she cries and feels sad because Tom is not happy as told by Amanda in the fourth scene.
This attribute is contrastingly different as with the rest of the family members within the Wingfield family who are characterized by extreme selfishness. One cannot help but also notice that Laura similarly has the fewest lines in the entire play to stage. This indeed plays a big part why she is considered more selfless than everyone else.
However, she remains the center where the whole plot of the play focuses on. The most conspicuous signs in the play such as the blue roses, the glass unicorn as well as the glass menagerie seem to in a big way refer to her character. She is as uncommon and strange as a blue rose or a unicorn. She is also considered as delicate as a figurine made from glass. The last character is Jim O’connor who is considered as a very good gentleman.
In conclusion, the play has been developed well to encompass all the attributes of a well written play. Characters are properly molded to represent distinct characters of their own and matched with the correct personalities as intended by the playwright. Lastly, it is easy to identify themes within the play that are quite connected to the playwright’s life.