"A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE"   Term Paper ID:18619 Click to get this paper

Essay Subject: & [The Glass Menagerie] (Tennessee Williams). Compares characters (Amanda & Blanche), symbolism, plots, themes, playwright's intentions.... More...

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Paper Abstract: & [The Glass Menagerie] (Tennessee Williams). Compares characters (Amanda & Blanche), symbolism, plots, themes, playwright's intentions. Paper Introduction: The purpose of this paper is to compare two plays by Tennessee Williams, A Streetcar Named Desire and The Glass Menagerie. We will compare the two characters, Amanda Wingfield, and Blanche Dubois, two people who are living in the world of illusions. We will look at the symbolism that is most common in the two plays. We will compare the plots of the two plays, the themes in the two plays, and look at Tennessee Williams' intentions as a playwright in the two plays. In contrast to Tom, who sets the mood in Glass Menagerie, Amanda Wingfield is a mover, the major character who sets the story into motion. Basically, she is the play's main character. Throughout the course of the play, Tom, Laura and Jim react to Amanda's stimulating and complicated personality. Even Amanda's husband, who has run away from her, showed a definite and Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. However, she was not fired for poor teachingskills. In her own way, she is an idealist who believes in the highestaspirations of people in general and for the progress brought to mankind bythe civilizing process. To Stanley, illusions areuseless and reality is the only thing worth realizing. Perhaps Blanche is a victim ofcircumstances, or perhaps she is a basically immoral person who deserveswhat the author gives her in the end. Jim,while having dinner with the Wingfields, is caught up by the rosydisposition of Amanda. This is evidentlythe reason why she urges Tom to bring home a friend to meet Laura. We will compare the plotsof the two plays, the themes in the two plays, and look at TennesseeWilliams' intentions as a playwright in the two plays. In The Glass Menagerie, thecharacters live according to their illusions. Despite the fact that Amanda engages in frequentsilliness, she obviously had a practical streak inside of her. Even Jim O'Connor, a very ordinary person in the context of the play,strikes Amanda as a "Prince Valiant" who should marry Laura. It is necessary for the reader of the play to decide whether Amandais as really far gone as she seems to be. The setting of the play is somewhat dim, in keeping, (onesupposes) with the fact that the play takes place in memory, and memoryitself is dim, especially with the passage of time. Light and lighting seem to be prominent in the play, The GlassMenagerie. She believes, in her own mind, that she actually entertained seventeensuitors on one Sunday afternoon. These playsare a little depressing, because from the moment we meet the characters wesuspect that they were "born to lose." Where Williams shows his insight isin portraying the complex personality mechanisms of adjustment which peopledevelop to insulate themselves from the reality of their particularcondition in the world. She is strong, above all, much stronger than Tom andmuch stronger than her husband was. It is veryimportant to her to feign membership in this class of people, like Scarletin Gone With the Wind. But the focus of the play is mainly in thepast. Truth destroyed her marriage, so she plays a pretend game,hoping against hope that she can hold back the tide of reality by buryingand enclosing herself in her fantasies. New York: New American Library, 1945.Williams, Tennessee. One isreminded of Gloria Swanson in Billy Wilder's film, Sunset Boulevard, asthat character was also driven over the edge into madness by her illusoryconstructs having been shattered. Also,Amanda depends on Jim to be Laura's savior, which is obviously an unrealexpectation. A major factor in the fantasy lives of the characters is the way thattime has shattered their expectations, forcing them in some cases toreconstruct reality in a manner that is indicative of their troubledunconscious. In Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire, Blanche DuBois is an Englishteacher. The humid, warm air isrent at night (mainly) by moans and shrieks, as if Williams were describinga zoo instead of a human living place. Even Amanda's husband, who has run away from her, showed adefinite and distinctive response to Amanda. Jim and Laura talk about their bygone high school days , which wereover six years earlier, and Amanda is constantly talking about the times asthey were when she was a much younger woman. Southern manners make her feel somewhat special.She feels that deception is half of a lady's charm, something she callsWind. When he is not narrating the events, Tom is one ofthe featured roles in the play. Symbolism is rampant in both these plays, and in The Glass MenagerieTom's speech provides many of the similes and metaphors present in thework. Surely as well, the playsbroke new ground in their stark depiction of sexual abnormality, vice,vulgarity and other such factors in the 194 s, although they may seemrather tame by today's standards. Like Amanda Wingfield in The Glass Menagerie, Blanche lives in aworld of self-created illusions. Tom engages in a few tenderand intimate moments with his mother, but, more typically, he is turned offby her scolding and nagging ways. Williams makes it somewhat clear that Blanche'spast is a fabrication which she uses for escape by naming the plantationwhere Blanche grew up "Belle Reve," which in French means "beautifuldream." The theme of success as the way to happiness runs through The GlassMenagerie. 54.) Stanley Kowalski, unfortunately for Blanche, thinks her putting onairs is pretentious and revolting. However, she is indeed one of a kind. We see that light shines through small glass objects and gives offspots of color. At the first, she seems to be just a high-strung, howeverrefined, female who has come to New Orleans to pay a visit to her sister.However, as the story unfolds, the reader sees Blanche's past open up bitby bit. Blanche has been seriously affected by her late husband'staking of his own life and by the fact that her home has been lost to her.At this point in her life, Blanche cannot depend on attracting a husbandwith her good looks. She comes across in the play as noble and verytender. Tom says thatJim O'Connor is a symbolic character who represents plans for the futurewhich have been postponed. ("He gives you illusion that has the appearance of truth. The superintendent's letter said Blanche was fired because she was"morally unfit for her position." This is most likely a fair evaluation ofa professor who seduced one of the seventeen-yearold boys in her classroom. Itis due to her illusions that Amanda keeps hoping for that "always expectedsomething" that will save Laura from a total lifelong dependency, such asthe rather silly notion that taking a typing class would rescue her. She tells Stella not tohang back with the brutes, but the brutes finally overcome Blanche, whichmust be the author's way of telling us that civilization will win over thebestial side of man in the end. To get rid of memories of his sister, he begs Laura to blowout her candles. Laura, it is seen,represents Amanda's denial that her daughter has anything the matter withher that a little charm, and a typing course, will not solve. In Streetcar Blanche and Stanley are both symbols, Blanche being thesymbol of refinement and civilization and Stanley the symbol of theprimitive and somewhat bestial part of man. For example, the theme ofillusion runs throughout both works. Blanche, in fact, seems to bethe only champion of a civilized life in the work. For her, theglass figurines are a replacement for a real life, which she seemsincapable of living. "Annunciation" is the news that Jim is comingto dinner, another symbol. Tom suffers from illusions when he tries to find escape in the motionpicture theater. Mitch is called a bear at onepoint, and the women are referred to as "hens." Williams tells us thatStella and Stanley emit low, animal moans. And the reader can count on her to never give up hope. The triumph of the primitive is a theme running through A StreetcarNamed Desire. Amanda Wingfield clearly acts like a foolish woman most of the time.But, nevertheless, she still has some admirable qualities. Nevertheless, you never see her humbled by defeat.She maintains a ladylike dignity even after being raped by a man. Thoughts in Tom's mind goback and forth from the past to the present, which is why the flow ofevents in the play is a little strange. The themes of the two plays often overlap. The scenes take place between the months of May andSeptember. Tragedy in this sense means the fact that there arepeople who, because of their static situation and roles in life, are stuckwhere they are (at the bottom or near it) with no potential to rise abovetheir station or experience. Southern manners make her feel somewhat special. After all, utterdespair is sometimes as unrealistic as absolute mania. If one trusts the media reports, anyone can be anythingtoday (at least in the United States) and social roles are hardly fixed.People seem to climb out of the gutter to become millionaires, politicians,or anything else one desires. The plots, forms and structures of the twoplays differ somewhat. For one thing, Blanche lies sofrequently that she has trouble keeping track of all the untruths sheblurts out to various people. And inthe beginning of the play, Stanley more or less confirms this image when hearrives back home carrying a package of bleeding meat. Laura's illusions aremainly provided by her taking refuge in the glass menagerie. A Streetcar Named Desire is not like The Glass Menagerie in form.Streetcar has no acts, but instead is split into eleven scenes happening inchronological order. In some ways Blanche is, in fact, civilized , if not exactlycultured. In contrast to Tom, who sets the mood in Glass Menagerie, AmandaWingfield is a mover, the major character who sets the story into motion.Basically, she is the play's main character. Blanche's sexual adventures so outraged the citizens of Laurel,Mississippi, that they almost threw her out of town. In fact, there might be places in thisworld where she would not be regarded as insane at all. On the other hand, it is difficult to takesuperior airs being displayed by an ex-prostitute, and a rather ditzy oneas well. The Glass Menagerie. Blanche seems to arouse pity and repulsion at the same time. Like Amanda, Blanche engages in thehabits and speech of a dying Old South aristocratic class. . When all of her attempts have failed,she stands by Laura. Stanley Kowalski, on the otherhand, represents not illusion but reality. Amanda escapes by constantly thinking about her childhood,while Tom escapes by imagining that he can lead a life of adventure, faraway from responsibility and boredom. Blanche is living under numerous illusions, which (atleast in the beginning) help keep her sane. A Streetcar Named Desire. Laura's escape is, of course, theglass figurines and Jim's taking courses in radio and speech represents hisattempt to escape from a job that is taking him nowhere fast. Of course, thatmyth is closely allied with the theme of illusion, since the people in thisplay are ultimately trapped, somewhat morbidly so, and the reader of theplay gets the impression that no amount of hard work will ever allow any ofthese people to break out of their existence. Or, perhaps that is not really the case and perhaps Williams is rightin saying that for most people, there is no pie in the sky and in the end,we are left being who we always were. Blanche is also a dreamer, andStanley a practical person. Both of these plays reflect Tennessee Williams' concern with personaland social tragedy. Her world of glass figurines and candlelight will nolonger serve her well. Amanda believes firmly in the Horatio Alger myth that if youwork hard and save your money, you will succeed in bettering yourself, evenagainst incredible or impossible odds. One has to assume that deep down inside the characters reallyknow what is going on in their lives and, in fact, Blanche DuBois, afterher defenses have been torn down relentlessly by Stanley and others,finally decompensates, has a nervous breakdown and goes quite mad. There are manymentions of lower-thanhuman existence in this play, including ElysianFields being described at one point as a jungle. Shesometimes (and unexpectedly) thinks about the future. Blanche can be looked at as an object of scorn, both in the mind ofthe author and that of the reader (or viewer) of the play, and perhaps sheis too far out emotionally and pathologically to be taken seriously.However, her behavior can be defended by what has happened to her in thepast. Where the plays seem to miss in today's world is that the concept oftragedy has largely been rendered ineffective due to the lack of fixedsocial roles. Theother scenes take place on two evenings during the following spring season. Tom later says that the pleasure provided by the ParadiseDance Hall was like "a chandelier flooding the world with brief deceptiverainbows." Also, the scarf which Malvolio the magician gives away israinbow colored. Not only that, but Amanda is full of illusions about herself. At the beginning of the play, he talks directly to the audience,again at the Scene Three and Scene Six beginnings, and once again at thevery end of the play. When her husband runs away and leavesher high and dry, she does the best that she possibly can to provide forher immediate family. Or, perhaps, perhaps Amanda had dignity andtragic beauty inside herself all along? Some of the characters are familiar, probably because everyone whoreads or sees these plays has met people somewhat like the characters asthey are written, although seldom as extreme. The Glass Menagerie has seven scenes, the firstfour occurring over a few days' time during the season of winter. We willcompare the two characters, Amanda Wingfield, and Blanche Dubois, twopeople who are living in the world of illusions. First, shetries very hard to be a good mother. The electric powercompany shuts off the power in the Wingfields' home, making the settingeven eerier. At theconclusion of the play, with Tom embarking to the seven seas and Lauracompletely suffering a broken heart because of Jim, Amanda displays"dignity and tragic beauty." The question here becomes, what is the causeof Amanda's transformation? At the end of the story, Blanche is undone completely, fit onlyfor the insane asylum. New York: New American Library, 1947.----------------------- 13 Perhapsshe is not as crazy as she appears. 43.) The symbol of the glass menagerie seems to be a symbol of thefragility of Laura's personality, brittle and like glass. In Scene Two, she lectures Lauraabout the hopelessness of the future, using phrases such as, "stuck away insome little mousetrap of a room" and ". The question is, is she unawareof the truth, or does she merely refuse to accept the truth of her and herfamilies' situation? Hence, there is a need for illusion tocompensate for their unfortunate (and sometimes wasted) lives. Illusion is also important in A Streetcar Named Desire, but here thesituation changes. Throughout the course of theplay, Tom, Laura and Jim react to Amanda's stimulating and complicatedpersonality. Tom is the narrator of the play and his existence is rooted in thepresent. But, possiblyin his militant philistinism he is also deluded, imagining as he does thatany escape from one's life circumstances is impossible. Shortly before the play begins,Blanche has lost her job. The question here is, "what is the viewer (or reader) of the playmost likely to remember about Amanda Wingfield?" One thing to be recalledis her completely irrational and totally inappropriate belief in the"romantic past." Also, she has a rather pathetic conviction that herchildren are likely to succeed in life because of their "naturalendowments." Amanda absolutely refuses to accept the reality that Tom is adeadbeat with a dead-end job in store for him. I give youtruth in the pleasant disguise of illusion.") Tom even says at one point inthe play, "I have a weakness for symbols." Amanda also has a gift forusing interesting figures of speech. She approves of Jim's self-improvement courses and thinks a typing class would be just the thing totake Laura away from the dependent life she now leads. She canbe looked at as the epitome of a dying way of life, who is involved in alosing battle with the modern world. She feels thatdeception is half of a lady's charm, something she calls "magic." She isalso very romantic and pretentious, as when she tells Mitch that her namemeans "white woods" in French (Williams, 1947, p. Once one knows Blanche's past, perhaps her behavior can be looked atwith pity. The characters in The GlassMenagerie and A Streetcar Named Desire seem locked in place, without hope,with only their self-delusion to sustain them. The purpose of this paper is to compare two plays by TennesseeWilliams, A Streetcar Named Desire and The Glass Menagerie. Additionally, Tom associates images of Laura withcandlelight. The play is essentially episodic,and follows Blanche's deteriorating psychological and emotional health. like birdlike women without anynest--eating the crust of humility" (Williams, 1945, p. . The reader does not know all these facts about Blanche until late inWilliams' play. Unlike her brother, Laura usually triesto obey Amanda's desires and attempts to understand her as a person. At any rate, theseplays demonstrate Williams' insight into character and especially into thepower of self-delusion to keep people going in the face of adversity. That is, except for StanleyKowalski, who prides himself on having no illusions at all. Works CitedWilliams, Tennessee. This may account for the fact that she somewhatdesperately engages in constant flirtation and chooses to exercise whatcharms she has in places that are not well lit. Blanche describes Stanley to Stella as being an ape. Reality, in thiscase, means material things, anything one can see, hear, and grab onto.Blanche rejects Stanley's reality, preferring the world of illusion.Considering her past, and the way the "real" world has treated her, this isnot surprising. We will look at thesymbolism that is most common in the two plays. A pupil would never haveforgotten Blanche if he took her course. She came to Elysian Fields lookingfor love and security, but instead she seems to have discovered animosityand rejection. Escape seems to be a major theme of Williams in The Glass Menagerie.All the major characters in the play are, in effect, trying to escape theirlife situations and think that this is possible, although the author showsus otherwise. Amanda'sdesires for her children sometimes leave her completely blind to thereality of the situation. He wants to lead a life of excitement and bravado, sohe.leaves his home and joins the merchant marine. Escape is also a theme in Streetcar, particularly since Blanche isalways escaping her present sordid situation by fleeing back into her(largely invented) past. The characters in the play then have to use candles forlighting, which presumably creates an even more dramatic effect, whileadding romance to Jim's visit to Laura. The last scenes of the play are the most poignant, since theybasically depict Blanche growing insane. It is clearly illusion whichcauses Amanda to not realize how hopeless Laura's condition really is. At times, lies (the "white" kind) can beacceptable, but at other times, lying is very destructive and Blancheengages in this type of lying as well. In Streetcar, success to Amanda means finding the right man, andunfortunately the man she finds, Stanley, is not good for her, proceedingas he does to try to wreck every illusion she has that keeps her going. If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again: Search for: or Click here to request an essay written just for you.