The Glass Menagerie
Tennessee Williams is one of America's most respected playwrights. He was one of the select few playwrights responsible for American theatre's 'golden age', and with works like The Glass Menagerie and Cat On a Hot Tin Roof, it is no surprise. Williams was born in Mississippi and spent most of his life in the South, which was the setting of most of his works. Williams was no stranger to adversity growing up; his father was an alcoholic who squandered away all of the Williams' family money, and young Tennessee was a social outcast at school. His only true friend growing up was his sister, Rose, and even she was not always there for Tennessee; she fell progressively more mentally ill as her life progressed until she underwent a prefrontal lobotomy. Williams' life was as full of pain and emotional torment as any of his stories; in fact, it was this hard life that motivated him to write such challenging and provocative tales. In The Glass Menagerie, Tom, a young man who Williams patterned after himself, is stuck in a repressive tenement in 1937 St. Louis with his overbearing mother, Amanda, and Laura, his shy sister. Amanda's husband, Mr. Wingfield, abandoned the three when Tom and Laura were both very young, and that abandonment be
Tom's creativity, restlessness, and disdain for his mother are all much more obvious than they are when he addresses the audience, despite his poetic tone. However, when Jim reveals that he is engaged to be married, Laura is totally devastated. Tom is also a very repressed character, and not just in that his creativity and poetic nature receive very little outlet. Thus, destiny has set the stage for one of theatre's most grand traditions: the tragic hero. This lack of direction is especially well defined in Williams' male characters; characters like Tom and Brick. In The Glass Menagerie, Tom (who Williams wrote with himself in mind) is referred to as 'Shakespeare'; a title that is fitting due to the tragic nature of Williams' work. Williams shows the world how truly difficult it can be to experience the self-loathing that some gays feel through Brick. Williams' plays are a delicate balance of the romanticized dramatic life that is often so appealing to observers and the gothic horror that accompanies complete and total emotional collapse.
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