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The glass menagerie and dolls house women
The glass menagerie and dolls house women
The glass menagerie and dolls house women
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In my analysis I will focus on the middle age, renaissance and mythical story representations of unicorns in literature and how they connect with the character Laura Wingfield from The Glass Menagerie.
Middle Age, Renaissance, and Mythological stories’ representations of unicorns are “extremely wild woodland creatures” (Wikipedia) who could be captured by no man. They are shown as a symbol of purity and grace, parallel to virgins in the same areas of literature. Unicorns are also depicted as purifying poisoned water so that other creatures may drink and healing the sick.
Laura Wingfield is, by all evidence within The Glass Menagerie, a virgin maiden, which is the only kind of human who could bond with or draw a unicorn out of the forest. Laura
The hearing of Fairytales is particularly suitable for children, as children need to learn how to navigate the society and culture they are growing up into. Little red riding hood by Charles Perrault is a good example of a traditional French fairy tale which plays a symbolic function in representing the society in which its written the values of that society and the gender roles within it. As well as being a simple enough for children to understand the moral lessons and being enjoyable so that children want to listen to it.
Abstract: This is an analysis of celtic mythological motifs or themes (usually found Arthurian romances) in the medieval romance Yvain and the victorian classic, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland .}
Warner, Marina. From the Beast to the Blond on Fairy Tales and Their Tellers. New York: Chatto & Windus, 1994. Print.
In the story of Cinderella , the birds have a number of connotation amidst them.The birds symbolize as guiding spirit , disclossures of the thruth and retributors of revenge.
A prolific exemplification of the ideal female virtues portrayed in fairy tales is Charles Perrault’s “ The Little Glass Slipper”. Perrault presents the ideal female fairy tale character through his portrayal of Cinderella. Cinderella is a tame and forgiving individual who subjects herself to the will of her father, stepmother and s...
In The Glass Menagerie, Tennessee Williams uses the roles of the members of the Wingfield family to highlight the controlling theme of illusion versus reality. The family as a whole is enveloped in mirage; the lives of the characters do not exist outside of their apartment and they have basically isolated themselves from the rest of the world. Even their apartment is a direct reflection of the past as stories are often recalled from the mother's teenage years at Blue Mountain, and a portrait of the man that previously left the family still hangs on the wall as if his existence is proven by the presence of the image. The most unusual factor of their world is that it appears as timeless. Amanda lives only in the past while Tom lives only in the future and Laura lives in her collection of glass animals, her favorite being the unicorn, which does not exist. Ordinary development and transformation cannot take place in a timeless atmosphere such as the apartment. The whole family resists change and is unwilling to accept alteration. Not only is the entire family a representation of illusion versus reality, each of the characters uses fantasy as a means of escaping the severity of their own separate world of reality. Each has an individual fantasy world to which they retreat when the existing world is too much for them to handle. Each character has a different way of dealing with life when it seems to take control of them, and they all become so completely absorbed in these fantasies that they become stuck in the past.
Laura Wingfield, a physically and emotionally crippled character, is also the lone character in the production that never does anything to upset someone else. Notwithstanding the encumbrance of her own complications, she exhibits an untainted kindness that stands in plain contrast to the arrogance and resentful sacrifices that characterize the Wingfield family. Laura also has the least amount of lines in the production, which in turn confirms her quality of selflessness. However, she is the axis around which the storyline changes, and the blatant symbols—blue roses, the glass unicorn, and her full glass menagerie—all in some degree characterize her. Laura, like the blue rose or the unicorn, is rare and unconventional, and her disposition is as tender as the glass figurine which she is known so prominently for throughout the production.
Bettelheim, Bruno. The Uses of Enchantment: The Meaning and Importance of Fairy Tales. New York: Vintage, 2010. Print.
Fairy tales are an essential part of literature. They play a significant role in children’s lives as they provide an understanding of the world, as well as the difference between good and evil. Fairy tales are introduced during a time when children soak up knowledge, therefore it is no surprise tales play a role in shaping youth (Nanda, 2014). Knowing this, it is important to be aware of the ways in which characters are portrayed within these tales. The “typical” stereotypes associated with male and female characters can be dangerous as it provides children with a simplified perception of gender roles and the way the world functions. Women are perceived as the beautiful princess who needs help and is “inferior,” while men are the strong and courageous prince who save the naive princess from “evil” (Patel, 2009). Since these portrayals can be found within most fairy tales it allows children to view them as “norms.” This can lead children to have an improper/sexist view of men and women. Due to how often these behaviours are seen, they become “typical.”
Laura has a physical handicap with one leg being shorter than the other. With this handicap Laura was picked on and led to having high anxiety and stress. The anxiety and stress led to her not going to business college as stated when Amanda went to Laura’s class and talked to Laura’s teacher. To escape from the stress, Laura has a collection of glass sculptures. This is stated in the scene information of Scene II with “She [Laura] is washing and polishing her collection of glass” (Williams 1251). In Scene III when Tom and Amanda are fighting Tom through his jacket and broke a sculpture “With an outraged groan he [Tom] tears the coat off again, splitting the shoulders of it and hurls it across the room. It strikes against the shelf of Laura’s glass collection, there is a tinkle of shattering glass. Laura cries out as if wounded” (Williams 1257). Laura has one piece in her collection that wasn’t broken till later and means the most to her and that is the unicorn, Laura states this with “I shouldn’t be partial, but he is my favorite one” (Williams 1282). The unicorn represents her because the unicorn is different from a normal horse just like how she is different from other women, she then allows her gentleman caller Jim O’Connor to hold the unicorn and saying “Go on, I trust you with him”
Some fairy tales are so iconic that they withstand the passing of time. One of those fairy tales is that of Cinderella. The rags to riches story that gives even the lowliest of paupers, hope that they may one day climb the social ladder. While the core message of the story has transcended time, over the years it has been adapted to address a variety of audiences. One of those renditions is Perrault’s Cinderella where the traditional idea of gender is conveyed and therefore associated with good/evil. This idea is challenged by a fellow 1600’s French author, L’heriter de Villandon’s, who’s version of Cinderella brings about a female protagonist who is also the heroine.
Ever since her illness that left her with a physical deformity she has had no control over own wellbeing and life. Even with everything else that goes on around her, her life revolves around a set of glass animals. They are her only escape from the tension of family issues and the unhappiness that surrounds her in her apartment. Due to her physical deformity she had a seizure of fear during school one day and dropped out of school because she was embarrassed. Because of her physical condition it left Laura with an insecurity of what other people may think of her. Her glass animals played a huge part in her illusion and isolation because in her search for a friend she built a make-believe relationship with them along with a Victrola and old records. “Although Laura 's life is caught up in self-sustained illusions, she acknowledges her situation freely. She has given up trying to be “normal.”” (Presley 41). Laura realizes exactly what is going on in her life, but because of her crippled physical state and blinded mentality, she has become a prisoner to herself. She does not believe that anything else in the world could give her the same secure feeling as her fantasy
In The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams, the glass figurine of the unicorn plays an inherently important role as a representation of Laura's self esteem. The collection of glass figurines is used by Laura to escape from the dangers of the outside world. The unicorn is the central piece to her collection and is important because it directly symbolizes Laura. The unicorn represents Laura's obsession with her handicap and also represents the uniqueness in her character. As the play develops, the fracture of the unicorn's horn represents a change in Laura's perspective of self and also gives a reason to why she parts with the figurine in the end.
I think the Glass Menagerie should be the main character in the play even though they are not living beings. The story really was about these fragile pieces that took on meanings of their own. When Laura sits and polishes them she gets lost in their world. Laura’s favorite figurine was the unicorn. She had many horses but this one stood out from the rest of them. Metaphorically this unicorn could be her. It’s Fragile and unique much like herself. It is not like the others. The unicorn could also represent her high school crush Jim. He didn’t make fun of her like maybe she felt others did. He was unique and beautiful in her mind as the unicorn. When the unicorn was broken, he no longer was distinctive.. Jim eventually told Laura that he was engaged and would not be pursuing her as a suiter. He was now the broken
As you can see, the unicorn played an important role in the play even though it didnt seem as though it would. This is a very well put deception by Tennessee Williams showing his greatness in the art of play