Just as in science, a catalyst speeds up the rate of the chemical reaction; in literature, a catalyst is a person, idea or event that initiates and develops the conflict of the story. In “A View from the Bridge” and “The Glass Menagerie”, the catalysts used are introduced at different points in the plays and play different roles.
In “ A View from the Bridge”, Rodolpho, the catalyst, is introduced in the exposition, and plays a major role in the play. He initiates the conflict by being attracted to Catherine, and by the fact that Catherine is attracted to him as well. The fact that he is introduced in the exposition, allows for the author to develop his character, and thus allows for the audience to sympathise with him instead of Eddie. This development gives the audience a high quality catalyst as it can relate to Rodplpho. Rodolpho creates a heavy tension in the family, due to his relationship with Catherine. This tension relates to the play’s theme of obsession as it is caused by Eddie’s obsession with Catherine. How Rodolpho relates to the main theme and develops the tension make him a quality catalyst.
Jim, the catalyst in “The Glass Menagerie”, is introduced in the complications of the play, and though he initiates the conflict, he does not develop it. This may be due to the fact that he was introduced too late into the play, and because his character was not developed. This underdevelopment of his character produces a lower quality catalyst as the audience cannot relate to Jim, and also because he participates little in the play. The tension created by Jim relates to the theme of betrayal, when he tells Laura that he is engaged after he led her on and kissed her. Jim’s inefficiency to develop the plot results in a less dramatic climax in “The Glass Menagerie”.
"The Glass Menagerie" is a play about intense human emotions; frustration, desperation, sadness, anger, shyness, and regret. Perhaps the most intense scene in the play is when a gentleman caller, Jim O'Connor, finally does come. All of their futures hang in the balance during this scene. Laura is actually drawn out of her shyness with someone besides her family, and she actually begins to feel good about herself.
The plays, A Streetcar Named Desire and A View from the Bridge, focus on the theme of domination of the female characters through the writer’s habit of literacy techniques such as imagery and realism to add the typical tragedy that follows in both plays – where the main character dies at the end and each playwright uses their own method to manipulate their point of view or opinion of the play’s plot to the audience members.
The Glass Menagerie is a play about the character Tom trying to escape his living situation that traps him. He is doing to best to cope with his dependent, demanding mother Amanda and take care of his quiet sister Laura. Amanda and Laura solely depend on Tom’s income from his warehouse job, but Tom is desperately wanting to leave both his mother and sister to lead his own adventurous life. Laura is mainly embodied by her precious glass menagerie and Jim O’Connor’s nickname for her, “Blue Roses.” Her livelihood revolves around taking care of her glass animals and protecting them, and in doing so, she isolates herself from the normal world around her. In Tennessee William’s play The Glass Menagerie, symbolism is use to uncover the unearthly beauty and delicacy of Laura and to portray Tom’s need to escape from his oppressive responsibilities.
A storm waiting to happen when this man gets home to his wife, and during The Glass Menagerie, a similar storm most likely (Did it go down?) went down between Jim and his fiancé. Jim should have a similar response to his time with Laura, where he regrets the things that he has done. On his walk home he should realize that he is coming from somewhere that he never should have been in the first place.
Although the glass menagerie is meant as a direct metaphor for Laura, it also serves as a metaphor to the other characters in the play through various means. They are all interconnected in some way, depending on each other, and when things don’t turn out right, everything begins to fall into a downward spiral, with little or no hope for improvement.
In this essay I will be exploring the Key Scene from 'A View From The
In Tennessee William's play, The Glass Menagerie, the character of Laura is like a fragile piece of glass. The play is based around a fragile family and their difficulties coping with life.
The Glass Menagerie is an eposidic play written by Tennesse Williams reflecting the economic status and desperation of the American people in the 30s.He portrays three different characters going through these hardships of the real world,and choosing different ways to escape it.Amanada,the mother,escapes to the memories of the youth;Tom watches the movies to provide him with the adventure he lacks in his life;and laura runs to her glass menagerie.
The glass menagerie continually signifies Laura’s unique personality throughout the play. One of the first people outside the family to see the more vibrant side of Laura is Jim, a friend of her brother’s as well as an old high school crush of hers. While having dinner at their house, Jim takes an interest in Laura’s collection of glass animals and records. They reminisce about high school and when Jim begins to understand why she is so shy, he says, “You know what I judge is the trouble with you?
Generally when some one writes a play they try to elude some deeper meaning or insight in it. Meaning about one's self or about life as a whole. Tennessee Williams' "The Glass Menagerie" is no exception the insight Williams portrays is about himself. Being that this play establishes itself as a memory play Williams is giving the audience a look at his own life, but being that the play is memory some things are exaggerated and these exaggerations describe the extremity of how Williams felt during these moments (Kirszner and Mandell 1807). The play centers itself on three characters. These three characters are: Amanda Wingfield, the mother and a women of a great confusing nature; Laura Wingfield, one who is slightly crippled and lets that make her extremely self conscious; and Tom Wingfield, one who feels trapped and is looking for a way out (Kirszner and Mandell 1805-06). Williams' characters are all lost in a dreamy state of illusion or escape wishing for something that they don't have. As the play goes from start to finish, as the events take place and the play progresses each of the characters undergoes a process, a change, or better yet a transition. At the beginning of each characters role they are all in a state of mind which causes them to slightly confuse what is real with what is not, by failing to realize or refusing to see what is illusioned truth and what is whole truth. By the end of the play each character moves out of this state of dreamy not quite factual reality, and is better able to see and face facts as to the way things are, however not all the characters have completely emerged from illusion, but all have moved from the world of dreams to truth by a whole or lesser degree.
In Tennessee William's play, The Glass Menagerie, the character of Tom is both a son and a brother. Tom has also been forced into the role as the man of the house because of his father's departure. He is very unique and somewhat unpredictable in his words and actions. Tom is selfish, yet caring, and he has a strong need for adventure. Without doubt, Tom is the most round and dynamic character in the play.
The typical plot format of literature and theater is comparable to an equation. Calculate the humble introduction of a hero plus the malicious obstacles set forth by a villain. Multiply this by a series mental and physical strife, such as the loss of an arm or respect. Once you have this product, add a suspenseful climax and subtract by a tension relieving resolution. For purposeful reason, this equation’s answer cannot be found within the plot of The Glass Menagerie. Tennessee Williams establishes a setting of familial dysfunction, free of heros and villians. Some argue that Laura’s disability grants her the label of the hero. However, the unhealable wound archetype in this case is not a symbol of a low point present in the “hero’s journey”,
The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams is a touching play about the lost dreams of a southern family and their struggle to escape reality. The play is a memory play and therefore very poetic in mood, setting, and dialogue. Tom Wingfield serves as the narrator as well as a character in the play. Tom lives with his Southern belle mother, Amanda, and his painfully shy sister, Laura. The action of the play revolves around Amanda's search to find Laura a "gentleman caller. The Glass Menagerie's plot closely mirrors actual events in the author's life. Because Williams related so well to the characters and situations, he was able to beautifully portray the play's theme through his creative use of symbolism.
Mr. Wingfield is the character in The Glass Menagerie who does not appear in the novel but has a significant impact on the meaning of the work. Mr. Wingfield, who is an employee for a telephone company, abandons his family because he “fell in love with long distances” that the telephone conveys into publics' perception. Mr. Wingfield’s abandonment of his family establishes the future of their life. Mr. Wingfield’s abandonment evidently leads to Tom’s abandonment of his mother, Amanda, and his sister, Laura; in addition, Mr. Wingfield’s desertion foreshadows Jim’s abandonment of Laura. Although Mr. Wingfield was not a protuberant character in the novel, his substantial existence has a noteworthy impact on the other characters and their actions
The role of abandonment in The Glass Menagerie can best be described as the plot element that underlies the overall tone of despondence in the play because it emphasizes the continuous cycle of destruction and hardship that the Wingfield family experiences; indeed, abandonment in the play is a reiterative element that strips the excesses from the three main characters in the play and leaves them in their barest forms, united by a sorrowful reality and clutching each other through the ever-present need to sink into a self-constructed oblivion. The first, and perhaps the most notable and most frequently discussed, example of abandonment in the play would be that of Amanda Wingfield’s husband’s abandonment of his family; he left them at an unspecified time in the past because “he fell in love with long distances,” and evidently forsook any obligations and emotional affiliations that he may have had with his wife and offspring (Williams 5). Having been abandoned by a man who was both husband and father affected Amanda, Tom, and Laura in that it established many of their familial dynamics...