The Glass Menagerie Analysis Essay

The Glass Menagerie is a cruel play that narrates the life of the Wingfield family, especially the the daughter Laura a shy crippled girl living in a world where she can not survive on her own. The rise and fall of the Wingfield family is a perfect example of the common dramatic structure realized by Gustav Freytag, as well as a play with an unique take on how a playwright's role, lighting, setting, symbolism and music.

The exposition shows us that Laura is a shy girl who lives her life in fear of conflict, and the unknown. She lives with her mother Amanda, a woman that still lives in the past when she used to be beautiful, and lusted after. The brother Tom is stuck in a dead end job, and wishes to run away to be a writer. The inciting incident

Most of the lighting that described in the play is either spot lights or dim, faint background lighting to set the mood. The spotlights unlike most plays do not necessarily follow or highlight the actors, but instead they highlight important part of the scene at the time. The setting in the Glass Menagerie shifts between three places, a dark ally, the fire escape on the side of the building, and inside the Wingfield home. The house is described as an older style apartment one of many packed into the neighborhood with “broken light-fixtures”, and a run down feel The furniture contradicts this however, intricate chairs and tables seem to hint to a time when the mother had money. While reading the play two influential songs stood out to me, the original theme song to the Glass menagerie, and the Blue Rose song. The Original theme song for the Glass Menagerie had a very ominous desperate tone to it, as if it was too late to undo what has said or done in the past. It left a sad taste in my mouth one of regret. The Blue Rose song was the polar opposite of this thought, it expresses a happy light hopeful tone as if new rebirth was soon to come. The Blue Rose to Laura was all of these things, it was a new start with the only man who ever showed her any affection, who saw her as rare and unique as a blue