We have seen that Williams places a lot of emphasis upon theatricality in "The Glass Menagerie" - because this play focuses upon the importance of memories and how volatile they can be, various setting and speech descriptions are imperative in deciphering which scenes or actions of the play are the most important.
Using specific quotes from the play, explore how Williams' use of stage directions enhance our comprehension of the story.
(This is due 11/21.)
-- Meera and Andrea
12 comments:
Amanda is a very theatrical character in the play "The Glass Menagerie". The stage directions related to her character are always very descriptive, and give readers an enhanced understanding of Tom's memory of his dramatic mother. Through setting and speech directions readers can deduce that Amanda is an elegant woman who takes great pride in her appearence and actions. Also, she is very dramatic towards her children Tom and Laura. Amanda is always speaking "lightly" or responds by "faintly screeching" when somthing suprises her. Amanda's appearence means alot to her, so when Laura's gentleman caller comes to their house Amanda acts like a girl. She laughs like one and dresses like one by "coyly smiling, [and] shaking her girlish ringlets".
Through Tom's memory reader's can gather great insight on the character of his mother. Through the setting and speech descriptions directed towards her we view her as an over-dramatic, elegant little girl with a touch of Southern charm. Without there descriptons, readers would have no idea how to interpret Amanda's actiona and reactions towards the other characters in the play.
In Tennessee Williams' play, The Glass Menagerie, stage directions are as important to the theme of the play as the dialogue itself. Detailed stage directions intensify the unrealistic setting, foreshadow and emphasize events, and develop the characters.
Dim colored lighting and symbolic melodies create the unrealistic setting for the memory play. In his opening narration Tom says, "Being a memory play, it is dimly lighted, it is sentimental, it is not realistic. In memory everything seems to happen to music. That explains the fiddle in the wings". Throughout the play the stage directions call for "a turgid smokey red glow," "gloomy gray" lighting and "deep blue dusk" which create the hazy images of a memory. For a short while, as Jim enters, there is a "delicate lemony light", and a soft light from the new lamp brings out Laura's "unearthly prettiness". Also, a bright light always focuses on the character, usually Jim, that is presenting an important memory.
Music is also used to give emotional emphasis to certain actions and moments throughout the play. The music that plays is a recurring one, faintly heard during the relevant parts, and dissipating with shifts in the story's direction. The tune is delicate, lovely, and somewhat sad.
In The Glass Menagerie, the family's mannerisms and expressions say a lot about the story. They give us an in-depth understanding about the family dynamic and the specific scenes in the play. Stage directions are very important to set the mood in each scene.
Due to a previous argument between Tom and his mother, the family awkwardly sits in silence. “Tom blows on his coffee, glancing sideways at his mother. She clears her throat. Tom clears his. He starts to rise. Sinks back down again, scratches his head, clears his throat again…” (1991). At this moment, the two are on edge because of the fight. Tom knows that he must apologize to his mother. He does not want to, but he feels that it is the only way to cease the tension. This scene highlights the love-hate relationship between Tom and Amanda, which is consistent throughout the play.
The stage directions in this scene add a comedic element to the story. They not only give us a better picture of their interaction, but also make us relate to the characters.
Williams uses stage directions to set scenes, introduce the psyches of the characters, and permeate the overall mood of the play. While many playwrights both before and after Williams used basic stage directions and allowed dialogue to carry the ambience of the play, Williams chose to do both, which gives us a truly sensual experience. It is a key component of his works' theatricality. For instance, in describing the Wingfield's apartment, " The apartment faces and alley and is entered by a fire-escape, a structure wehose name is a touch of accidental poetic truth, for all of these huge buildings are always burning with the slow and aplacable fires of human desperation." This is descriptive? Yes, actually, it is sensational. But never are his directions superfluous; they exist for a reason, and that reason is to tell a story. Is it important for actors and the audience to know that Ammanda's, "tone is rhapsodic".? At first glance, it may seem like this severely constricts artistic liberties. Rather, it does not, because William's himself was about ingenuity. His texts tell a story, but they are presented in a nonconventional way.
The stage directions are the base of this play. Williams' use of stage directions is famous among plays because it is unusually detailed and extensive. Because of this, it is much easier to picture precisely what characters are doing, their appearance, and the setting. The introduction of stage directions of Act 1 Scene II carefully describes both the scene and characters and provides the audience with important clues such as how "the screen is lighted with the image of blue roses." This particular set of directions also carefully contrasts that characters of Amanda and Laura, everything from their opposite wardrobes to their very different manners. Without detailed directions such as these, the reader would have to rely heavily upon the dialog to come to the conclusion that Amanda and Laura are very different. While the dialog is enough to allow the reader to figure it out on his/her own, the stage directions help to emphasize the difference and make it more profound and important as it is supposed to be.
Williams' stage directions are the most effective words he uses to get his point across in "The Glass Menagerie." Through such directions, Williams manages to make the scene come alive. These added phrases serve to help the reader understand his characters. For example, right before Laura musters the courage to answer the door for Jim and Tom, "A faraway, scratchy rendition of 'Dardanella' softens the air and gives her strength to move through it. She slips to the door and draws it cautiously open," (2004). The fact that Williams tells the reader that the music helps Laura to function proves to the reader that Laura is both anxious and somewhat immature. By means of these involved stage directions we are able to gain more insight to the characters. Without them we might not be able to discern the level of Laura's anxiety or other emotions that the characters experience.
Very good everyone! I think you really understand the many functions of Williams' unique theatricality. Does anyone else have any last-minute comments to add?
Williams' stage directions and theatricality add a great deal to "The Glass Menagerie." With the creative elements such as the screen and the the stage directions, the reader/viewer is able to experience more thoroughly the mood of the scene and the current of the plot. We also have a better understanding of the attitudes of the characters, like when Tom reveals his designs to leave: "(Image on screen: The sailing vessel with Jolly Roger again.)
Tom: I'm planning to change. 9He leans over the rail speaking with quiet exhiliration. The incandescent marquees and signs of the first-run movie houses light his face from across the alley. He looks like a voyager.)" (2005) The viewer/reader experiences firsthand the intensity of the excitement in Tom's new spirit of adventure. Williams' brilliant use of these descriptions emphasizes the highly emotionally influenced nature of Tom's memories.
The Glass Menagerie is autobiographical in its sources. In some ways, this is a coming of age story, with both Tom Wingfield and Laura Wingfield negotiating their roles as young adults. Like many coming of age stories, the major conflicts in this play are both internal and external; Tom cannot choose both the future he desires for himself and the future his mother, Amanda Wingfield, desires for him and for Laura. Emerging through this major conflict between Tom and Amanda are the themes of alienation and loneliness, duty and responsibility, and appearances and reality.
Through its poetic structure and reliance on stage direction makes the characters relationships and arguments easier to relate to.“Tom blows on his coffee, glancing sideways at his mother. She clears her throat. Tom clears his. He starts to rise. Sinks back down again, scratches his head, clears his throat again” (1991).Tom serves as both narrator and character, dissolving the present into the past; Williams signals this by exploiting lighting and sound, especially music.
Awesome job with the quotes, everyone! I definitely think that we have all grasped how important theatricality was to this play. :)
Ashley, super comments on many accounts, especially the theatricality of Amanda and the power of Tom's memory.
Channing, you covered it all from stage directions to music!
Deidre, great comments on mannerisms.
Coleen, so true that the stage directions are never superfluous.
Abby, great comment on contrasting Amanda and Laura.
Anne Stuart, stage directions definitely help us to see Laura's anxiety.
John, great comment on Tom's new spirit of adventure.
Alyssa, superb point on how the directions help us to relate to the characters.
Post a Comment