Critical Essay on 'The Glass Menagerie'

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In the video of Tennessee Williams' 'The Glass Menagerie.' Tom is the protagonist and the antagonist towards himself, because of the conflict tradition and its illusion. Amanda, his mother is often the antagonist based off her dreams of a “gentleman caller”. She complains about everything Tom does such as not acting like normal people do and wanting him to take on the role as a provider. She seemed like an overbearing parent towards both of her children and Tom wasn’t in agreeance with that. He wanted to get away and be his own person, not what his mother wish he would be. Throughout the play Tom and his mom never really seems to resolve the issue they had. However, for the sake of Laura they did seem to come together to get a suitor. Once Amanda found out the suitor was already courting someone, she became furious, which again is what caused Tom to run out and that time it was for good.

The setting of the movie reminded me of watching a small stage play. It was in the Wingfield’s small apartment in St. Louis Missouri and it never really left that setting. In my opinion, Tom wanted to show the viewers the feeling of being trapped. While the fire escape displayed where he went to escape it all. The costumes in the video represented the social status of the Wingfield family. It displayed how the mother wanted to live and what they had.

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The idea that Williams wanted the viewers to see is to see how difficult it is for some people to accept the reality and the real unlikeliness of the true escape due to the power of memory. For example, in the play Tom kept going out to the fire escape to try and escape the reality of his “nagging” mother and to only wish he was somewhere else. An example of memory would be in the ending of the video when Tom states “Oh Laura, Laura, I tried to leave you behind me, but I am more faithful than I intended to be.” Meaning, that he cannot forget his sister regardless where he’s at. The memory of her never fades.

The actors and actresses of the video seemed to fit their character styles very well. The acting of this production was very good and even better than good being that two of the actors were nominated for an Emmy Award. Katharine Hepburn as Amanda Wingfield was very annoying to me (due to her high pitch voice). She portrayed the classical acting technique thoroughly, she had the voice of the southern belle, the physical skills, emotion memory, and the dramatic analysis down pact to the core. Sam Waterston as Tom Wingfield displayed the Chekhov acting technique by focusing on the character internal problem and expressing the issue through his movements. Joanna Miles as Laura Wingfield also displayed the Chekhov and the classical acting technique by her movements and having the dramatic analysis. The last character Michael Moriarty who played Jim O’Connor presented the Meisner acting technique by focusing not only on himself but by also focusing on the other actor (Laura) as though she was the only one who seemed to exist at that moment. He was the only actor that I seemed to be able to relate to because of his realism.

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Critical Essay on ‘The Glass Menagerie’. (2023, November 21). Edubirdie. Retrieved April 28, 2024, from https://edubirdie.com/examples/critical-essay-on-the-glass-menagerie/
“Critical Essay on ‘The Glass Menagerie’.” Edubirdie, 21 Nov. 2023, edubirdie.com/examples/critical-essay-on-the-glass-menagerie/
Critical Essay on ‘The Glass Menagerie’. [online]. Available at: <https://edubirdie.com/examples/critical-essay-on-the-glass-menagerie/> [Accessed 28 Apr. 2024].
Critical Essay on ‘The Glass Menagerie’ [Internet]. Edubirdie. 2023 Nov 21 [cited 2024 Apr 28]. Available from: https://edubirdie.com/examples/critical-essay-on-the-glass-menagerie/
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