In the play ‘The Glass Menagerie’ the audience is usually presented with 3 obvious primary characters. These characters, Ben, Laura and Amanda, features strong says to the name of leading part, but what hangs over the enjoy is the vampire of the Wingfields’ absent father. It could be contended that his departure was your catalyst intended for the events from the play, impacting on both the economic security and physiological well-being of all the loved ones.
The Wingfields’ daddy is mentioned at the beginning of the play, in Tom’s starting monologue. Mary describes their father and a little about his escape from the friends and family. After describing him as “a mobile phone man who have fell in love with firm distances” (p14) and a mysterious postcard that this individual sent to the family expressing “hello goodbye” he says “I think the rest of the play will clarify itself. inch This indicates, immediately, that the a shortage of the father includes a great influence on the family. He is labeled in almost every landscape, maintains a visual presence onstage at all times (in the form of the picture) and is also mentioned once more in Tom’s closing monologue. Tom’s frequent lowering and raising comments body the action of the play, underpinning his importance for the audience like a main character.
The iconography that represents the father in the perform serves as a constant reminder of his deficiency to the reader, but more importantly to the characters themselves. The most crucial piece of images on the established is the picture of the dad which stays on on the mantelpiece, facing the audience throughout the enjoy. It is referred to in the stage instructions as (the face of) “a very attractive young man within a doughboys 1st World Warfare cap. He can gallantly cheerful, ineluctably grinning as if to say ‘I will be smiling forever'” and while the inside of the house is described as poor, the fathers portrait is bathed in light. The picture in the smiling dad resembles the past for the Wingfield family members ” at the same time representing a time of earlier happiness, even though also becoming a constant tip of the family’s disappointment and feelings of abandonment. The fact that he could be smiling and bathed in light represents a happier time for you to the family, and the reality they keep it on display suggests that they may still have illusions that he might come back or perhaps that they believe that they should pretend that that he is still there with these people smiling. This kind of picture presents something additional for Tom ” that represents his future, just how he will keep the friends and family in a comparable fashion to his father, almost ascending to take his place. As the play is informed in nostalgic way, The picture is a constant reminder to Tom of his upcoming that might have been different.
Another prompt of the father’s presence is a victrola music player that this individual left behind. The victrola may be the sanctuary that Laura retreats to once nervous or perhaps stressed, For instance in scene two, when she is staying chastised simply by her mom she ‘crosses to the victrola and winds it up. ‘ Her mom questions her on this and she comments ‘Oh! ‘ and then ‘returns to her seat. ‘ The use of the surprised sound and the stage directions following this suggest that it was a reflex action to go to the victrola. The victrola is a mark to Laura, a dépendance with her father, the simple fact that the girl retreats to it naturally at hard times shows that the lady still feels, or wants to15325 feel the protection of her father, reminding the reader again of when he talks to you in the house. Amanda still wears a bath gown that he left behind, probably showing her incapability to accept his disappearance. These kinds of icons represent the presence of the father in the lives of the family, and demonstrates he is still very much an important part of their lives.
The importance of the dad as a character manifests alone in the effects of his activities on the friends and family as a product, as well as on the individual members of the family. Inside the time that play is set, pre Ww2 and content Wall Street crash many families in America went through a period of financial hardship ” and without social security at this point over time it is intimated that the absence of a protector breadwinner sets a great economic strain on the family. This is shown through Tom’s displeasure in his job and how hard he functions, (in mention of the the rent) “who constitutes a slave of himself” (p29) and Amanda’s desperate tries to earn extra money offering subscriptions to the “Companion” mag, using unsubtle sales techniques such as “you simply didn’t want to go out should you hadn’t browse it” (p28. ) As well as making money, equally Amanda and Tom vie to take the location of the protector figure.
Amanda takes it after herself as the mother and father figure in the friends and family, the provider of sympathy, and the severe, while Jeff takes it upon him self to be persistent adult plus the main cash earner to compliment the family members. This discord of tasks and understanding of precisely what is needed in the situation ultimately triggers conflict and it is a common happening in sole parenthood, and also being a key feature of domestic misfortune ” presenting the family as to some degree dysfunctional.
An example of this problems is that Amanda tries to reduce Toms (perceived) excessive consuming and smoking cigarettes: “Promise, Child, you’ll never become a drunkard” and “you smoke too much”, this is likely to bring a reaction of anger or humour from Tom, as he seems that he can an adult, both reactions serving as a brush away of his mothers wants. It could also suggest that Ben feels this individual has to turn into an adult too early. The capitalization of the expression son with this extract signifies that Amanda is vigorously reasserting her position while the adult and mother or father of the family members, and when Mary replies inside the negative Williams capitalizes his use of the term mother, showing that this individual accepts, or pretends to simply accept this. This conflict inside the Wingfield friends and family unit is typical of recent Domestic tragedy presenting the family since somehow tainted or tight, equally it presents Jeff and Amanda manoeuvring intended for control, another key feature of household tragedy.
Laura as well tries to fill up the void left by the father in the family. The girl presents the calmer area of a protector figure, looking to keep the serenity in the home and trying to alleviate her single mother’s and brother’s needs, “Mother, let me clear the table. ” Her humble frame of mind is systematic of her crippling low self-esteem, brought on generally by her disability, although also put into by the lack of her dad ” since said Laura retreats for the victrola, the symbol of her father, in times of anxiety. Tom and Amanda mention the Wingfield father figure on many situations, using him to reinforce their very own arguments. “One thing you aren’t father had plenty of ” was appeal! ” Laura does not talk about him once, suggesting that she has recently been the most troubled by his loss, implying that she is in denial. This shows the extent with the damage that his actions have triggered on the friends and family.
The effect of the father’s departure in Tom is different from the effect that it has on Laura and Amanda. Rather than a point of sorrow or perhaps hardship to get him, it becomes a point of aspiration, through the book Mary harbours a growing desire to follow in his dad’s footsteps and leave the family unit. “I’m a bastard son of a bastard! ” exclaims Tom, suggesting that his urge to flee his scenario is merely a following what his daddy has predestined for him. This mirroring of his father’s actions would certainly not be possible in the event that his daddy had not used the activities that he did.
The idea that the daddy has predetermined the fate of the Wingfield family is a powerful indicator of his place as a main character. Williams’ has offered the enjoy this truly feel in several techniques, for instance the retrospective method that Ben narrates the storyline gives it a sense of immovability ” you may engage with the personas and desire them to make different decisions, but you cannot find any chance of this kind of as it has all already occurred. This adds to the tragic effect of the play and, the way that Tom discussing his daddy as if this were his fault shows him as a key figure, “he missed the light great out of town” the use of the word overlooked in this instance signifies sarcasm or perhaps anger ” using a expression usually connected with fun to describe a life altering occurrence.
As a whole, the fathers ‘escape, or ‘abandonment of the family has detrimental effects which is the catalyst that units the events in the play in motion. This is typical of domestic tragedy in several ways, showing the disintegration of the family ” caused by elements of the past impinging on the present. As the fathers activities, coupled with the turbulent economy of the time, decide the storyline which ultimately leads to the familys downfall and a tragic ending, it is certainly fair to say that the father is an essential character in the play.
