Discuss the contribution of symbolic effects in stage setting, in music, in lighting and in properties to your understanding of Williams' 'The Glass Menagerie'.

Tennessee Williams states, through the character of Tom, that he has a poets weakness for symbols and this is curiously evident in The Glass Menagerie, his first commercial success. As a walkoverwright, Williams faces the challenge of introducing imagery that is either viable or audible to the audience. He achieves this through his do of lighting, unison and pegleg setting. Williams calls this a memory play, both in the production notes and in the t curiosityerness text and as such he is able to use imagery and symbols which are self-consciously theatrical, without it looking obscure. Williams broke by from the naturalistic movement of his time and The Glass Menagerie is a prime example of this.

The music used in the play is incredibly significant. Williams communicates this, again, through Tom,

In memory everything seems to happen to music. That explains the encounter in the wings

The play has its own theme tune, set forth as the lightest, most delicate music in the solid ground and perhaps the saddest. This piece of music is inextricably linked to Laura and is used, primarily, to theorise the melancholy mood of the play and add emphasis her randy strife at specific moments throughout the play. For example, at the end of context one,

Laura: ... Mothers afraid Im going to be an old maid.

The scene dims out with Glass Menagerie music.

This music is used to create an air of commiseration specific to the tragedy of the pay. As an original piece of music it will hold no other meaning for an audience, and by choosing to do so Williams ensures that his audience becomes entirely involved with his characters.

A solely different variety of music is also used in this play. The music which transmits from The Paradise Dance Hall provides a severalise to...

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