Desire Under The Elms And The Glass Menagerie Analysis

Improved Essays
Desire Under the Elms and The Glass Menagerie In our lives, we are surrounded by moments of tragedy that drive our will to keep moving forward. Our life experiences can relate to the famous stories that playwrights have written throughout history. Playwrights are masters at combining theatre elements of tragedy, religion, violence, and numerous relative elements that the audience embrace faithfully. Today, Greek and Roman influence is the main topic since they have inspired the famous plays Desire under the Elms and The Glass Menagerie.
First, one of the conflicts of Desire under the Elms that stood out was the love triangle of the characters Eben, Cabot, and Abbie. Interestingly, social commentary is a style that delivers commentary on
…show more content…
To begin with, religion is the worship of a higher power, similarly, God will be the example in this play. To illustrate my point, when Simeon tells Peter that he is going to search for God’s personal message when he leaves the farm shows a great illustration of the religious style in Roman theatre. Another representation is when Cabot repeatedly speaks about God in almost every scene. The one scene that stands out the best is when he faithfully believes God wants him to stay with the farm and never leave. Likewise, this character’s faith in this play shows a true correlation to the religious elements of Roman …show more content…
Additionally, Tom tries to use his co-worker Jim to date his sister Laura, which this deceptive plan leads to a painful ending for Laura. Unexpectedly, Jim turns down Laura at the end of the night using his made-up fiancé as an excuse to escape from Laura resulting in Laura feeling unwanted as well as Tom feeling guilty for his actions. Correspondingly, social conscience is when an individual has a concern for issues in society. This scene is a great representation of Greek theatre as it fuels tragedy with the element of deception and adds social conscience into this scene since Jim realized he is a target intended for a setup. Aristophanes is one of many Greek playwrights that utilizes social conscience. In addition to Greek theatre, memory plays are plays that are being told by a character’s past memory. This play is a true example of this, since it is being told from Tom’s past memories. In the same manner, his memories are also a great example of ancient theatre for its storytelling

Related Documents

  • Decent Essays

    In general, parents have their own thought about what the good manners fostering children are. Maybe at the some point, they realize the result of their raising whether it is good or not. In my opinion, depending on "The Glass Castle," Rex was fundamentally good enough at that time; however, his imagination drove him to make some mistakes without conscious. On the other side, Rose Mary definitely was a bad mother.…

    • 353 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    One day there was a girl named Belle, and she loved to read and always love taking selfies. The same day she came out her house and heard it was dance mob and everybody was doing the whip and nae nae. Then while she was walking she sees a man named Xavier, the selfish, bodybuilder that always drinks a lot of ale. Then his sidekick Josh, who does everything for him, and looks up to him starts making fun of Belle’s father. While Xavier tells Belle bad things about her father and his inventions, Belle immediately stands up for her dad.…

    • 433 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream is a play packed with mischief and mayhem. It is often referred to by modern-day scholars as the Elizabethan Inception, as there are multiple examples of “play within a play” devices, each embodying several themes and concepts. Among these are examples of the contrast of tragedy and comedy, the dynamics of the written and spoken word, and imagination vs. reality.…

    • 1186 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    What’s in a Tragic Hero? In most dramas the very core of the story revolves around the tragic event or the tragedy itself and the tragic hero that is the cause of the tragedy. In Sopehecle’s “Antigone” Creon is identified as the tragic hero due to his tragic flaws, his power, and his actions that lead to his downfall and that of others. Many works of drama have an essential plot and contain a protagonist and an antagonist and usually have unhappy endings; these would be refereed to as tragedies.…

    • 1094 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Suzan-Lori Parks Analysis

    • 1958 Words
    • 8 Pages

    “A play is a blueprint of an event: a way of creating and rewriting history through the medium of literature.” – Suzan-Lori Parks The medium of literature allows authors, writers, and dramatists to recreate history and tell the stories of those who have been often overlooked. Suzan-Lori Parks does this by using certain people and events throughout history, including her own life, to retell the black experience in an unconventional manner. Parks is an important figure in American theatre because her work was directly impacted by her early life and artistic influences which left a lasting impression on society. Suzan-Lori Parks was born on May 10th, 1964 in Fort Knox, Kentucky.…

    • 1958 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Broadway Musical Analysis

    • 1429 Words
    • 6 Pages

    When professor mentioned that we would watch and discuss about a Broadway Musical show named ‘Memphis’, the first that came to my mind was, the actual city Memphis in the southern state of Tennessee. I was still confused as to how a city and its activities could be incorporated into a Musical show, which is assumed to be entertaining with melodramatic components, dance and music. I had an assumption that it would be academic, political, boring since it is to be watched in a classroom setting and that a professor would not choose something entertaining or something of the liking of the younger generation. I deduced that this play might touch the topic of race since race defined how a person is treated in most southern states. I assumed that…

    • 1429 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    “The Glass Menagerie”, “Death of a Salesman”, and “A Raisin in the Sun” all reflect the human experience. The human experience in this case involves American families during the 30’s, 40’s and 50’s that are co-dependent on each other throughout the economic and social struggles of their time. The families’ struggles transcend their time periods; people empathize with them now and will continue to do so long into the future. The stories depict experiences that feel very real and that people can relate to in their own lives. Economic hardship and dreams of a better future are common themes in these plays.…

    • 1062 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Sabrina Hezeini Dr. Alan F. Hickman ENGL 103d Drama paper III 18 April 2016 Comparison of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet to the Filmed Version William Shakespeare is arguably one of the major English dramatists of all time. As a poet, he is credited with writing hundreds of published manuscripts, and probably more that are yet to be found. As a dramatist, Shakespeare is the author of many notable and famous plays that include Rome and Juliet, Anthony and Cleopatra, The Comedy of Errors, and thirty-five others that can be categorized into comedies, tragedies, and historical narrations. Issues addressed in these dramas included love, human greed, politics, and religion among others.…

    • 1442 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Both of these women are very strong characters. A Streetcar Named Desire is entirely focused on Blanche and her delusions. Towards the end of The Glass Menagerie, Amanda reverts back to being the most popular girl in Blue Mountain. She is also assuming that the gentleman caller will take on look at Laura and want to marry her, thus securing Amanda and Laura’s future. Both of these women characters are very strong.…

    • 1074 Words
    • 5 Pages
    • 4 Works Cited
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Throughout history audiences have been drawn to stories of tragedy. The plays Oedipus the King by Sophocles and Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller are considered to be the greatest fictional tragedies of their time. While Oedipus the King and Death of a Salesman are very different tragedies, it’s amazing that even with 2,400 years separating them, these plays manage to have many similarities and differences in their stories. Oedipus the King was written around 420 BC by Sophocles which was considered to be the most successful writer of Greek tragedies for his time. The main character in Oedipus the King is Oedipus; he was the noble and respectable King of Thebes.…

    • 1061 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In novel the glass castle the Glass Castle written by Jeannette Walls, has a powerful meaning. While reading the novel it had some intense scenes and made you question everything. I believe the meaning and theme behind the title of novel is hope. As Rex, the father of the novel promises his daughter Jeannette, that he would build her own glass castle when he finds the money for it later in the novel. Jeannette didn’t want to lose hope her in father and believed that he was going keep his promise (“ I would never lose faith in him.…

    • 498 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    State a conflict that you see present in Mistaken Identity: A Ten Minute Play (please refer to the list of conflicts). Respond to one of the following, providing examples or quotations from the play to illustrate your ideas: Describe a key conflict in the play and how it corresponds to a character’s development. Describe two key literary techniques and elements and techniques of drama that aid in developing the conflict. Explain how and why the conflict in this comedy is different from and/or similar to the conflict explored in tragedy.…

    • 475 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Tom is Human: an Analysis of the Character Tom from Williams ' The Glass Menagerie The character of Tom in The Glass Menagerie, by Tennessee Williams, polarizes opinions among readers of the play. Some readers sympathize with Tom, seeing him as a victim of circumstance who is justified in pursuing his own happiness, even at the possible expense of his family 's well being. On the other hand, some readers see Tom as worthy of scorn for his selfishness and disregard for his responsibilities.…

    • 828 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Doll’s House Literary Analysis The play Doll’s House is not childish as it sounds; it reflects the reality of what oppression against women looked like in past. Nora, the play’s protagonist, struggles with situation where she unknowingly broke the law in order to aid her husband in ill by asking for money from other man; she tries to escape from her guilt by ensuring that Krogstad keeps his position in her husband’s bank, then tried to keep husband from reading the letter of their transaction, and ultimately she considered of suicide. However, the ending of play was surprisingly different than expected, and Nora had finally escaped from her “guilt” and lived a life where some people don’t know.…

    • 862 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In Tennessee William’s 1945 play, “The Glass Menagerie” we are provided with many stage directions that help the audience understand the plays important aspects of the setting, as well as its central idea. The narrator and protagonist Tom Wingfield, takes the audience on a journey to a past memory of his life with his mother Amanda Wingfield, sister Laura Wingfield, and Jim O’Conner. In the play we are introduced to memory set in the city of St. Louis were Amanda yearns for her daughter Laura, who is disabled, to find a suitor. Tom invites the audience into his version of The Glass Menagerie.…

    • 510 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays