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原帖由 dchx 于 2007-1-24 14:26 发表
分享《玻璃动物园》中文剧本 www.mofile.com 提取码：6546523605826689
分享《玻璃动物园》故事简介mp3 www.mofile.com 提取码：1341325027426817
纯以行动顶四妹子和Randyem01
em19 非常感谢D大滴支持
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这部剧有很多电影版本
1987年版本 保罗 纽曼 (Paul Newman) 导演
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093093/
http://www.mov99.com/movie/1999082309488_poster.html
1977年版本 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0303054/
1973年版本 凯瑟琳·赫本 Katharine Hepburn 主演
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070115/
http://www.mov6.com/title/tt0070115/
1966年版本 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0059989/
1950年版本 柯克·道格拉斯 Kirk Douglas
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0042509/
http://91dy.iynet.net/Modules/FilmInfo.aspx?FilmID=24073
剧作家田纳西．威廉斯简历
美国邮政局在1994年制作的田纳西·威廉斯纪念邮票
cora 翻译的Wikipedia对田纳西·威廉斯的介绍：
Tennesse Williams from Wikipedia
田纳西•威廉斯（1911.3.26~1983.2.25）是20世纪美国最伟大的戏剧家之一。在长达四十年的文学生涯中，他总共创作了二十多部话剧，二十多部独幕剧，两部长篇小说，两本诗集和一定数量的短篇小说。
田纳西•威廉斯笔下有许多经久不衰的戏剧作品，包括《玻璃动物园》、《欲望号街车》和《热铁皮屋顶上的猫》等，几十年来一直是美国戏剧的王牌剧目。《欲望号街车》（1948）和《热铁皮屋顶上的猫》（1955）为他赢得了普利策戏剧奖；另外，《玻璃动物园》（1945）和《伊瓜那之夜》（1961）为他赢得了纽约剧作家协会奖。1952年，他献给伴侣Frank Merlo的作品《玫瑰纹身》获得了东尼奖的最佳戏剧。除了上述提到的各项文学奖项以外，他于１９５２年成为美国文理学院院士，并于１９６９年获得学院的金质奖章，１９７３年获得圣约翰百年勋章，１９７９年获得代表文化界最高荣誉的肯尼迪荣誉勋章。
田纳西•威廉斯原名为托马斯•拉尼尔•威廉斯（Thomas Lanier Williams III）。田纳西这个名字是他的朋友给他起的，因为他带有南方口音，而且他爸爸有着田纳西背景。１９３９年，威廉斯在《小说》杂志上发表《蓝孩子的田野》，并第一次用了田纳西•威廉斯这个笔名，因为他觉得自己的原名“听上去好象只热衷于描写歌颂春天的十四行诗”。
威廉斯出生在密西西比州的哥伦布，爸爸是一名四处奔波的鞋商。他有一个姐姐Rose和一个弟弟Dakin。威廉斯从小体弱多病，因为爸爸很少在家，他的母亲就带着孩子们住在外公家。
威廉斯和姐姐Rose的感情很好，Rose可能是对威廉斯影响最大的一个人。Rose被诊断出患有精神分裂症后，成年后大部分的时间都必须在精神疗养院度过。经历了许多失败的疗程之后，她彻底崩溃。为了医治她，她的双亲同意了对她施行脑前额叶切除术（lobotomy）。手术于1943年在华盛顿实行，结果失败了。Rose终其一生都未见好转。
Rose失败的脑前额叶切除术对于威廉斯来说是一个很大的打击，他难以原谅他的双亲竟然同意这一手术。这也许是他后期酗酒的原因之一。他的作品中有普遍的“狂躁女主角”的现象也许是与她姐姐有关。
他笔下的角色有许多都是源于他真实生活中的家人。《玻璃动物园》中的Laura Wingfield 据说就是以Rose为原型。一些传记作者声称，《欲望号街车》里的Blanche DuBois 也是以她为人物蓝本。脑前额叶切除术这个主题也一再出现在剧目Suddenly Last Summer 中。《玻璃动物园》Amanda Wingfield 被认为是威廉斯母亲的写照。也有很多角色被认为是作者自己的自传式角色，包括《玻璃动物园》里面的Tom Wingfield* 和Suddenly Last Summer 里面的Sebastian。
Tom Wingfield 正是Randy即将在《玻璃动物园》里出演的角色。
威廉斯回忆说：“…以上足以说明我早期在曼哈顿时所有的那种强烈的性渴求，但我似乎非常乐在其中。性欲对于动物来说，是一种冲动，对于人也是如此。但不同的是，动物有着发情期，而对我来说，它一年四季自始至终围着我转。”威廉斯的外公是以为神职人员，这使他从小接受了基督教影响。加上当时社会环境对同性恋的压制，他对同性情感始终怀有些愧疚和自责。他在1941年的一首诗，可以看出他在追求肉体欢愉的同时，精神上却是矛盾重重。
那些怪人、狂徒和同性恋者，
在今年将有一番庆贺之日。
但时辰一过，
只有怜悯陪伴着他们。
在那些同性恋者集聚之处，
在那些地下俱乐部和私人酒吧里，
受天谴的人敲着鼓，狂野地弹起吉他，
为其他受天谴的人唱起了小夜曲。
我相信，不知出于何种理由，
慈悲将在这个时节降临到
那些孤独的人，那些与世界格格不入的人，
那些天赋超群而又心智不全的人┄┄
我相信他们会被迎入暖屋，
酒足饭饱，受到好言相待，
直到上天在温柔的一笑中，
摧毁这些扭曲的孩子。
威廉斯有一个陪伴他走过16年岁月的同性恋人——比他小11岁的Frank Merlo（Frank Merlo在1963年死于癌症），Frank给予了威廉斯极大的鼓励和慰藉，支持他写出了最经久不衰的作品。威廉斯活在不时的失衡和恐惧中，害怕自己会像姐姐Rose一样会精神崩溃，Merlo一直在他身边帮助他恢复平衡。威廉斯的Dakin曾回忆说：“除了互愉的性爱以外，他们之间确实有着深切的关爱，而且两人在生活的各个方面都非常互补，甚至超出了一般男女夫妇所有的默契。与威廉斯以往同居过的恋人不同，Merlo的性格非常稳定，他能够胜任日常生活的各项责任，而威廉斯在这些方面则非常欠缺。Merlo负责开车，烧饭做菜，寄运东西，上街购物，使威廉斯能够全力投入写作。”
１９５５年，深受威廉斯爱戴的外公去世，而他与Merlo的感情生活也出现了波折。在酒精与烦躁情绪的支配下，他创作了最令人震惊也最富有争议的独幕剧Suddenly Last Summer，该剧在百老汇连续上演了２００场。
１９５８年，哥伦比亚电影公司将Suddenly Last Summer搬上了银幕，由Gore Vidal改编剧本，并聘请了Elizabeth Taylor、Katharine Hepburn和Montgomery Clift担任主要角色。当时的电影法规有所放松，同性恋议题受到了解禁。Suddenly Last Summer藉着大明星领衔的威力，首次将同性恋公开地推上了美国银幕。
Blanche DuBois在《欲望号街车》中曾说：“我喜欢黑暗，黑暗令我感到安慰……我从来不说出真相，我只说那些人们想听的所谓真相。”这席话是Blanche沉沦人生的心声，同时也是同性恋者心情的确切写照。几十年来，一些同性恋观众声称威廉斯塑造的Blanche其实是一个穿着女装的男同性恋者，威廉斯虽然不同意这种看法，但他于１９７７年接受同性恋杂志《声音》的采访时，却道出了自己创作时的心理状况：“每个人内心都有着男女两种性别。作家可以从一个性别出发，塑造一名男人，或者从另外一个性别出发，塑造一个女人。对我来说，由于我来自南方，因此在大多数情况下，用南方女人富有诗意的表达方式，更令我得心应手。”
1983年，71岁的威廉斯在纽约丽榭饭店的套房中去世。他试图用药瓶盖来盛两粒安眠药，但瓶盖不小心掉入了喉腔，使他梗噎而死。
田纳西的戏剧作品（时间顺序）：
Beauty Is the Word (1930)
Cairo! Shanghai! Bombay! (1935)
Candles to the Sun (1936)
The Magic Tower (1936)
Fugitive Kind (1937)
Spring Storm (1937)
Summer at the Lake (1937)
The Palooka (1937)
The Fat Man's Wife (1938)
Not about Nightingales (1938)
Adam and Eve on a Ferry (1939)
Battle of Angels (1940)
The Parade or Approaching the End of Summer (1940)
The Long Goodbye (1940)
Auto Da Fé (1941)
The Lady of Larkspur Lotion (1941)
At Liberty (1942)
The Pink Room (1943)
The Gentleman Callers (1944)
The Glass Menagerie (1944)
You Touched Me (1945)
Moony's Kid Don't Cry (1946)
This Property is Condemned (1946)
27 Wagons Full of Cotton (1946)
Portait of a Madonna (1946)
The Last of My Solid Gold Watches (1947)
Stairs to the Roof (1947)
A Streetcar Named Desire (1947)
Summer and Smoke (1948)
I Rise in Flame, Cried the Phoenix (1951)
The Rose Tattoo (1951)
Camino Real (1953)
Hello from Bertha (1954)
Lord Byron's Love Letter (1955) - libretto
Three Players of a Summer Game (1955)
Cat On a Hot Tin Roof (1955)
The Dark Room (1956)
The Case of the Crushed Petunias (1956)
Baby Doll (1956) - original screenplay
Orpheus Descending (1957)
Suddenly, Last Summer (1958)
A Perfect Anaysis Given by a Parrot (1958)
Garden District (1958)
Something Unspoken (1958)
Sweet Bird of Youth (1959)
The Purification (1959)
And Tell Sad Stories of the Deaths of Queens (1959)
Period of Adjustment (1960)
The Night of the Iguana (1961)
The Milk Train Doesn't Stop Here Anymore (1963)
The Eccentricities of a Nightingale (1964)
Grand (1964)
Slapstick Tragedy (The Mutilated and The Gnädiges Fräulein) (1966)
The Mutilated (1967)
Kingdom of Earth / Seven Descents of Myrtle (1968)
Now the Cats with Jewelled Claws (1969)
In the Bar of a Tokyo Hotel (1969)
Will Mr. Merriweather Return from Memphis? (1969)
Talk to Me Like the Rain and Let Me Listen (1970?)
I Can't Imagine Tomorrow (1970)
The Frosted Glass Coffin (1970)
Small Craft Warnings (1972)
Out Cry (1973)
The Two-Character Play (1973)
The Red Devil Battery Sign (1975)
Demolition Downtown (1976)
This Is (An Entertainment) (1976)
Vieux Carré (1977)
Tiger Tail (1978)
Kirche, Kŭche und Kinder (1979)
Creve Coeur (1979)
Lifeboat Drill (1979)
Clothes for a Summer Hotel (1980)
The Chalky White Substance (1980)
This Is Peaceable Kingdom / Good Luck God (1980)
Steps Must be Gentle (1980)
The Notebook of Trigorin (1980)
Something Cloudy, Something Clear (1981)
A House Not Meant to Stand (1982)
The One Exception (1983)
Biography of Tennessee Williams (1911-1983)
Playwright, poet, and fiction writer, Tennessee Williams left a powerful mark on American theatre. At their best, his twenty-five full-length plays combined
lyrical intensity, haunting loneliness, and hypnotic violence. He is widely considered the greatest Southern playwright and one of the greatest playwrights
in the history of American drama.
Born Thomas Lanier Williams on March 26, 1911, he suffered through a difficult and troubling childhood. His father, Cornelius Williams, was a shoe salesman
and an emotionally absent parent. He became increasingly abusive as the Williams children grew older. His mother, Edwina, was the daughter of Southern
Episcopal minister and had lived the adolescence and young womanhood of a spoiled Southern belle. Williams was sickly as a child, and his mother was a loving
but smothering woman. In 1918 the family moved from Mississippi to St. Louis, and the change from a small provincial town to a big city was very difficult
for William?s mother. Williams had an older sister named Rose and a younger brother named Walter. Rose was emotionally and mentally unstable, and her
illnesses had a great influence on Thomas?s life and work.
In 1929, Williams enrolled in the University of Missouri. After two years he dropped out of school, compelled to do so by his father, and took a job in the
warehouse of the same shoe company for which his father worked. He was an employee there for ten months, despising the job but working at the warehouse
throughout the day and writing late into the night. The strain was too much, and Williams had a nervous breakdown. He recovered at the home of his
grandparents, and during these years he continued to write. Amateur productions of his early plays were put on in Memphis and St. Louis. During this time,
Rose?s mental health continued to deteriorate. During a fight between Cornelius and Edwina, Cornelius made a move towards Rose that he claimed was meant to
calm her. Rose thought his overtures were sexual and suffered a terrible breakdown. Her parents had her lobotomized shortly afterward.
Williams went back to school and graduated from the University of Iowa in 1938. He then moved to New Orleans, where he changed his name to Tennessee. Having
struggled with his sexuality all through his youth, he now fully entered gay life, with a new name, a new home, and promising talent. That same year, he won
a prize for American Blues, a collection of one-act plays. In 1940, Battle of Angels (later rewritten as Orpheus Descending), his first full-length and
professionally produced play, failed miserably. Tennessee Williams continued to struggle. 1944-1945 brought a great turning point in his life and career: The
Glass Menagerie was produced in Chicago to great success, and shortly afterward was a smash hit on Broadway. While success freed Williams financially, it
also made it difficult for him to write. He went to Mexico to work on a play originally titled The Poker Night. This play eventually became one of his
masterpieces, A Streetcar Named Desire. It won Williams a Pulitzer Prize in 1947, which enabled him to travel and buy a home in Key West, a new base to which
Williams could escape for both relaxation and writing. Around this time, Williams met Frank Merlo. The two fell in love, and the young man became Williams?
romantic partner until Merlo?s untimely death in 1961. He was a steadying influence on Williams, who suffered from depression and lived in fear that he, like
his sister Rose, would go insane.
These years were some of Williams? most productive. His plays were a great success in the United States and abroad, and he was able to write works that were
well-received by critics and popular with audiences: The Rose Tattoo (1950), Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1955), Night of the Iguana (1961), among many others. Cat
on a Hot Tin Roof won Williams his second Pulitzer Prize.
He gave American theatergoers unforgettable characters, an incredible vision of life in the South, and a series of powerful portraits of the human condition.
He was deeply interested in something he called "poetic realism," the use of everyday objects, which, seen repeatedly and in the right contexts, become
imbued with symbolic meaning. His plays, for their time, also seemed preoccupied with the extremes of human brutality and sexual behavior: madness, rape,
incest, nymphomania, as well as violent and fantastic deaths. Williams himself often commented on the violence in his own work, which to him seemed part of
the human condition; he was conscious, also, of the violence in his plays being expressed in a particularly American setting. As with the work of Edward
Albee, critics who attacked the "excesses" of Williams? work often were making thinly veiled attacked on his sexuality. Homosexuality was not discussed
openly at that time, but in Williams? plays the themes of desire and isolation show, among other things, the influence of having grown up gay in a homophobic
world.
The sixties brought hard times for Tennessee Williams. He had become dependent on drugs, and the problem only grew worse after the death of Frank Merlo in
1961. Merlo?s death from lung cancer sent Williams into a deep depression that lasted ten years. Williams was also insecure about his work, which was
sometimes of inconsistent quality, and he was violently jealous of younger playwrights.
His sister Rose was in his thoughts during his later work. The later plays are not considered Williams? best, including the failed Clothes for a Summer
Hotel. Overwork and drug use continued to take their toll on him, and on February 23, 1983, Williams choked to death on the lid of one of his pill bottles.
He left behind an impressive body of work, including plays that continue to be performed the world over. In his worst work, his writing is melodramatic and
overwrought, but at his best Tennessee Williams is a haunting, lyrical, and powerful voice, one of the most important forces in twentieth-century American
drama.
关于这部剧 About Glass Menagerie
The Glass Menagerie was written in 1944, based on reworked material from one of Williams' short stories, "Portrait of a Girl in Glass," and his screenplay,
The Gentleman Caller. In the weeks leading up to opening night (December 26, 1944 in Chicago), Williams had deep doubts about the production?the theater did
not expect the play to last more than a few nights, and the producers prepared a closing notice in response to the weak initial ticket sales. But two critics
loved the show, and returned almost nightly to monitor the production. Meanwhile, they gave the play enthusiastic reviews and continued to praise it daily in
their respective papers. By mid-January, tickets to the show were some of the hottest items in Chicago, nearly impossible to obtain. Later in 1945, the play
opened in New York with similar success. On opening night in New York, the cast received an unbelievable twenty-five curtain calls.
Tennessee Williams did not express strong admiration for any early American playwrights; his greatest dramatic influence was the brilliant Russian playwright
Anton Chekhov. Chekhov, with his elegant juxtaposition of the humorous and the tragic, his lonely characters, and his dark sensibilities, was a powerful
inspiration for Tennessee Williams' work?although Williams' plays are undeniably American in setting and character. The novelist D.H. Lawrence offered
Williams a depiction of sexuality as a potent force of life; Lawrence is alluded to in The Glass Menagerie as one of the writers favored by Tom. The American
poet Hart Crane was another important influence on Williams; with Crane's dramatic life, open homosexuality, and determination to create poetry that did not
mimic European sensibilities, Williams found a great source of inspiration. Williams also belongs to the tradition of great Southern writers who have
invigorated literary language with the lyricism of Southern English.
Like Eugene O'Neill, Tennessee Williams wanted to challenge some of the conventions of naturalistic theatre. Summer and Smoke (1948), Camino Real (1953), and
The Glass Menagerie (1944), among others, provided some of the early testing ground for Williams' innovations. The Glass Menagerie uses music, screen
projections, and lighting effects to create the haunting and dream-like atmosphere appropriate for a "memory play." Like Eugene O'Neill's Emperor Jones and
Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman, Williams' play explores ways of using the stage to depict the interior life and memories of a character. Tom, as
narrator, moves in and out of the action of the play. There are not realistic rules for the convention: we also see events that Tom did not directly witness.
The screen projections seem heavy-handed, but at the time their use would have seemed to be a cutting-edge innovation. The projections use film-like effects
and the power of photography (art forms that are much younger than drama) in a theatrical setting. In The Glass Menagerie, Williams' skillful use of the
narrator and his creation of a dream-like, illusory atmosphere help to create a powerful representation of family, memory, and loss.
剧中的角色 Character List
Amanda Wingfield: Once a Southern belle who was the darling of her small town's social scene, Amanda is now an abandoned wife and single mother living in a
small apartment in St. Louis. She dreams of her past and of her daughter's future, but seems unwilling to recognize certain harsh realities of the present.
She is a loving mother, but her demands can make life difficult for Laura and unbearable for Tom.
Laura Wingfield: Crippled from childhood, Laura walks with the aid of a leg brace. Laura is painfully shy, unable to face the world outside of the tiny
Wingfield apartment. She spends her time polishing her collection of tiny glass animals, her "glass menagerie." Her presence is almost ghostly, and her
inability to connect with others outside of her family makes her dependent on Tom and Amanda. Jim's nickname for her, "Blue Roses," suggests both her odd
beauty and her isolation, as blue roses exist nowhere in the real world. She is in many ways like Rose, Tennessee Williams' real-life sister.
Tom Wingfield: Tom is an aspiring poet who works in the Continental Shoemakers warehouse. He is the narrator of the play: the action of the play is framed by
Tom's memory. Tom loves his mother and sister, but he feels trapped at home. They are dependent on his wages, and as long as he stays with them he feels he
can never have a life of his own. Nightly, he disappears to "go to the movies."
Jim O'Connor: The long-awaited gentleman caller. He is outgoing, enthusiastic, and believes in self-improvement. He kisses Laura and raises her hopes before
revealing to her that he is engaged. Tom describes him as a person more connected to the real world than any of the other characters are, but Jim is also a
symbol for the "expected something that we live for."
剧目简介 Short Summary
The action of The Glass Menagerie takes place in the Wingfield family's apartment in St. Louis, 1937. The events of the play are framed by memory. Tom
Wingfield, who usually smokes and stands on the fire escape as he delivers his monologues, is the play's narrator. The narrator addresses us from the undated
and eternal present, although at the play's first production (1944-5), Tom's constant indirect references to the violence of the Second World War would have
been powerfully current.
The action of the play centers on Tom, his mother Amanda, and his sister Laura. In 1937 they live together in a small apartment in St. Louis. Their father
abandoned them years earlier, and Tom is now the family's breadwinner. He works at the Continental Shoemakers warehouse during the day, but he disappears
nightly "to the movies." Amanda is a loving mother, but her meddling and nagging are hard to live with for Tom, who is a grown man and who is earning the
wages that support their family. Laura is a frightened and terribly shy girl, with unbelievably weak nerves. She is also slightly lame in one leg, and she
seldom leaves the apartment of her own volition. She busies herself caring for her "glass menagerie," a collection of delicate little glass animals.
Amanda dreams constantly of the long-ago days when she was a young Southern belle and the darling of her small town's social scene. She enrolled Laura in
classes at Rubicam's Business College, hoping that a career in business would make Laura self-sufficient. She discovers that Laura stopped attending class a
long time ago, because the speed tests on the typewriter terrified her. After the fiasco at Rubicam's Amanda gives up on a business career for Laura and puts
all her hopes into finding a husband for her.
Amanda's relationship with Tom is difficult. Tom longs to be free?like his father?to abandon Amanda and Laura and set off into the world. He has stayed
because of his responsibility for them, but his mother's nagging and his frail sister's idiosyncrasies make the apartment a depressing and oppressive place.
Tom also hates his job. His only escape comes from his frequent visits to the movies, but his nightly disappearances anger and baffle Amanda. He fights with
Amanda all the time, and the situation at home grows more unbearable.
Amanda, sensing that Tom wants to leave, tries to make a deal with him. If Tom and Amanda can find a husband for Laura, a man who can take care of her, then
Tom will be free of his responsibility to them. Amanda asks Tom to bring home gentlemen callers to meet Laura. Tom brings home Jim O'Connor, a fellow
employee at the warehouse. He is an outgoing and enthusiastic man on whom Laura had a terrible crush back in high school. Jim chats with Laura, growing
increasingly flirtatious, until he finally kisses her. Then he admits that he has a fiancé and cannot call again. For fragile Laura, the news is devastating.
Amanda is furious, and after Jim leaves she accuses Tom of playing a cruel joke on them. Amanda and Tom have one final fight, and not long afterward Tom
leaves for good. In his closing monologue, he admits that he cannot escape the memory of his sister. Though he abandoned her years ago, Laura still haunts
him.
The Glass Menagerie is loosely autobiographical. The characters all have some basis in the real-life family of Tennessee Williams: Edwina is the hopeful and
demanding Amanda, Rose is the frail and shy Laura (whose nickname, "Blue Roses," refers directly back to Williams' real-life sister), and distant and cold
Cornelius is the faithless and absent father. Tom is Williams' surrogate. Williams actually worked in a shoe warehouse in St. Louis, and there actually was a
disastrous evening with the only gentleman caller who ever came for Rose. Thomas was also Tennessee Williams' real name, and the name "Thomas" means twin?
making Tom the surrogate not only for Williams but also possibly for the audience. He is our eye into the Wingfields' situation. His dilemma forms a central
conflict of the play, as he faces an agonizing choice between responsibility for his family and living his own life.
The play is replete with lyrical symbolism. The glass menagerie, in its fragility and delicate beauty, is a symbol for Laura. She is oddly beautiful and,
like her glass pieces, easy to destroy. The fire escape is most closely linked to Tom's character and to the theme of escape. Laura stumbles on the escape,
while Tom uses it to get out of the apartment and into the outside world. He goes down the fire escape one last time at the end of the play, and he stands on
the landing during his monologues. His position there metaphorically illustrates his position between his family and the outside world, between his
responsibility and the need to live his own life.
The play is non-naturalistic, playing with stage conventions and making use of special effects like music and slide projections. By writing a "memory play,"
Tennessee Williams freed himself from the restraints of naturalistic theatre. The theme of memory is important: for Amanda, memory is a kind of escape. For
Tom, the older Tom who narrates the events of the play to the audience, memory is the thing that cannot be escaped: he is still haunted by memories of the
sister whom he abandoned years ago.
剧目及分析
Summary and Analysis of Scene 1
Summary:
Williams opens with extensive stage directions setting the scene of the play. He describes the Wingfield apartment, a small unit in a crowded urban area of
St. Louis. Visible outside are a fire escape and narrow alleys flanking the building; through the transparent fourth wall the audience can see the Wingfield
living room and dining room. A large photograph of the family's absent father is on the wall. Also visible is a large collection of transparent glass
animals, Laura's "glass menagerie," for which the play is named. There is a phonograph, along with some old records, and a keyboard chart with an upright
typewriter. During the opening, the transparent fourth wall ascends out of sight, to fall again only during Tom's final monologue.
Tom emerges, dressed as a merchant sailor. In his first speech, he compares himself to a magician who gives "truth in the pleasant disguise of illusion" and
establishes himself as a poet and as the narrator of the play. He tells the audience that the play takes place in the thirties, when there was war in Spain
and a different kind of turmoil here in America. He warns that the play is a work of memory, and therefore is not realistic. There will be music, unrealistic
lighting, certain events amplified and emphasized. He describes the characters: Amanda, his mother; Laura, his sister; a gentleman caller who will appear
later in the play; and Tom's and Laura's absent father, who never appears, but is nonetheless an important figure in the play. Their father occasionally
sends the family postcards from all over the world; the last one contained a two-word message of "Hello! Goodbye!" He abandoned the family many years ago.
As the action begins with Amanda calling Tom to the dinner table, the tension in the family becomes apparent. Amanda is a sympathetic character, but she is
also demanding of her children and often quite silly?instructing Tom, although he is a grown man whose wages support their family, how to chew his food.
Laura tries to clear the table, but Amanda tells her to sit and be the lady while she does the work. As Tom goes out to smoke a cigarette, Amanda tells a
story?which, by the children's reaction, she has often told before?about one day in her youth when she received seventeen gentleman callers in a single
afternoon. She names them, tells what they went on to do with their lives, and reminds her children miserably that she, who had her pick, chose their father.
She then asks Laura when Laura's gentleman callers are going to start arriving, and Laura responds nervously that she has none. The question clearly makes
Tom uncomfortable. Amanda responds with incredulity to Laura's insistence that she is not as popular as her mother was back in the small town of Blue
Mountain. The scene closes with Laura remarking wistfully to Tom that their mother is afraid that Laura will be an old maid.
Analysis
From the beginning, the figure of the narrator shows that Williams' play will not follow the conventions of realistic theatre. The narrator breaks the
conceptual "fourth wall" of naturalistic drama by addressing the audience directly. Tom also tells us that he is going to give the audience truth disguised
as illusion, making the audience conscious of the illusory quality of theatre. By playing with the theme of memory and its distortions, Williams is free to
use music, monologues, and projected images to haunting effect. Tom, as narrator, tells the audience that the gentleman caller is a real person?more real, in
many ways, than any other character?but he also tells the audience that the gentleman is a symbol for the "expected something that we live for," the thing
for which we are always waiting and hoping. This naming of a character as both real entity and symbol is characteristic of Williams' work; both of these
aspects of the gentleman caller are important to the overall impact of the play.
The allusion to Guernica and the turmoil in Spain, juxtaposed to the uneasy peace in America, establishes a tense atmosphere as the play's background. The
Americans of the thirties lived in relative peace, but for the 1944-5 audience of the play's first production, the thirties would have been seen as the calm
before the storm of World War II. The allusion to Guernica (bombed by Germany, ally of the fascist forces in Spain; the carnage was famously depicted in a
painting by Pablo Picasso) serves as a reminder that before long war will be coming to everyone, the United States included. There is symmetry between the
uneasy peace of the time period and the uneasy peace in the Wingfield house. Just as America stirs restlessly with the uneasy peace before the Second World
War, Tom seethes with the need to escape his home and set out into the world?as his father did before him. The fire escape, a visually prominent part of the
set, is an important symbol for the imprisonment that Tom feels and the possibility of a way out. In his stage directions, Williams characteristically imbues
the fire escape with symbolic weight, saying that the buildings are burning with the "implacable fires of human desperation." Tom addresses the audience from
the fire escape, and his positioning there, standing alone between the outside world and the space of the apartment, points to the painful choice he makes
later in the play. In order to escape, he must escape alone and leave his mother and sister behind.
Originally, the script called for the use of a projector, which, during each scene, showed images to emphasize certain motifs and symbols during the action.
(The projector was not used in the first production, but some productions since have used the idea and the instructions for the device remain in the script.)
For example, while Amanda is speaking, the script says that a projected image of Amanda as a young girl appears. These photographic images and projected text
emphasize the symbolic elements of the play as well as the theme of memory; in the case of Amanda's image, we are given memory within memory, a memory framed
by the larger memory of the play itself. The audience is therefore twice removed from the world of the image, contributing to the dream-like and ghostly
atmosphere of the play. While the projected image gives added force to Amanda's words, showing the audience a visual representation alongside the images
created by Amanda's speech, these visual images become symbolic of memory's paradoxical nature. On one hand, the visual image is real, right before our eyes,
and full of evocative power; on the other hand, it is only a photograph from a distant past and is therefore frozen and lifeless.
Amanda is always returning mentally to this past, which is immaterial and far-removed from her current reality. Her reaction to Laura shows that she is
strangely in denial about the nature of her own daughter. Laura is crippled, able to walk only slowly and with great effort, and emotionally she is terribly
fragile. The contrast between the vivacious and talkative Amanda and her timid, soft-spoken daughter could not be stronger. Tom has a tender relationship
with Laura; when Tom expresses frustration at the start of Amanda's story about her gentlemen callers, it is Laura who persuades Tom to humor their mother.
The relationship between Tom and Amanda is tense; in this scene, he seems to be struggling to tolerate her, and while Amanda is loving she is also demanding
beyond reason. Her insistence that Laura stay put while Amanda plays "the darky" shows her extremely provincial Southern upbringing. In her youth she was
wealthy enough to have servants, but now, with her husband gone, she is struggling to make ends meet. She wants to relive her past through Laura,
transplanting the quaint life she had in Blue Mountain to the urban setting of St. Louis. Amanda seems oblivious to Tom's unhappiness and Laura's painful
shyness.
Summary and Analysis of Scene 2
Summary:
Laura is polishing her collection of glass animals, and Amanda returns home visibly disturbed. She has made an unsettling discovery.
On the way to her D.A.R. meeting (Daughters of the American Revolution), Amanda stopped at Rubicam's Business College, where Laura has supposedly been taking
lessons, to tell the teachers that Laura has a cold and to ask about Laura's progress. Amanda discovered that Laura has not been going to class everyday, but
instead dropped out of the school after only a few days of attendance. The teacher remembered Laura?she was the shy girl who trembled so much that she
couldn't hit the keys.
Amanda, bemoaning the waste of fifty dollars for the tuition, asks Laura where she has been everyday. Laura, clearly shaken and guilt-stricken, admits that
she has spent all of these days walking in the park or going to museums, keeping up the deception because she could not bear Amanda's disappointment.
Amanda talks about her fears?economically, Laura has no way of supporting herself, and women without husbands and jobs end up dependent on resentful
relatives. She asks if Laura has ever liked a boy, and Laura responds shyly that in high school she had a crush on a boy named Jim. He used to call her "Blue
Roses," having misheard her when she told him that she had been ill with an attack of pleurosis. However, the yearbook says that Jim and his high school
girlfriend were engaged, and so Laura assumes that the two of them must be married.
Amanda tells Laura that she must try to find a husband. Laura reacts doubtfully and with great sadness, responding that she is crippled and therefore cannot
find a husband. Amanda reminds Laura that she has told her daughter never to use the word "cripple," and says that Laura should overcome her "little defect"
by cultivating charm.
Analysis
This is the first scene where the audience sees Laura taking care of her glass menagerie. The glass menagerie is the most important symbol for Laura and her
fragility. Her engagement with the tiny animals reveals how painfully afraid she is of interaction with other humans. The qualities of glass parallel Laura's
characteristics: like the tiny glass animals, she is delicate, beautiful in her oddness, terribly fragile. The little collection, like Laura, in an entity
that is locked completely in the realm of the home. The animals must be kept on a little shelf and polished; there is only one place where they belong. In a
similar way, Laura is kept and cared for, dependent on her mother and brother for financial support. The Blue Roses are another important symbol of Laura.
The image of blue roses is a beautiful one?and it is the image that is on the screen at the start of Scene Two. But blue roses are also pure fantasy, non-
existent in the real world. Laura, like a blue rose, is special, unique even, but she is also cut off from real life.
Her attempt to learn job skills at Rubicam's Business College was a terrible failure. She became physically ill and could not bear to continue going to
class. Her subsequent deception and fear of her own mother's disappointment shows how oppressive Amanda can be; although Amanda is not in any way cruel, and
in fact is very loving, her investment in her children and her need to live through them is a terrible burden for Tom and Laura.
Amanda's anxieties show the difficulty of their financial situation. She is sincerely fearful of what will become of Laura, now that Laura has given up any
hope of a career. Amanda works, but the Wingfield family is dependent on Tom's wages. This dependency puts Tom in a difficult position, and we'll see more of
that difficulty in Scene Three.
Summary and Analysis of Scene 3
Summary:
Tom addresses the audience from the fire escape, telling us about Amanda's determined preparation for a gentleman caller. Mention of the gentleman caller
pops into every conversation in the Wingfield apartment, and the stage is haunted by the gentleman caller's projected image. Because it will take money to
make their home presentable, Amanda takes a job searching for subscribers to The Homemaker's Companion, a magazine for women.
We see Amanda speaking on the telephone to a woman whose subscription is about to run out. Amanda tells the woman that she needs to renew her subscription,
trying to convince her through the new serial novel that has just begun. Amanda alludes to Gone With the Wind, comparing the new serial to the famous story
of Scarlett O'Hara. Eventually, the potential subscriber hangs up on Amanda.
We then cut to a very different scene, of Tom and Amanda locked in a vicious argument, which is already in progress. A horrified Laura watches as Tom and
Amanda scream at each other. Tom expresses outrage that Amanda confiscated his books. Amanda is not cowed, saying that she will not allow any books by "Mr.
Lawrence" in her home. Tom responds that he is the one who pays the rent, and that he is the one who has given up his dreams to support their family. Stage
directions indicate that the upright typewriter is surrounded by manuscripts in a state of disarray, and that the battle between Tom and Amanda was probably
instigated by Amanda's interruption of Tom's writing. Amanda is also outraged because she does not know where Tom goes at night. She does not believe his
claim that he spends his nights out at the movies, and she is angered by the drunken state in which he often returns home. She fears that his nights out
jeopardize his day job, and that if he loses his job their security will be threatened.
Tom fires back with anger and frustration that he goes to work every morning even though he hates it. And to Amanda's doubt about where he goes every night,
Tom answers with a sarcastic speech that is one of the play's most famous and memorable moments. With bitter sarcasm, he warns her that by night he is a czar
of the underworld (known and feared as "Killer Wingfield" and "El Diablo") and that his enemies plan to dynamite the Wingfield apartment. He calls his mother
a witch. As he is trying to leave the apartment, he accidentally knocks over the glass menagerie. Amanda storms off, enraged, and remorseful Tom helps Laura
to pick up pieces of her collection.
Analysis
The idea of a gentleman caller becomes Amanda's obsession and the great hope for the Wingfields to attain financial security. With a husband, Laura will be
provided for and the two women will no longer be dependent on Tom. However, Amanda's ambition for Laura shows the level of her disconnection from real life
and the fragility of her dreams. Even if Laura could find a husband, it is strange that Amanda should have so much faith that a husband for Laura would mean
security for their family. After all, Amanda's own husband was faithless, and his decision to leave their family led to their current predicament.
The "Mr. Lawrence" Amanda refers to is D.H. Lawrence, one of the important influences on Tennessee Williams. The allusion to D.H. Lawrence tells us about
Tom's needs. Lawrence's work was daring and provocative, especially for its time. His novels depicted sexuality as a powerful force, and Tom's interest in
Lawrence's work suggests both Tom's literary ambitions and his frustration. Tom is trapped in the apartment, with no outlets at home for the ambitions or
desires of a young man.
One of the play's important themes is the conflict between the desire to live one's own life and the responsibility for one's family. Tom's wages pay the
bills, but Amanda continues to treat him as a child. She confiscates and returns his books, and during their argument she attempts to control their
discussion as an adult controls an argument with a little boy.
Tom's nightly disappearance "to the movies" has been played in different ways, depending on the production. While his later discussion of his frustration
with movies suggests that he goes to the movies at least part of the time, some critics have argued that Tom might be spending his nights exploring the
city's hidden gay world. The text does not give enough evidence to make a definitive argument either way. In his monologues to the audience, Tom does not
give firm indication of where he used to spend his nights. Nothing in the text rules out the possibility that Tom spends his nights seeking out men for
sexual encounters. He never really directly denies that he is going somewhere other than the movies, and with the audience he never addresses the question of
whether or not her really goes to the movies. He also arrives home at times?five in the morning, in one scene?when it seems unlikely that a movie would just
be ending. His anger at being questioned does not help to shed light on the matter: he would be angry if he was telling the truth about going to the movies,
and he would be angry if he had something to hide. Critics who favor the sexual interpretation of Tom's nightly disappearances often cite Tennessee Williams'
youth and his grappling with his own sexuality. The play is in many other respects autobiographical, and Tom is Williams' surrogate?he even bears Tennessee
Williams' real name. If Tom were gay, his frustration with home would be even greater. Tom would feel even more isolated and restless, unable to tell the
truth to his mother and sister.
When Tom accidentally breaks some of the pieces in the glass menagerie, the incident foreshadows Laura's heartbreak later on in the play. The event
emphasizes the collection's fragility, and so metaphorically we are reminded of Laura's fragility. Tom is the one responsible, and the pain of his position
is made clear. As much as he would like to live his own life, his actions have a great effect on the well-being and security of his mother and sister. By
being reckless, he destroys the pretend-world of his sister. Later on, he chooses to live his own life rather than live up to his responsibility for her
security.
Summary and Analysis of Scene 4
Summary:
As the church bell strikes five (in the morning), a drunken Tom stumbles home. The script does not make clear exactly how much time has passed between Scene
Four and the argument that ended Scene Three, but it has been no more than a few days. Laura, who sleeps on the couch, hears him and opens the door for him.
Tom insists that he has been at the movies all night. When Laura expresses doubt that her brother could really have been at the movies all this time, Tom
tells her about the length of the program and the magician that he went to see. He gives her a rainbow colored scarf as a souvenir from the magic show. The
magician's most impressive trick was to escape from a coffin without removing a single nail. Tom is awestruck by the trick, and shares his wonder with Laura:
"You know it don't take much intelligence to get yourself into a nailed-up coffin, Laura. But who in hell ever got himself out of one without removing one
nail?"
Cut to one hour later. After the church bell strikes six times, we hear Amanda calling out "Rise and Shine!" After just an hour of sleep, an exhausted Tom
stumbles out of bed for another day of work at the warehouse. Laura, who has been sent to wake him, begs Tom to apologize to Amanda. Meanwhile, Amanda is
calling out from the kitchenette for Laura to go get butter from the grocery store. Laura, exiting on the fire escape, slips and cries out. The noise gives
Tom and Amanda a scare, but Laura seems to be fine.
Awkwardly, Tom tries to apologize to Amanda as he takes his morning coffee. Amanda feels that she suffers and struggles for the sake of her children, and
that her efforts go unappreciated by Tom. Tom tries to tell her that he doesn't hate her and that he understands her feelings. Amanda also tells Tom he
cannot fail; without him, she cannot keep the family together. She believes that if Tom applies himself he will succeed; the idea of her children's success
is an exhilarating one for her, and she becomes breathless just speaking about it. Amanda also asks Tom to promise that he will never be a drunkard. She
exhorts him to eat, but he refuses everything except for the black coffee he is drinking.
Amanda is concerned. She tells Tom that Laura thinks he is unhappy. She asks why?and if?he goes to the movies every night. Tom responds that he likes lots of
adventure, and that his job at the warehouse does not provide any. Amanda is worried that Tom will abandon them. Fearful for Laura's future, Amanda tells Tom
that he can leave if he can find a replacement?a gentleman caller for Laura, who will eventually marry her and provide for her. Amanda exhorts Tom to
overcome selfishness. An increasingly frustrated Tom tries to break off the conversation and go to work, but not before he begrudgingly agrees to look for a
gentleman caller for his sister.
Analysis
Tom's fascination with the movies and the magician shows his need for fantasy and escapism. Tom is always dreaming of fantastic places far from St. Louis,
and for now he escapes through the illusions offered by the movie house and the stage magician. He dreams of leaving home, but his responsibilities for his
sister and his mother have so far kept him in the Wingfield apartment. What he sees at the magic show is directly connected to the theme of conflict between
Tom's responsibility for his family and his need to live his own life. The magician's most impressive trick becomes a symbol for what Tom wishes he could
do?to make a clean, easy escape, without destroying the coffin or removing any nails. The use of the coffin as a symbol for Tom's predicament shows the depth
of his unhappiness. He feels spiritually dead, despising his work and stifled by the atmosphere at home. In his talk with Amanda, he suggests that his work
emasculates him, making it impossible for him to follow the instincts of a man. The magician is able to escape the coffin without the messiness of having to
remove nails, which would damage the coffin. Tom can escape, but only at great cost. Metaphorically, he would have to "remove nails," causing great damage?he
would have to abandon his sister and mother and leave them to an uncertain fate. Tom is in awe of the magician because he does not have to choose; he can
escape without causing any harm, a feat that might be impossible for Tom.
Laura's vulnerability is emphasized in that symbolic space most closely linked to Tom, the fire escape. Tom will later climb down the fire escape one final
time, leaving the apartment forever. Laura stumbles on the fire escape, and the fall symbolizes her inability to fend for herself in the outside world.
The scene balances Tom's frustration with his home situation against the tenderness the Wingfields feel for each other. Laura is able to exhort Tom to
apologize, and at the start of his conversation with Amanda, Tom's affection for his mother is clear. As their conversation continues, however, the old rifts
seem inescapable. There is a moment of dramatic irony when Amanda tries to get Tom to eat and to promise that he will not become a drunkard; the audience
knows, although Amanda does not, that Tom is probably horribly hung over and that he came home drunk only a few hours ago. This moment shows the greatness of
the divide between mother and son; she knows nothing of his state, and so her attempts to care for him are met with irritability. Tension escalates gradually
but steadily, suggesting that no peace between Tom and Amanda can ever be easy or long-lasting.
Amanda is still fixating on the idea of the gentleman caller. She proposes a swap; Tom's freedom in exchange for a husband for Laura. Amanda is still putting
her security into the hands of men; perhaps she sees no alternative. Although her old husband's irresponsibility and Tom's increasing restlessness would seem
to argue against the reliability of male providers, Amanda is still hoping to find an ideal husband for her daughter. This hope will prove to be misplaced.
Even the gentleman caller, when he finally comes, will be careless with Laura.
Summary and Analysis of Scene 5
Summary:
After dinner, Tom reads a paper (the headline reads, "Franco triumphs") as Amanda and Laura clear the table and do the dishes. Amanda nags her son to comb
his hair. Tom heads out to the fire escape to smoke, and Amanda complains that he spends too much money on cigarettes; if he saved the money, he would be
able to go to night school. Tom replies that he would rather smoke.
Tom delivers a speech to the audience about Paradise Dance Hall, across the alley from the Wingfield apartment. Tom describes the music that emanates from
the hall, and the rainbow colored lights that are visible from the fire escape. Tom speaks of the carefree world of the dancers, who drank and danced to
swing music while the atrocity of Guernica unfolded in Europe. Those dancers, says Tom, could not have known that change would be coming for them, too.
Amanda joins Tom on the fire escape. Tom reveals to her that he has found a gentleman caller for Laura. Amanda is thrilled, but Tom also tells her that the
gentleman caller is arriving tomorrow evening. Amanda is startled, afraid that she will not have enough time to make the home presentable. For Amanda, this
is a major event: she'll send for a new floor lamp, polish her wedding silver, put chintz covers on, wear nice clothes, etc. She begins to grill Tom on the
gentleman caller's character; she is particularly concerned that he might be a drunkard.
His name is Jim O'Connor. As far as Tom knows, he is not a heavy drinker. He works as a shipping clerk at the warehouse for eighty-five dollars a month
(twenty dollars more than Tom's monthly salary). He is not too good-looking, nor is he ugly. He goes to night school and believes in self-improvement. He has
great ambitions.
Tom is anxious because he has not mentioned Laura to Jim, and although Amanda has faith in Laura's ability to enchant Jim, Tom has his doubts. Tom asks
Amanda not to expect too much of Laura, saying that Tom and Amanda see Laura's beauty because they know her and love her. He mentions that Laura is crippled,
and Amanda reminds Tom that the word "crippled" is not allowed in the Wingfield home. Tom mentions Laura's peculiar habits?her care of the glass menagerie
and her love of their old phonograph records. Tom then departs for the movies. Amanda seems somewhat shaken by Tom's misgivings, but she regains her optimism
and calls Laura to come out to the fire escape. Amanda asks Laura to make a wish on the "little silver slipper of a moon," her eyes filling with tears as she
tells her daughter to wish for happiness and good fortune.
Analysis
The first part of the scene uses the time setting to reinforce a sense of tension and expectation. The newspaper headline, "Franco Triumphs," gives the
audience the first specific marker for the time of the play: 1937. In Tom's speech from the fire escape, the symbolic name of Paradise Dance Hall can be read
in a number of ways. "Paradise" is an allusion to the lost Garden of Eden, and here the allusion paints the American thirties as a period of innocence before
the turmoil of World War II. The dance hall, because it is being described as a memory, creates a sense of loss due to the passage of time. This loss of
innocence occurs for the nation?Tom tells us that the dancers could not have known what was coming, and he makes yet another allusion to the carnage of
Guernica, which has by now become a symbol for the violence in which the entire world will soon be enmeshed. On a personal level, Paradise Dance Hall might
symbolize more specific loss that Tom has experienced. For the older Tom narrating the play, the fragile world of his family is lost forever.
But for the characters living through the action of the play, the Paradise Dance Hall symbolizes hope. This scene, with Amanda and Tom sitting on the fire
escape, wishing on the moon and surrounded by the music and lights of the nearby dance hall, is lyrical and beautiful. The rainbow-colored lights and the
lively music point to a world of leisure, ease, and good times. Paradise, from this perspective, is not a thing lost and receding into the past, but is
rather a thing that might be gained in the future. Amanda's life story, as she tells it, includes both kinds of Paradise: she longs for the idyllic world of
her youth and her seventeen gentleman callers, and she longs for a future fairy-tale ending for her daughter. Through the conventions of the stage, however,
the dance hall is always just out of reach. The audience can hear the music, possibly see the lights, and hear characters' descriptions of the place, but the
Paradise Dance Hall can only be suggested indirectly, as out of reach for the audience as "Paradise" is for Tom, Amanda, and Laura. With the narrator's added
perspective and his remarks about the trouble that will engulf the world, we are made to see the illusory nature of the kind of "Paradise" represented by the
dance hall.
Despite the lessons from Amanda's own unhappy marriage, Amanda imagines that her daughter will be the princess of a Cinderella story. Jim O'Connor, named in
Tom's first monologue as a symbol for that special something that we all wait and live for, is supposed to be (in Amanda's dreams) the prince who rescues
Laura and provides her with a happy ending. Amanda is imagining a fairy tale life for her daughter, and when she asks Laura to wish on the "little silver
slipper of a moon," her description of the moon is an allusion to Cinderella. Amanda is ignoring the lessons from her own marriage and the obstacle of
Laura's awkwardness.
Summary and Analysis of Scene 6
Summary:
Tom addresses the audience and talks about Jim. The two men went to the same high school, where Jim was the class hero. In high school he was the basketball
star, class president, and male lead in the annual light operas, and now, six years later, his job is not much better than Tom's. He and Tom are on friendly
terms, partly because Tom remembers his former glory. Jim's affection for Tom has helped Tom along socially with the other workers, who initially disliked
Tom because of his aloofness and oddness. Jim also knows that Tom steals away at work to write poetry, and so he has given Tom the nickname "Shakespeare."
Stage directions indicate that the Wingfield apartment looks beautiful; Amanda has worked hard to make the apartment ready for the gentleman caller. There is
a brief comical interaction where Amanda encourages Laura to stuff her bra. Amanda dresses in a girlish outfit from her youth. It is the dress in which she
led the cotillion, and she speaks feverishly of the days when she spent all her time going to parties and dancing. She speaks of her youthful obsession with
jonquil flowers. The story, like all of her stories of her youth, ends mournfully with Amanda meeting Tom's and Laura's father.
Laura, for the first time, hears the name of the gentleman caller, and she realizes that it might be the same Jim whom she had a crush on back in high
school. She tells Amanda that if it is the same Jim, she will not come to the table. The idea of facing Jim horrifies her. When the doorbell rings, a
terrified Laura argues with an increasingly irate Amanda about who will answer the door. Laura finally lets the two men in but flees after being introduced
to Jim.
Jim is boisterous and constantly talks about the self-improvement courses in which he is involved. As they wait for the women, he tries to convince Tom to
enroll in a public speaking course with him. Tom is uninterested. Jim warns Tom that the boss is not pleased with Tom and he may soon be out of a job. Tom
responds that he is preparing for a change. He gives a speech about being tired of the movies: movies tranquilize people, making them content to watch other
people's adventures without having any of their own. He tells Jim of his plans to join the Merchant Seamen. This month he has paid his dues to the Merchant
Seamen instead of the light bill, and he plans to leave St. Louis. Amanda does not know of his plans, and Jim is incredulous, but before the two men can
really talk about it, Amanda enters, dressed as if she were a young Southern belle, and immediately begins to talk Jim's ear off.
Tom goes to fetch Laura for supper, but Laura refuses to come to the table. Scene Six ends with Amanda, Jim, and Tom sitting down for dinner. The audience
can see Laura in the living room, where she is stretched out on the sofa, trying not to cry.
Analysis
Amanda's expectations for this evening are very high. The apartment has been made over?with great expense?and she has worried Laura by making such a fuss
over the evening. Amanda is vicariously reliving her youth, and her longing for that youth is made clear when she dresses in the old frock she wore as a
young girl. The escapism of living in the past, however, can never last long for Amanda, since all stories of her glory days end with her married to the
faithless Mr. Wingfield. Although Jim is charmed by Amanda, Tom is slightly embarrassed by her behavior. She is not acting her age.
Tom's plans to abandon Amanda and Laura are revealed. His intentions are a perverse alteration of the deal offered by Amanda: she wanted him to wait until
Laura could find a husband. Tom has only provided a gentleman caller, and he is already planning to leave.
We know from Tom's description of Jim that he enjoys praise. He likes the company of people who admire him, and his interaction with Laura in Scene Seven
will show how this love of admiration compromises his consideration of others.
Summary and Analysis of Scene 7
Summary:
Half an hour later, as dinner is finishing up, the lights go out. Tom feigns ignorance of the cause. Amanda, unfazed, continues to be as charming as she can
be. She lights candles and asks Jim to check the fuse box. After Jim tells her that the fuse box looks fine, Amanda suggests that he go spend time with Laura
in the living room.
As Amanda and Tom do dishes in the kitchen, Laura warms up to Jim, who is charming enough to put her ease. She reminds him that they knew each other in high
school, and that he used to call her "Blue Roses." Jim feels ashamed that he did not recognize her at once. They reminisce about the class they had together,
a singing class to which Laura, because of her leg, was always late. She always felt that the brace on her leg made a clumping sound "like thunder," but Jim
insists that he never noticed it.
They have a friendly conversation by candlelight. Jim reveals that he was never engaged, and that his old girlfriend was the one who put the announcement in
the yearbook. They no longer see each other. Laura speaks admirably of Jim's voice, and he autographs the program of the show he was in, The Pirates of
Penzance?she was too shy to bring the program to him back in high school, but she has kept it all these years. Jim tries to give Laura advice about raising
the level of her self-esteem, and talks about his plans to get involved with the nascent television industry. He speaks of the numerous courses he is taking,
and his interest in various, programmatic methods for self-improvement. He calls money and power the cycle on which democracy is built.
She shows Jim her glass collection. They look closely at a little glass unicorn, remarking on how the unicorn must feel odd due to its uniqueness. They put
the unicorn down on a different table, for "a change of scenery."
Laura bashfully admires Jim, while Jim grows increasingly flirtatious. When he hears the music of the Paradise Dance Hall, he asks her to dance with him. He
tries to help her with her self-consciousness, and the two of them are starting to have a wonderful time, but they jostle the table and knock over the
unicorn. The horn breaks off. Jim apologizes but Laura tells him not to worry. She can pretend the unicorn had an operation to make it feel less freakish.
Jim speaks admiringly of Laura's character, and then he begins to praise her looks. He tells her that she is pretty. Laura is beside herself with shy
happiness from this praise. Then, suddenly Jim kisses her.
Immediately, he seems to regret the kiss. Awkwardly, he admits to Laura that he is engaged. Laura's face shows a look of terrible desolation. She gives him
the broken unicorn as a souvenir. Then she goes to the Victrola and winds it up.
Amanda rushes in, only to hear Jim's announcement that he has to leave. When Amanda tells Jim that he should come again, he tells her about his plans to
marry his current girlfriend. He also mentions that no one at the warehouse knows about the engagement.
After Jim leaves, Amanda, furious, calls in Tom. She accuses Tom of playing a practical joke on them, by intentionally bringing in another woman's fiancé to
disgrace them. She is visibly shaken; the evening has been expensive for the Wingfields, and her dreams for her daughter have been shattered. Angered by her
accusations and not willing to put up with her foolishness, Tom tells her that he is going to the movies. She accuses him of selfishness, and says that he
never thinks of them, "a mother deserted, an unmarried sister who's crippled and has no job." Infuriated, Tom leaves.
Tom, as narrator, then addresses the audience from the fire escape, telling us that soon after that night he went down the fire escape one last time and left
St. Louis forever. As he gives this final speech, Amanda and Laura are visible through a transparent fourth wall that drops down into place in front of them.
This closing speech is one of the most famous moments in all of Williams' work, and indeed one of the most haunting and beautiful moments in all of American
theatre. He talks about time being the "longest distance between two places," and his long search to find something that he himself seems unable to name. He
tells the audience that for all of the years since he left, he has been pursued by the memory of Laura. Though he tried to leave his family behind, his
memory of his mother and sister continues to haunt him. He finishes by imploring his memory of Laura to blow out her candles, "for nowadays the world is lit
by lightning." He says goodbye, although in the script it is unclear whether he is bidding goodbye to the audience or to his sister. Behind him, visible
through the transparent wall, Amanda comforts Laura silently throughout Tom's speech. When Tom has finished speaking, Laura blows the candles out, ending the
play.
Analysis
Although a great deal depends on the actor's interpretation, Jim's enthusiasm is selfish and empty-headed. He shamelessly leads Laura on, not maliciously but
also without any careful consideration. He enjoys her company because, like Tom, Laura remembers his glory days. His speeches praising self-improvement and
night classes are symptomatic of the most unimaginative and vapid interpretation of the American dream?culminating in his appalling praise of the lust for
money and power as the cycle on which democracy is built. As Tom said in the opening of the play, Jim is more a part of the real world than anyone in the
Wingfield family. He is fully a creature of the world and worldly pursuits. He knows what no one else does?that he is engaged?and he still gives Laura the
kiss that raises her hopes before he tells her the truth.
Their different memories of school show how self-conscious Laura is. The sound of her brace mortified her back in high school, but Jim cannot remember it at
all. Jim tries to convince Laura that she is worthwhile and unique. A more gracious interpretation of his character would argue that part of his motivation
is a desire for Laura to see how beautiful she is.
The glass unicorn becomes a symbol for Laura. She, like the unicorn, is odd and unique. Both Laura and the unicorn are fragile: Jim "breaks" both of them.
Laura's gift of the broken unicorn shows the extent of her affection for him. For Jim, the evening has been insignificant. But Laura has harbored a girlish
crush on him for many years?she even saved the program of the play in which he starred?and the gift of the unicorn, an item that is a symbol of herself,
shows how much she still likes him. It is the gift of an odd and painfully shy girl, for whom kissing Jim (probably her first kiss) was a climactic
experience. For a brief moment, the Wingfield apartment was a place of dreams. Amanda experienced a return to her girlhood, Laura was able to show someone
her glass menagerie, and the place was full of the music from Paradise Dance Hall. But the unicorn is broken, the music of "Paradise" gives way to the sad
sounds of the Victrola, and even Amanda is left without defenses against reality. For the first time, she refers to Laura as "crippled," breaking her own
rule, and she seems to acknowledge that Tom will soon leave them.
This scene has its share of rose imagery. The new floor lamp has a rose-colored shade; Laura herself is "Blue Roses." The rose-colored light makes Laura look
beautiful; she is bathed in rose-colored light, she is "Blue Roses," and she is also, in many ways, the surrogate for Williams' sister?whose name was Rose.
Williams uses the rose as a motif for Laura to emphasize her delicateness and her beauty, as well as her worth. The fantastic blue color of the flower shows,
however, that Laura is not a being of this world. Laura's association with a candle in the final moment stands in sharp contrast to a world "lit by
lightning." The image of lighting suggests a hostile and overpowering world, and in the last scene a storm is brewing outside. Especially as a lone figure
juxtaposed to the turmoil of the forties and the war to come, Laura seems hopelessly frail and vulnerable.
Tom's closing speech is a great moment. The descending fourth wall puts a powerful but permeable barrier between Tom and his family. They are behind him,
behind him in time and in the physical space of the stage, and they are inaudible. Yet he cannot seem to shake the memory of them, and they are clearly
visible to the audience. Although he has never explicitly spoken of one of the play's most important themes?the conflict between responsibility and the need
to live his own life?it is clear that he has not been able to fully shake the guilt from the decision that he made. The cost of escape has been the burden of
memory. For Tom and the audience, it is difficult to forget the final image of frail Laura, illuminated by candlelight on a darkened stage, while the world
outside of the apartment faces the beginnings of a great storm.
学习后当然有作业
1. The action of the play takes place in the
1930's
1950's
1960's
1890's
2. The setting of the play is
New Orleans
Chicago
New York
St. Louis
3. The narrator of the play is
Laura
Amanda
Jim
Tom
4. Amanda is from
Canada
Mexico
England
the South
5. Amanda's husband, Tom's and Laura's father is absent. He is gone because he
died of polio when the children were young
died fighting in World War II
abandoned the family sixteen years before the action of the play
is working overseas and sends home a check every month
6. Tom works at
a bank
a shoe warehouse
a bakery
the docks
7. Laura keeps a collection of tiny glass
Christmas ornaments
animals
flowers
cocktail stirrers
8. In his first speech, Tom makes an allusion to a certain atrocity in Europe. That atrocity is mentioned several times by Tom throughout the play. What
event does Tom refer to?
the Rape of Nanking
the Holocaust
Stalin's extermination of the Armenians
Guernica
9. Tom frequently addresses the audience from a certain part of the set. This area is an important symbol for Tom and for the choice he faces. What area is
it?
the bedroom
the chimney
Paradise Dance Hall
the fire escape
10. Tom spends many of his nights at
the movies
opium dens
church
the warehouse
11. In the first scene, Amanda tells the story of a Sunday afternoon in Blue Mountain when she received seventeen
bouquets of flowers
letters of recommendation
gentleman callers
Jehovah's Witnesses
12. How is Laura physically handicapped?
She has a lame leg.
She has a lame arm.
She is blind.
She is autistic.
13. Amanda enrolled Laura at
Rubicam's Business College
Radcliffe College
Goldsmith's School of Fine Arts
Missouri State
14. Laura stopped going to class because
one of the teachers sexually harassed her
she saw how work had embittered Tom
she was ethically opposed to capitalism
the classes terrified her, to the point of making her physically ill
15. Because Laura's nerves cannot handle class, Amanda becomes all the more determined to
win the lottery
open her own business
find a husband for Laura
find Laura's long-lost father
16. Instead of going to class, Laura spent her days
with an old friend of hers from high school
hiding with Tom at the warehouse
working as a prostitute
wandering in the park and in museums
17. Amanda, realizing that it will take money to make the apartment presentable for a gentleman caller, takes a second job
at a restaurant
at the local hospital
at the shoe warehouse
roping in subscribers for The Homemaker's Companion
18. Back when she was in high school, Laura had a crush on a boy named Jim. He used to call her
Miss Wingfield
Glass Menagerie Girl
Li'l Amanda
Blue Roses
19. Amanda never allows Laura or Tom to describe Laura's condition using the word
unusual
retarded
crippled
lame
20. Amanda confiscates Tom's books and returns them to the library. These books included a novel that Amanda thought was objectionable, a novel by
D.H. Lawrence
James Joyce
William Faulkner
Virginia Woolf
21. Tom goes to a magician. The magician's most impressive trick was
escaping from a coffin without removing a single nail
pulling a glass animal out of a hat
turning water into whiskey
making himself disappear
22. The magician's most impressive trick symbolizes
the truth about the Wingfield father's motives
Tom's alcoholism
Tom's hopeless wish that he could escape without doing anyone any harm
Laura's fragility
23. When Laura leaves to go get butter
she has a horrible nervous breakdown, showing how incapable she is of coping with other people
she stumbles on the fire escape, her fall symbolizing her inability to cope with the world outside the tiny apartment
she is accosted by a mugger, the attack symbolizing her vulnerability to predatory men
she forgets the way home, indicating that she is experiencing the first symptoms of insanity
24. As he takes his morning coffee, Tom apologizes to his mother. He refuses to eat any of the food she offers, possibly because
he is on a diet
he fears the food is poisoned
he is still angry with her and wants to send her a message
he is hung over
25. Amanda senses that Tom wants to leave home. She tells him he can do it as soon as
Amanda has started her business
they have found a husband for Laura
they have saved up two thousand dollars
both they have found a husband for Laura and they have saved up two thousand dollars
有关 泰伦·古瑟里剧院 About Guthrie Theater
1、图文介绍http://www.arcspace.com/architects/nouvel/guthrie/guthrie.html
2、《建築師Jean Nouvel同Guthrie Theater翻新》
http://the-sun.orisun.com/channels/fea/2006090
09/09/2006
文： Seine
【太陽報專訊】愈來愈多城市，將名師操刀的新建築，變成城市重生的厲害武器，城市本身固然是受惠者，著名建築師事務所，生意亦滾滾來。例如法國頂尖建築師Jean Nouvel，今年特別旺場，除有老家示範作——位於巴黎塞納河畔的Musee Du Quai Branly，他在北美洲創下第一項傑作Guthrie Theater，早前登陸於明尼蘇達州的明尼亞波利斯（Minneapolis），令這個美國中北部城市，一夜間躍身成「Design City」。
成新地標
明尼亞波利斯素來並非美國旅遊熱門城市，如非美國人，對它可能認識有限。但若你是標準漫畫迷，或有可能舉手認叻說：「花生漫畫作者Charles Schulz就是誕生於此！」自從Guthrie Theater翻新工程完成後，明尼亞波利斯人氣急升，名字廣見多個權威雜誌及報章如《Times》及《The New York Times》，今次真的全靠這個新奇地標，令人得悉此地是除了紐約以外，第二個對舞台及藝術表演最熱中的城市，而非得個「凍」字的美國中北部小城。
身價昂貴
Guthrie Theater的鼓形建築內有十層，擁有三座會堂、餐廳、酒吧及其他設施，身價達一億二千五百萬美元；令人欣喜的是，很多公眾地方均對外開放，毋須再付門票進內參觀。正如建築師Jean Nouvel本人所說，他從不相信固定的個人建築風格，建築最重要的訊息，是Guthrie Theater與周遭環境溝通。劇院附近一帶，有不少荒廢多年的磨粉機（明尼亞波利斯曾是麵粉之都）；這座帶點工業味道的鋼鐵建築，與附近的工業景觀互相呼應。劇院內的Endless Bridge，長一百七十五米，向密西西比河空中伸延，讓各位身處半空，見識密西西比河的日夜美態。不知身價昂貴的Guthrie Theater，能否像雪梨歌劇院般，令城市飛躍國際舞台？
Guthrie Theatre
地址：818 South 2nd Street, Minneapolis, MN 55415
網址：www.guthrietheater.com
3、《世界建築之窗0611－努維勒的建築新視野》里面的介绍
http://www.jmag.com.tw/Goods_02.php?Id=28942
本期『世界建築之窗』別冊要介紹的是，本世紀的頂尖法國建築大師—Jean Nouvel（努維勒）最偉大的兩大作品，一是2006年6月開幕，座落在巴黎塞納河畔艾菲爾鐵塔旁的MUSEE DU QUAI BRANLY（布朗利博物館），展示歐洲以外的異文化原始藝術和民族人類學；另一個則是Guthrie Theater，兩者皆用顛覆傳統的前衛建築，為巴黎和明尼蘇達的主要城市明尼亞波利斯，立下新的地標。
譯介 / 柯依芸
MOOK精采內頁
P.10 布朗利博物館之一—不可思議的箱子鑲嵌
靠近巴黎塞納河側的布朗利博物館，在建築物上嵌入20個以上，大小不一、顏色鮮豔的「箱子」，給人不可思議的印象。周圍並用庭園、植物、樹叢等，在圍牆與建物間做出距離，營造出博物館間接性存在的感覺。
P.22 布朗利博物館之二—樂器展示室
緊鄰寬闊明亮的企畫展示室，Jean Nouvel大師用斷面呈橢圓型的筒狀玻璃建物，作為樂器的展示室。並利用照明效果，營造出相對於企畫展示室的暗度，隨著樂器的低喃而脈動。
P.28 布朗利博物館之三—展場
博物館內展品的配置，並沒有照特定的意圖擺置，就像毫不相干的陌生人，各自擁有自己的主張而存在。展品前方也沒有設置說明牌或釋文，相關資訊都集中在隔牆上，或以說明文字，或以小型電腦螢幕播放，將鑑賞與學習的功能明確地區分開來。
P.32 布朗利博物館之四—巴黎鐵塔借景
博物館南側的建物，特地在可看到巴黎鐵塔的相對位置上，做一切口，導入整面玻璃牆，讓參觀者一邊浸淫在異國風情的展示中，一邊可欣賞巴黎的經典地標，使人置身在地理、文化、建築、時空等交錯微妙的氣氛中。
P.46 布朗利博物館之五—光之湖庭園
夜幕低垂，夜晚的布朗利博物館庭園，由造型美術家以精湛的技巧，利用隱藏的照明燈具，發揮出最大的照明效果，營造出一座如夢似幻的光影庭園。將景觀建築師Gilles Cllement 設計的大庭園，襯托地格外顯眼，連夜晚都看得到生氣勃勃的植物。
P.86 Guthrie 劇場之一—橘子
Guthrie 劇場有一個橘色玻璃帷幕營造出來的空間，從內往外眺望，感覺像是要掉到建築物外一般，直接面臨密西西比河。也藉由這特殊的玻璃帷幕效果，映入眼簾的風景，彷彿就像是一幅美麗的風景畫，加入柔焦般微妙的美感。
P.88 Guthrie 劇場之二—劇場大廳
Guthrie Theater的劇場大廳，以非對稱的形狀、暖色系多色調的運用，以及天花板多角型的反響板，營造出的不規則律動感，巧妙地迴避了劇場刻板的幾何形構圖，使觀眾更能輕鬆自在地欣賞表演。
美国明尼苏达州概况
明尼苏达州（Minnesota）位于美国中北部，北与加拿大接壤，东濒苏必略湖（Lake Superior）同威斯康辛州（Wisconsin）相邻，南靠衣阿华州（Iowa），西边是南达科达州和北达科达州（South Dakota ＆ NorthDakota）。
明尼苏达州（以下简称明州）别名“北极星州”，1858年加入联邦，成为美国第32个州。最早为印第安纳苏人（Sioux）和奇普瓦人（Chippewa）的家园，其州名来源于印第安纳苏语，意为“蓝天般的水”。因该州有大小湖泊15,000多个，又有“万湖州”之称。
明州人口约438万，在全美50个州中排第21位，多为北欧和德国移民的后裔。全州白人占98.2％，黑人占0.9％，其它占0.9％。该州面积约为218,601平万公里，是美国最大河密西西比河（Mississippi）的发源地。该州冬季严寒而漫长，最低气温华氏零下40度。（听说这次可能在这里表演，那些FANS都叫苦啊，但还是要去。。。）
明州主要城市有州府圣·保罗市（St.Paul），以及明尼阿波利斯市（Minneapolis），德卢思市（Duluth）和罗切斯特市（Rochester）。圣·保罗市和明市因由密西西比河相连又称为“双城”（the Twin Cities）。双城是明州政治、经济、文化、艺术的中心。
圣·保罗市为州府所在地，也是州第二大城市及三大港口之一，人口30多万。
明尼阿波利斯市是明州最大的城市，也是明州的工商、金融、交通中心，及主要的港口市，人口40万以上。主要工业有电子工业、面粉加工业、计算机等。此外还拥有居全国大学第十一位的明尼苏达大学，Walker艺术中心，被认为是纽约百老汇之外最佳剧院的泰伦·古瑟里剧院（Guthrie Theater），以及在全国数一数二的集游乐、餐饮于一体的巨型商场（the Mall of America）。
em19 大家慢慢看
[ 本帖最后由 qqqq2046 于 2007-1-25 18:28 编辑 ] |
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