Teatro

EXAMINE THE THREE PLAYS AND DECIDE WHICH ONE SHOWS THE MOST INTERESTING DRAMATIC STRUCTURE. Give reasons for your choice.
According to Freytag´s dramatic structure, each one of the three following plays: A streetcar named desire, a cat on the hot tin roof, and the glass menagerie presents the same features. Each one has an exposition, a rising action, a climax, a falling action and adénouement.
But the one, we think contains the most interesting dramatic structure is “The glass menagerie”, because in this play the writer, Tennessee Williams presents the most unusual freedom of conventions. He uses unconventional techniques such as screen device, music, lighting effects, the use of a character who used to speak with its audience as it does, mixes elements of realism and expressionism,and deals with reality in order to make a theatre of realistic conventions that resumes vitality as a part of the American culture.
The glass menagerie is a semi-autobiographic play drawn directly from William’s childhood experiences with his mother and mentally ill sister. Set in a St. Louis tenement during the Depression, the drama involves the Winfield family, whose three adult membersinclude Amanda, a domineering mother who bitterly resents her absent husband; her son, Tom, a writer who works in a shoe factory; and his sister, Laura, whose extreme timidity and crippled leg confine her to the house. Tom, as William’s dramatis personae, narrates the story through retrospective commentary and monologues that underscore the tension between reality and illusion, especially as Amandaromanticizes her past life as a beautiful Southern debutante and Laura tends to her collection of glass figurines, to which the title of the play refers, a symbol of fantasy and her physical and emotional fragility. The dramatic climax occurs when Amanda persuades Tom to find a suitor for Laura. Tom invites a co-worker, Jim O'Connor, to dinner to meet his sister. Though Laura and Jim enjoy eachother's company, Jim abruptly leaves after informing Laura that he is already engaged to be married. The audience learns in a final monologue that Tom, like his father, has also abandoned his mother and sister to pursue his own destiny and to escape his guilt for shattering their hopes and expectations. Despite the simple plot, Williams blends elements of expressionism and realism in poetic dialogue,pervasive symbolism, and music and lighting effects that evoke the sensations of memory.
In this way, some critics have maintained that Williams had a unique ability to adapt those elements of realism and expressionism that distinguishes his works from that of his contemporaries, so he achieved critical and popular acclaim that let him redefine the standards of American drama.
All theseWilliams´ 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. And definitively, show not only the most interesting dramatic structure but the most innovational one.

EXAMINE THE THREE PLAYS FOCUSING ON THE MAIN FEMALE CHARACTERS (Blanche, Stella, Maggie, Amanda and Laura). DESCRIBE HOW WOMEN AREPORTRAYED IN TENNESSEE WILLIAMS` DRAMATIC WORLD.

According to a brief research made through the net about Tennessee Williams`works, we found that all of his life, Williams was, without a doubt, influenced strongly by the female figures.  He based any of his main characters on family members; among them, his aunt was Blanche du Bois of A Streetcar Named Desire, and his sister Rose, the sickly LauraWingfield of The Glass Mengaerie.  He once commented in an interview, “All my relationships with women are very, very important to me,” continuing, “I understand women, and I can write about them” (Gussow).  It is often commented that Williams treats his female characters very harshly, but still manages to portray them in a graceful and dignified manner.   “People who care the most for me are...