Date of Award

2012

Document Type

Honors Thesis

Department

English

First Advisor

Beverly Matiko

Abstract

The Glass menagerie (1944) by American playwright Tennessee Williams is a memory play focused on the Wingfield family of St. Louis. The play develops themes of family dysfunction, failed expectations, and various attempts to escape reality. This project focuses on the character of Laura Wingfield, an introverted, emotionally fragile character who is almost always interpreted as helpless and tragic. However, though a close critical analysis of Laura's interactions with other characters and with key props such as her glass collection, the family's Victrola and candelabra, this project shows that Laura need not be viewed as tragically as critics typically have read her.

Subject Area

Wingfield, Laura (Character)--History and criticism

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.

DOI

https://dx.doi.org/10.32597/honors/41/

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