Depictions of Hate, Anger & Envy in The Glass Menagerie

William's was told by his psychiatrist that his plays are full of hate, anger and envy. ' With close reference to the stageing and set, state whether you agree witht the description of scene 3. The Glass Menagerie contains much desperation, ahte and anger. Much of this is evident within scene 3. William's explores the false illusions and unrealistic dreams of each of the characters.

Williams manages to portray the themes of hate, anger, and envy through his careful use of lighting, music and position of the characters.

William's also portrays desperations within this scence which is showin through the character Amanda at the very start of the scene. The second piece of dialogue in scene 3 is from Amanda. We already know that Amanda still see's herself as living in the thirties, young and carefree. However here we see a different side to Amanda, desperations. The screen image for this piece of dialogue is 'Glamour magasine cover. ' This immediately strikes us as ironic because it's an illusion.

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Amanda's life is neither glamarous, or along the lines of a magsine lifestyle.

It is my opinion that William's has deliberately done this to emphasize just how much Amanda lives in an illusional dream world. However in this passage we also see Amanda's desperate side. Being as the play is set in a time when America s recovering from the great depression and during the second world war, we know that money is tight. In this passage we can see Amanda despreately trying to sell magasine subscription to one of her friends.

Williams presets Amanda's desperation, but also her friendly side.

She is really in need of the money from the magasine subscription, hence her willingness to get the lady on the other end of the phone to buy it, 'Oh honey, it's something that you cant miss! ' Williams has shown to us that although half the time Amanda lives in her own little world, she also knows that it is no longer the thirties and she needs to help support her family. Scene 3 contains alot of hate and envy as well as other emotions. It is during this scene that Tom and Amanda have an argument. The legend on screen is, 'So you think i'm in love with continental shoemakers?

' This is evidently to do with Tom as we know that he works in a shoemaking factory, although his true passions is writing. However, Amanda would much rather him work in the shoemakers. This shows his envy, the fact that his father was able excape and make his dreams come true, but Tom is unable to do this. The anger of this argument is evident from the start, 'Before the stage is lighted, the violent voices of Tom and Amanda are heard. ' They interrupt eachother when speaking exremely fast paced, therefore putting more emphasis on the intensity of the argument.

During their argument the lighting is mainly focused on Laura so there is a, 'clear pool of light on her figure,' throughout the scene. Even though Laura has no active part in this argument. William's has made ir so the light upon Laura is distinct from the others, having a peculiar pristine clarity such as ones used in old religious portraits. Williams is highlighting to us that Laura is an importat figure although she is silent throughout this dialogue. There is no music throughout this argument, I think William's does this to put more emphasis on what is being said.

Towards the end of the argument Tom has a large passage in which his anger purs out. We know it has been building up to this point, and it is evident that he is about to explode. During this passage there are no full stops, it's as if Tom is reading off a list to Amanda. Tom says, 'I've joined the Hogan gang... I'm leading a double life. ' Williams has presented it like this to Tom's anger and envy at his mother. Tom is also 'overtowering her tuny figure. ' This signifies not only the height difference between them, but the difference in the people they are.

However, although they don't realise it, they are very much alike, but this alikeness causes them to break apart from eachother and continuously pick fights with eachother. During this passage Williams also relates back to his theme of living in an illusional world. Tom says, 'I'm leading a double life. ' This again relates back to the fact that each of these characters wants to escape. Throughout this passage Tom is saying things he wish could happen, things that only happen in his imagination. At the end of the passage Amanda is immediately shocked when Tom refers to her as an 'ugly - babbling old - witch.

Amanda goes into shock at Tom's manner of speaking to her. William's has presented us with a significant part in the play, Tom's anger has got the better of him, and he has said something he may regret. At the end of the scene Tom accidentally breaks some of Laura's glass menageries, 'Thnere is a tinkle of shattering glass. ' This is also extremely signifcant as Laura 'cries out as if wounded. ' William's has cleverly made it so when the glass menageries are broken, it appears that a piece of Laura has been broken as well, and the family has been broken apart by it as well.

William's is also emphasizing teh fragility of Laura, she is just like her glass menageries, easily broken and fragile. Tom is evidently shocked by what he has done, he 'Drops awkwardly to his knees to collect the fallen glass, glancing at Laura as if he would speak but couldn't. ' William's is showing that Tom knows the extent of what has just happened, he knew how important the glass menageries were to her, and therefore he now knows the effect it is going to have on her and the family as a whole. The music during the lsat section of this scene is 'The Glass Menagerie.

' This is used to give an emotional emphasis to this passage, it seems to suit this passage as we assume it to be extremely light and delicate, and very sad. Overall, scene 3's content is majorly full of hate, anger and envy. This relates back to what William's psychiatrist said about his plays. The hate anger and envy, as well as desperation are evident in this scene through each of the characters, and the way William's presents them, the music and the lighting, all in effect to get across his themes.