The Glass Menagerie

The Power of Light

The author Tennessee Williams was an American writer who spent his time writing short stories, novels, poetry, screenplays and many other forms of literature. Although he is gifted in all aspects of his career, his plays are regarded as classics to the American theater. Two plays particularly, The Glass Menagerie and A Streetcar Named Desire, are examples of his classics and both of these play a similar role in conveying a similar message to the audience. Williams uses the stylistic choice of lighting to explain the characters’ urges to hide the insecurities they have when they are around people who they feel will judge them. By doing this, it gives the characters Laura, from The Glass Menagerie, and Blanche, from A Streetcar Named Desire, in a very similar role. As mentioned before, Williams uses stage lighting to convey better characterization of Laura in The Glass Menagerie. Throughout the play, Amanda, Laura’s mother, has been very skeptical and judgmental of her, making her insecure about even the littlest things. Her mother uses the word “defect” to explain Laura’s slight limp. However, when Amanda is preparing Laura for Jim to come over, she dresses her up much different than Laura would normally dress. “The arrangement of Laura’s hair is changed; it is softer and more becoming. A fragile, unearthly prettiness has come out in Laura: she is like a piece of translucent glass touched by light, given a momentary radiance, not actual, not lasting.” (Williams 51). Laura can feel that she has been altered to look like a different, but improved, version of herself, and the light indicates confidence that she did not possess before. In comparison, Blanche from A Streetcar Named Desire is very similar to Laura in the way that she is always seen in soft or barely any light. In scene one, Blanche and Stella, her sister, both meet for the first time in awhile. Blanche says, “Now, then, let me look at you. But don’t you look at me, Stella, no, no, no, not ‘til later, not ‘til I’ve bathed and rested! And turn that over-light off! Turn that off! I won’t be looked at in this merciless glare!” (Williams 19). Already, we see Blanche avoiding the light, and revealing her insecurities to others. However, we do not find out exactly what she is hiding from until a few scenes later in the play. Throughout Blanche’s visit at her sister’s house, she develops feelings for Mitch, one of the men that Stella’s husband, Stanley, plays poker with. When Mitch asks her to go out with him, Blanche will only agree to go on dates to a dark restaurant and when the sun has gone down. On their first date, Mitch reveals what her insecurity is. He starts it saying, “Can I ask you a question?’ ‘Yes. What?’ ‘How old are you?’ [She makes a nervous gesture.] ‘Why do you want to know?’ ‘I talked to my mother about you and she said, ‘How old is Blanche?’ And I wasn’t able to tell her. [There is another pause.] ‘You talked to your mother about me?” (Williams 93-94). Blanche completely avoids his question and carries the conversation on asking about his mother to hide the fact that she does not want to answer the question. This reveals that she is insecure about her age and does not want Mitch to know or see how old she actually is. Blanche avoids the light to keep Mitch from seeing the reality of her fading beauty, and does not want to feel totally exposed when she is around him. In scene nine, Mitch confronts Blanche about this problem and the bad things that Stanley has told him about her. He then brings up that he has never seen her in direct light and she replies by saying that the dark is comforting to her.