On The Theme Of Human Nature In The Glass Menagerie

Tennessee Williams (1911—1983) is one of America's greatest playwrights, and the greatest ever from South. Nearly all of his plays are set in the South, but at their best rise above regionalism to approach universal themes. The Glass Menagerie (1944), the first play to establish Williams as a major new playwright and Broadway success, tells a compelling story of a St. Louis family suffering in the harsh realities of the Great Depression and the bitter memories that haunt them. The play is recognized as the prototype of the American theatrical trend to explore the vanished hopes in the reality. It is derived from his understanding of the impossibility of communication and awareness of the appalling emptiness and cruelty in the hearts of many well-fed Americans.The paper makes a comprehensive analysis of human nature, the spirit of the time and the problem of the society. Existentialism, as a significant philosophy exploring the essence of human being, becomes the point of penetration into the theme of the article. Western philosophy usually expresses the spirit of the time, so does existentialism. Jean-Paul Sartre and Albert Camus, as the main representatives of existentialism, put forward many ideas which influenced the whole western culture, literature and art, and the society, the time. Theories of"Existence Precedes Essence","Existence is Absurd","Hell Is Other People","Freedom"and"Life Is a Tragedy"are all used properly in the article to analyze human nature, the theme of the play and the background of society and time. The Glass Menagerie is also a typical magnum opus of expressionism. As the greatest master of expressionist plays after Eugene O'Neil in America, Tennessee Williams takes good use of the methods of expressionism, which directly makes the play become a great work.The paper is composed of introduction, main body and conclusion.The introduction briefly introduces the life experiences of the author, the circumstances of the creation, and their connection with his works. The style of his works, the status quo of research on the play home and abroad and the practical significance of the article are also presented.The main body has three chapters:ChapterⅠ, made up of six parts, expands the theme of the play in the light of existentialism. The first part is a brief introduction of existentialism in term of its origin and main theory. The second part analyzes the survival crisis of the characters in the play based on the idea of"Existence Precedes Essence". If existence is in priority, the process and situation of existence certainly have a great influence on"essence", that is, human nature. Crisis in process and situation of existence usually leads to crisis of human nature. The third part makes clear the absurd situation the characters are living in. Human comes into being without essence, so human is born without significance or aim. Consequently, the world is absurd to human first and then human is searching the meaning of existence for himself. Characters in the play are searching their meaning and proper existence in an absurd world. The fourth part goes to the idea of"Hell Is Other People", analyzing the loneliness and isolation of the characters."Hell"does not mean the conflict of material wealth between people, but the spiritual conflict between one and the other, which yields loneliness and isolation. The fifth part stresses existentialist idea of"Freedom", which serves to understand the longing of the characters for freedom. Absolute freedom is the essential element of human nature in existentialism. Being free to make choices forms human essence and also brings responsibility and troubles which human himself must face. The sixth part evaluates the tragic characteristic of the play.ChapterⅡ, in four parts, points to the employment of expressionistic methods on the stage, which helps to express the theme of the play. The first one introduces the origin and main theory of expressionism. The second one is analyzing the important function of settings, light, music and the design of the stage in the play for the theme. The effect of expression on the stage relies greatly on the method and conditions outside the play. Proper employment of settings, light, music can help audience comprehend deeply the theme of the play prominently. The third one is about symbols used in the play. Symbolism is treated as a common method of expression in expressionistic plays. Settings, light and music always have some special meaning on the stage and some of them are connected to the theme directly. The analysis on them is helpful for the comprehension of the theme. The last part is an analysis of the complete effect of expressionism used in the play for the theme.ChapterⅢfocuses on both the crisis and hope of human nature displayed in the play, which involves three parts. The first part is about the confidence of the improvement of human nature in crisis. Human nature is not simply good or evil, while it is connected with the natural, social and spiritual characteristics closely. The second part is about the hope embodied in the soul of characters in the play. Existentialism falls into pessimism finally, but we can still find the hope both in the theory and the play, which is the most significant for us. The last part is associated with the reality we are living in.Crisis is just around us in our life but human is able to go through all the problems. Conclusion puts forward the idea that human nature in the crisis will find the way to the bright future finally, the analysis of the theme of The Glass Menagerie gives us many useful ideas and the progress of our own culture should make good use of others.