Looking at the characters, settings and plot devices used in both A Streetcar Named Desire and The Glass Menagerie, it’s clear that there are some similarities between the two plays. However, there are also some key differences that make each stand out as its own unique work.
Starting with the characters, Blanche Dubois from A Streetcar Named Desire is a very different figure than Tom Wingfield from The Glass Menagerie. Blanche is a Southern belle who is used to getting her own way, while Tom is an introverted young man who feels trapped by his home life.
Additionally, the setting of A Streetcar Named Desire is much more urban and gritty than the relatively isolated world of The Glass Menagerie. The plot of A Streetcar Named Desire also focuses on Blanche’s downward spiral, while The Glass Menagerie is more about Tom’s coming to terms with his own life and desires.
Despite these differences, there are still some similarities between A Streetcar Named Desire and The Glass Menagerie. Both plays deal with characters who are struggling to come to terms with their own lives and desires, and both use symbols and metaphors to explore the inner lives of their characters. Additionally, both A Streetcar Named Desire and The Glass Menagerie were written in the 1940s, which was a time of great change and turmoil in the United States.
Tennessee William’s novels ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’ and ‘The Glass Menagerie,’ published in the late Thirties, depict a period of deprivation when the depression afflicted millions of people. Both plays utilized the traditional American family as a backdrop during the 1930s. There were several parallels between the plays, including personalities and events. Did Tennessee William write two different versions of the same play? Or did each play have a different significance beneath its veneer? We must begin by analyzing the characters before delving into the two plays.
Both Blanche and Amanda are single ladies, living in the past. They both long for their youth when they were beautiful and popular with gentlemen callers. They are also both disappointed with the men in their lives: Blanche’s husband committed suicide and Amanda’s husband abandoned his family. Blanche is a southern belle who uses her charm to try and seduce Stanley, while Amanda is a nagging mother who constantly tries to find a gentleman caller for her daughter Laura. Both characters are similar in that they are flawed women who live in a man’s world.
The main difference between Blanche and Amanda is their relationship with reality. Blanche is delusional and does not face reality, while Amanda is obsessed with reality and is very aware of her situation. Blanche tries to escape her problems by drinking and dreaming about the past, while Amanda tries to change her reality by finding a husband for Laura.
Another similarity between the two plays is that both Blanche and Amanda have a dysfunctional relationship with their respective family members. Blanche is estranged from her family because she had an affair with one of her husband’s students. Amanda is disappointed in her son Tom because he does not live up to her expectations. Both women are also trying to protect their younger female relatives: Blanche is trying to protect Stella from Stanley’s abuse and Amanda is trying to find a husband for Laura so she will not end up like her.
In Tennessee Williams’ Blanche Dubois in A Streetcar Named Desire, and Laura Wingfield in The Glass Menageries, the two women are very similar. Blanche and Laura are both living apart from other people in their own universe. Blanche lives in a world of illusions, whereas Laura resides in a world full of glass animals.
Blanche is motivated solely by the desire to seek for and indulge her wildest dreams and desires. Because she feels she murdered her spouse, Laura lives in her glass animal-filled environment only because of a sickness that causes her to have a minor physical deformity.
First and foremost, both Blanche and Laura have a dependency on men. For Laura, it is very evident that she is dependent on her father and later on Jim O’ Connor. She is extremely shy around men, which could be due to the fact that she was never really exposed to them. When Jim comes over, she gets so nervous that she drops her glass unicorn. She then proceeds to tell him that it is her “favourite”.
In other words, she is trying to show Jim that she is just like him, with regular interests. The only difference is that hers are hidden away in her room. Laura wants so badly to fit in and be like everyone else, that she is willing to change herself for the better. For example, when Jim tells her that she should not wear glasses, she immediately takes them off and proceeds to try and fix her hair. She does all of this in an attempt to please Jim and make him like her.
Blanche is also dependent on men, but for different reasons. Blanche uses men as a way to escape from her problems. She had an affair with a student while she was still married, which eventually led to her husband’s suicide. After that incident, she was never able to be with another man without having some sort of sexual encounter with them.
When Stanley first meets Blanche, he can see right through her. He knows that she is a liar and he knows that she is only looking for one thing: sex. Blanche is so vulnerable and fragile, that she can’t help but be drawn to Stanley. He is the complete opposite of what she is looking for, but she can’t resist him.
Secondly, Blanche and Laura are both very insecure women. This insecurity leads them to do some crazy things in order to fit in or to make themselves feel better about themselves. For example, Laura tries on different outfits with Jim to find the one that makes her look the prettiest.
