The Glass Menagerie: Sensational Stage Directions

After reading The Glass Menagerie, a play written by Tennessee Williams, something that became apparent to me was the importance of the stage directions. Although stage directions are always beneficial so that actors and directors know what the author imagined, the stage directions of The Glass Menagerie take it a step further. These stage directions help explain the story, answer questions, and portray the symbolism of certain objects. One object the stage directions especially help come to life is the portrait of the father of the Wingfield family. Though the stage directions, the reader learns what happened to the father, why he is not physically present in the story, and the effect he has had on the other characters. In the stage directions, the father in the portrait is described as “gallantly smiling, ineluctably smiling, as if to say, ‘I will be smiling forever,’” (Williams, 1235). As the reader later learns, the father had escaped the family years before in hopes of a better life, explaining the description of “smiling forever.” Furthermore, the stage directions further explain the symbolism between Laura and her glass collection. When one of her pieces breaks, the stage directions describe Laura as having been wounded simultaneously. This description of a person being wounded from a piece of glass shattering portrays the connection Laura has to the glass and the similarities she feels towards her little figures.