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Essay / The Elements of Light and Music in The Glass Menagerie and Master Harold and the Boys
Light and music are two elements of drama that can become important in the development of plot and characters. Some playwrights may additionally incorporate stage lighting, including directional lighting and background lighting, in order to not only divert attention to the critical area of the stage but also adequately present their ideas. Accordingly, music can also be indirectly implemented in plays through character dialogues and allusions to musical pieces; thus, becoming symbolic. Additionally, this music can be directly presented in the background of the room. Both playwrights Tennessee Williams and Athol Fugard employ the elements of lighting and music in their respective plays, The Glass Menagerie and Master Harold and the Boys to intensify the reality of their plays and develop the theme of escape and accompaniment. theme of hope and despair. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”?Get the original essayWilliams uses light for settings and as a symbol in The Glass Menagerie to develop his theme of hope; more specifically, to describe Laura's ultimate feeling of hopelessness. Stage directions call for “dark gray” lighting with a “turgid red glow” and a “deep blue envelope.” This form of lighting helps to construct the images of memory and its relentless power as well as the mood of nostalgia and deep melancholy associated with it. Such a mood alludes to the feeling of hopelessness that Laura suffers from. This despair is emphasized by the symbol of light rather than the lighting of the scene. That is, the following simile is developed where Laura is described as "like a piece of translucent glass touched by light, endowed with a momentary, non-real, non-lasting radiance." Such a description not only predicts her inability to maintain confidence, but also suggests that her beauty is intrinsically linked to her delicacy and the disadvantage she has with her condition. Additionally, it shows the impermanence of hope in one's life, as it comes as quickly as it goes. Williams further emphasizes Laura's delicacy through another character: Jim. Upon Jim's arrival at their home and at Laura's shelter, a "delicate lemon light" appears and eventually a soft light that brings out Laura's "unearthly prettiness." As light symbolizes hope, it becomes apparent that Jim gives Laura a temporary sense of hope upon his arrival. The "lemon" or yellow color by which the light is described, however, becomes important because it warns of the damage Jim will ultimately cause to Laura. Although Jim gives Laura hope by making comments that temporarily increase her confidence, he abruptly runs away, leaving Laura once again in despair and thus sparking the argument that the play ends on a rather pessimistic note. Williams highlights this lack of hope through Tim's physical escape from the house; that is, his attempt to escape their reality suggests that he too has withdrawn all his hope that Laura will have a better, happier life. Williams further conveys the very theme of escape and demonstrates the characters' abstinence from confronting reality by incorporating music into his drama. piece. Not only does the music have great symbolic meaning, but it also provides emotion to the scenes. In the fourth scene, for example, Williams incorporates "Ava Maria" in the background to allude to the harshAmanda's responsibilities as a mother. It is these responsibilities that ultimately fuel Amanda's desperate efforts to obtain a better life for her daughter. In doing so, Amanda feels inclined to escape her reality and her own failures as well as the reality of Laura's disability. As Tom tries to make his mother aware of the reality of her daughter's disability, "the music transforms into a tango with a minor and somewhat disturbing tone. Laura. That is, when Jim arrives, Laura becomes terrified and begs her mother to open the door, but she refuses and forces Laura to reluctantly open it, however, she plays music for Victoria. Play this music to escape the intense situation – to escape reality. With Amanda escaping her past, Laura escaping her troubled existence, and Tom escaping home with its responsibilities, including the burden of securing a better life for Laura, the characters ultimately play out. move away from each other as they withdraw into their own imagination. Therefore, the music not only helps to convey the idea of escape, but also to depict the alienation that the characters feel not only from each other, but also from society as a whole. uses light well in his play, Master Harold and the boys simply as a symbol of hope. When Hally and Sam discuss ballroom dancing and whether or not dancing is considered an art form, Hally explains and describes that in his imagination, dancing simply involves people "passing a self -saying good time”. Sam offers another description, saying that Hally's imagination "left out the excitement" and that it's "not just another dance... there'll be a lot of people... have a good time moment...party decorations and fantasy". lights all around the room… ladies in beautiful evening dresses! The lights obviously become a symbol of positivity and hope, as the description of these lights helps Sam challenge Hally's pessimistic view of ballroom dancing. Fugard combines “fancy lights” with the extended metaphor of ballroom dancing in order to present ballroom dancing in a rather positive and hopeful way. In doing so, Fugard describes the dreamlike quality of the dance and the dancers. This type of description shows dance as a metaphor for social harmony. The symbolic element of light is present again at the end of the play when the jukebox "comes to life in the gray twilight." This gray light is incorporated at the end of the piece to further emphasize the hope of such potential harmony and peace between blacks and whites. Gray being halfway between black and white, Fugard deliberately integrates this light to convey the hope that blacks and whites become one. This very idea is further emphasized by Fugard's employment of the motif of music and the corresponding theme of escape. Fugard uses music not only to give movement to the piece, but also to develop the theme of escape; more precisely, escaping reality as Sam and Willie attempted. Throughout the play, Sam and Willie practice the “waltz” and “foxtrot” for their ballroom dance. Similar to light, music is also associated with the extended metaphor of ballroom dancing. Thus, the music helps to allude to a dreamlike, collision-free world in which dancers are able to restore order to a disordered world, and respectively, an ideal society without “collisions” between Blacks and Whites. Sam and Willie use music and ballroom dancing to escape their realities; however, Hally interferes with such evasion by asserting, “The truth? It seems to me that I am the.