Hamlet and the glass menagerie essay example

This paper discusses a common concept between Shakespeare’s play ‘ Hamlet’ and Tennessee William’s ‘ The Glass Menagerie’. Hamlet is one of the most luminous literary works of this earth. It is so precious that we can gift it to somebody who is visiting us from mars. The play was written by William Shakespeare about almost four hundred years ago but it is still so significant and fascinating that people still find themselves mesmerized with the play. On the other hand, ‘ The glass menagerie’ is a super hit play written by Tennessee William in the year, 1944. This paper intends to focus on the incidents of the past and their effects on the present life of characters in respect of both the plays.
It is easy to observe that in both the plays, incidents of the past play very significant roles on the life of almost all the characters and these incidents were so powerful that their effects were visible on the present day life of characters in a very significant way. These incidents only decided the future of the characters and the kept the play moving ahead. In hamlet, we see that when prince hamlet came to know about his past, he decided to take revenge for the murder of his father and all the incidents were designed accordingly. Life of All the characters like King Claudius, Polonius, Gertrude, Laertes, Ophelia and prince Hamlet was profoundly affected due to this past incidence and their role was accordingly ascertained.
The same concept is visible in Tennessee William’s the glass menagerie where life of all the characters is affected by the incidents that took place sometimes in the past. Amanda, Laura, and Tom seem to be very confused and their life is heavily influenced by the incidents of the past life. Throughout the play, the author has created a state of illusionary affairs for these characters and the most significant that lies in the root of all these affairs is their past. Amanda is unable to think anything beyond her past and she is obsessed with the photograph of her husband who died a long time ago when their children were in their young age. This attitude of Amanda has severely affected the psychology of her children substantially but she finds herself unable to come out from her past and attitude. Another character Laura in the play is also suffering due to her past and has been portrayed as highly confused in her present life. She tries to find happiness in her past and does not cop up with her present. Another character Tom is also suffering with the same attitude and the root of all his problems belong to his past. He is also unable to think and design his future and instead of doing so, he finds himself in a state of troubles and confusions.
After having observed, the abovementioned analysis of both the plays and the similar concept, it is good to conclude that both the authors have portrayed the past very significantly. All the characters are heavily influenced in their present life by the incidents of past life. The past life has not only affected the life of all the characters in both the plays but the same designs the direction of the play.