8analyzing American Drama - Techniques and Plays - Video & Lesson Transcript

1/3/2019 Analyzing American Drama: Techniques and Plays - Video & Lesson Transcript | Study.
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Analyzing American Drama: Techniques and Plays
Lesson Transcript
Plays are often developed with the use of a number of literary techniques. This lesson explores the use of
symbolism, motifs, ashbacks, and monologues in American drama.
Analyzing American Drama

When you think of reading or watching plays, your mind might immediately go to Shakespeare and
all of the elements of the way he wrote. But there are a variety of other types of plays, including
much more modern American ones. As you analyze American drama, it's useful to be aware of
some of the techniques that are employed in writing and structuring them. Note that the word
drama can refer to a speci c play or plays in general.
Symbolism & Motifs

If you've studied literature at all, you may recall having learned about symbolism, which is the
technique by which one thing stands for something else. For example, you might read a story in
which a character is getting over a hardship, and she sees storm clouds break and a bright blue sky
open up. That beautiful sky would symbolize her improved outlook.
Symbolism occurs quite a bit in American drama. Tennessee Williams's The Glass Menagerie tells the
tale of the Wing eld family - mother Amanda, son Tom, and daughter Laura - who have been left
behind by their husband and father. A sense of disappointment permeates the play, as the family
often nds itself short on money, and Laura, who wears a brace on her leg, does not have any men
interested in dating or marrying her - or 'gentleman callers,' as her mother refers to them.
Laura, the daughter, has a collection - or menagerie - of small glass animals. These fragile animal
gures symbolize Laura, as she is very shy and seems delicate. It is noted in the play that when the
light hits the animals, they can re ect a rainbow of colors. This phenomenon again calls to mind
Laura, who at rst glance may appear unremarkable, but who, once people really see her, reveals
the depth of her personality.
At Amanda's urging, Tom brings home a coworker, Jim, as a date for Laura. Jim accidentally breaks
the horn o of Laura's glass unicorn, which was her favorite gurine. When it's revealed later in the
play that Jim is engaged and therefore not looking to enter into a relationship with Laura, it is
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suggested that she, too, is broken and rendered in a way not special, just as her unicorn was once
it lost its horn.
A literary motif consists of repeated symbols or references to a theme that occur throughout a
particular work. In Arthur Miller's play Death of a Salesman, a major theme is the decline and death
of the Loman family's dream to achieve success and to stand out as special and remarkable. Note
that a theme is the main idea of a literary work, and it also includes the important ideas evoked by
the work.
Underscoring that theme throughout Death of a Salesman is the preoccupation of the main
character, Willy Loman, with being well-known and well-liked. The repeated references to the
character's thwarted longings to be well-liked, and for his sons to be well-liked, form a motif
throughout the play. In explaining his theory on success in the business world, Loman says, about
the 'man who gets ahead:' 'Be liked and you will never want.' Ultimately, the play ends in tragedy
when it becomes clear that Willy's longings and his abilities do not intersect.
Flashbacks
A ashback is a literary device in which the timeline of the work diverts from the present and
events from the past are depicted. Miller's Death of a Salesman also features this device, as Willy
Loman, in the last few days of his life, thinks of his earlier days with his family, and the play ashes
back to the past and then comes back to present-day events several times. What we're seeing of
the Loman family's past in these ashbacks is ltered through Willy Loman's consciousness, as well
as his need to see himself and his family in an ideal light. Again, reinforcing the major theme of the
play, Loman sees in his past a perfect American family, destined for success and great things. The
discrepancy between the family's goals and realizations about reality, both in the past and in
present-day events, underscores the tragic nature of the play.
Williams's The Glass Menagerie also features a ashback of sorts. At the start of the play, Tom,
Amanda's son and Laura's brother, appears and speaks directly to the audience, setting up the
events of the play, which occurred years before. He notes, 'The play is memory.' He appears again
at the closing of the play, as a narrator, explaining that he left home - and his mother and sister -
shortly after the play's events.
Interior Monologues
Dramatic plays quite often feature speeches by individual characters. A monologue is a speech
delivered by a character. Monologues might be delivered to other characters or to the audience. An
interior monologue is a speech delivered by a character in a play to the audience as a way of
revealing his or her thoughts and feelings.
Tom Wing eld, at the very end of The Glass Menagerie, delivers what is essentially an interior
monologue. In his role of narrator, he tells the audience about his experiences after the events that
are depicted in the play. Tom reveals that not long after the day of Jim's visit, he left Amanda and
1/3/2019 Analyzing American Drama: Techniques and Plays - Video & Lesson Transcript | Study.com
Laura behind, just as his father had done long before. He is still haunted by memories of his sister
Laura, though. In his monologue, Tom explains, 'I pass the lighted window of a shop where
perfume is sold. The window is lled with pieces of colored glass, tiny transparent bottles in
delicate colors, like bits of a shattered rainbow. Then all at once, my sister touches my shoulder. I
turn around and look into her eyes. … Oh, Laura, Laura, I tried to leave you behind me, but I am
more faithful than I intended to be!' In this monologue, Tom, with a callback to the glass animals
that symbolized Laura, communicates to the audience his feelings about leaving his sister.
Lesson Summary
Being aware of a few techniques used by playwrights in their plays can be helpful as you undertake
an analysis of those works. A writer employs symbolism when one thing stands for something
else. A literary motif consists of repeated symbols or references to a theme that occur throughout
a particular work. Literary motifs can help drive home the theme, or the main idea of or important
ideas within a work of literature.
Playwrights also use certain devices to set the events of the play in relation to one another in time
and to communicate ideas to the audience. With a ashback, the timeline of the work diverts from
the present and events from the past are depicted. A monologue is a speech delivered by a
character, sometimes to other characters. An interior monologue is a speech delivered by a
character in a play to the audience as a way of revealing his or her thoughts and feelings.
Learning Outcomes
After completing this lesson, you should be able to:
Explain how symbolism works in drama
Describe the use of motif
De ne theme as it appears in American plays
Detail techniques like ashbacks, monologues and interior monologues

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1/3/2019 Analyzing American Drama: Techniques and Plays - Video & Lesson Transcript | Study.

Analyzing American Drama: Techniques and Plays

Analyzing American Drama

Symbolism & Motifs

Explain how symbolism works in drama

Describe the use of motif

De ne theme as it appears in American plays

Detail techniques like ashbacks, monologues and interior monologues

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