Comparative analysis and contrasting perspectives

¶ … Glass Menagerie and "Death of a Salesman": Escaping into Dreams

The plays "The Glass Menagerie" by Tennessee Williams and "Death of a Salesman" by Arthur Miller share a similar theme in that they both explore themes related to living in reality vs. living in a fantasy or a dream life. Both plays feature a main character that is living in a fantasy. In "Death of a Salesman," the main character is Willy Loman, an unsuccessful salesperson who lives in a fantasy world where he believes he is successful. In "The Glass Menagerie," the main character is Laura Wingfield, a young girl who escapes into a fantasy world to avoid the problems of her life. Despite these similarities in the characters, their circumstances and the outcome for each character is very different. The story of Willy Loman shows his demise and eventual suicide as he becomes immersed in his dream life. The story of Laura shows how here fantasy world is shattered and how this releases her from her dream life and allows her to accept reality. Overall, Willy's is a story of tragedy, while Laura's is a story of triumph. In both cases though, the same theme of reality vs. fantasy is explored. This includes considering why people escape into a fantasy, the consequences of living in a dream world, and the dangers this poses to a person. These issues of reality vs. fantasy will now be explored in more detail by comparing and contrasting the two main characters of the two plays.

The first consideration related to the two plays is why people escape into a fantasy world. For both Willy Loman and Laura Wingfield, it is a means of escaping from the real world. For Willy Loman, it is a way of escaping from his own failures, namely his failures in being able to provide for his family. This is especially related to his perception of what a man should achieve. These views are based on the American dream, which he has come to accept as truth. Loman's dream is simply to be a good husband and provide for his family. It must be noted that Loman's dream is not based on a need to achieve great success, power, or a lot of money. He simply wants to be a good provider for his family. This is the American dream that he has come to believe in and his perception of himself as a man is based on this view. Miller (1949) describes Loman's struggle by saying that "the underlying struggle is that of the individual attempting to gain his rightful position in his society." For Loman, his rightful position is simply to be successful enough to support his family. It is this view of his rightful position that creates his perception of what he should be as a man. Loman's dream life takes over because he cannot achieve his dream. He is not a successful salesman and cannot support his family. Yet to admit this would mean admitting that he has failed as a man. Loman cannot admit this to himself and so he replaces reality with a dream life. In this dream life, he is able to fool himself into thinking that he is successful. Laura's dream life is also related to her need to escape. However, she is escaping from herself more than anything else. A childhood illness left Laura with a crippled leg, a problem that makes her self-aware and extremely shy. To avoid the stress of dealing with people, she rarely leaves the house, instead choosing to play with her collection of glass animals. This is her form of escaping reality and allows her to avoid the real world. In essence then, Laura's need to live in reality is based on her own insecurities.

It is now worth considering the source of insecurity for Loman and Laura. It has been noted that Willy Loman's need to live in a fantasy world is based on his perception of what a man should be, which in turn is based on society's perception of what a man should be. In addition, Loman is largely motivated by how his own family perceives him. In fact, this is one of his driving forces. He wants his wife and his sons to respect him as a man. This shows that Loman's motivation is based on how he is perceived by others. Centola (34) also notes that the Loman's "insecurity about his identity and role as a father is evident in the memory scene where he confesses to Ben that he feels 'kind of temporary.'" a major part of Loman's struggle appears to be his need to prove himself as more than just temporary, with this focused on his role as father. Clearly, he is driven by a need to prove himself to his family. This is made even clearer when his son challenges his father's views. Biff confronts Loman directly, stating that his father is not successful and telling him he needs to accept that. Even with this direct statement, Willy Loman is unable to accept the reality. At this point, Loman has an opportunity to change his views, see that he has been wrong, and change for the better. This change does not mean accepting that he is a failure, but accepting that he has been chasing a false American dream. Yet Loman's pride prevents him from admitting to his son that he has been wrong. Instead, he becomes even more committed to his fantasy world. This shows how he is driven by a need to be perceived as a success by others, including his family. He is not capable of admitting his error because this would mean showing his son that he has failed. Overall, this shows how Loman's dream world is related to his need to please others more than his need to gain anything for himself. This is quite different for Laura. Her need to escape reality is not based on her need to please others. Instead, it is based more on her own self-image and how she feels about herself. She hides and plays with her glass menagerie because dealing with the real world only reminds her of her own insecurities.

Another major difference between Willy Loman and Laura Wingfield is the extent of their blindness. In "Death of a Salesman," Loman is completely blind to reality. He is not capable of seeing the truth, but is completely emerged in his own false reality. This is especially clear because his son does confront him with reality. However, even when the truth is made obvious, Loman still cannot see it. This shows the extent of Loman's blindness to reality and shows that he is not intentionally escaping into a fantasy world. Instead, his fantasy world has become his real world. In contrast, Laura is aware that her fantasy world is just that. She knows the difference between the real world and her fantasy world and chooses to live in her fantasy world because it is easier to. Loman actually lives completely in his fantasy world, unable to even see reality. Laura is different because she sees reality, but chooses to escape into a fantasy world. Joseph K. Davis (194) notes this where he says that Laura "tries to live in the present, but her crippled body and grim prospects in the secretarial school overcame her fragile sensibilities." This shows that Laura is actually aware of reality and does actually have a desire to live in reality. It is just that reality for her seems grim and she is not strong enough to cope with it. Therefore, she sees reality, but often hides from it in her fantasy world. The most significant difference is that Laura is aware that her fantasy world is just that, while Loman is not. This is a significant difference because it means that Laura has a choice about accepting reality, while Loman who is blind to it does not. This is especially significant in explaining the different outcomes for the two characters. As long as Laura is aware that her fantasy world is not real, she can also accept reality. In contrast, Loman is completely blind to reality. Without the truth of reality, he cannot see his errors and choose to change. This shows the potential problems of living in a fantasy world, in that the fantasy world can consume you and become all that you know. Without this connection to reality, there is no escape. Instead, you fall deeper into the fantasy world just as Loman does.

Finally, it is worth noting that Loman and Laura are at different stages of their lives. When the story starts for Loman, he is already living in his fantasy world. As the story continues, he becomes more and more distanced from reality. For Loman, his dream world has overtaken his life, increasing in intensity all the time. Without an escape from this dream world, he cannot see reality. This means that he cannot see his own errors and change his ways. At the same time, every new failure only adds more to his need to hide from reality. This leads to the final point where he decides to commit suicide to save his family. This is his final illusion, where he wrongly believes that his family will be proud because so many people will come to his funeral. This shows that there is no change for Loman. He is escaping into a fantasy world at the beginning of the play, and his entire actions are governed by his false reality at the end of the play. This goes to the most extreme point, where he would rather kill himself than admit the truth.

Laura is quite different because she is at an earlier stage in her use of illusions. Her illusions are a knowing escape for her, but she is aware that they are not real. However, Laura is still young. It is possible to presume that if Laura continues to escape into her fantasy world as Loman does, it may eventually govern her also. The difference though is that Laura never has this chance. Through the events of the play, the reality of herself and her life becomes clear to her. When the glass menagerie shatters, it is as if her fantasy world shatters also. Returning to the different stages of their lives, it is worth remembering that Loman is an adult and Laura is a child at the start of the play. In saying this, it must be noted that Laura is 24 in the play. However, despite her age, she is a child in nature. The fantasy or dream world that she lives in can be likened to a child playing with dolls. She is young and her escape is like a form of playing to her, in that it is a temporary escape that she treats like a game. Her view of her escape as a game explains how she can find release in it, even while knowing that it is not reality. Laura acting as a child is also probably exaggerated despite her age because of the actions of her mother. As Judith Thompson (17) notes, Laura's mother is blind to the reality of her daughter. She will not acknowledge Laura's handicap and will not allow it to be spoken of. She also does not acknowledge Laura's personal weaknesses and her shyness. In doing this, Laura's mother makes it more difficult for Laura to accept reality because her home environment becomes one based on a fantasy world. With this environment, it could be expected that Laura might just accept her mother's fantasies and escape her problems by pretending they do not exist like her mother does. However, Laura does not do this. Instead, she tries to face her own imperfections. This is significant and shows that Laura's fantasy world is only a means of temporary escape because she cannot cope. Overall, she does not choose fantasy over reality. In addition, even in her escape, there are elements of her reality. One telling sign is the way she most adores the rare animals in her glass menagerie, especially the unicorn. This suggests that even in her fantasy world, she is actually trying to come to terms with reality and accept herself.