Glass Menagerie - Symbolism of the unicorn
Uploaded by Admin on Oct 02, 2000
The symbolism of the unicorn has two very different meanings. One of the symbols is happiness and love. The other one symbols sadness and hatred. You first come into contact with the unicorn when Jim sees it. This is where the first symbolism comes into place.
Once Laura starts to talk about it you can sense a feeling of happiness once they really get into their conversation. They start to talk about there past, which included “Blue Roses.” Once Jim called Emily Meisenbach a kraut-head, Laura knew there could definitely be something between them two. Jim had been telling Laura to have more confidence and to don’t think of yourself to be crippled because you aren’t. You are beautiful. Sparks are really flying until Jim hears some music from the Paradise Dance Hall across the ally and asks Laura to dance. This is where the second symbolism comes into place.
As they start to dance Jim hits a table where the unicorn was put. The horn of the unicorn broke off. Jim felt so bad that he told her he should be going. Laura asked when will you come back. That’s when it all fell apart. Jim told Laura that he was going steady with another girl called Betty. Laura was shocked, but didn’t want to say anything. Anything that was between Jim and Laura was gone. Nothing was left. Jim left after telling Amanda and that’s how the play ended.
As you can see, the unicorn played an important role in the play even though it didn’t seem as though it would. This is a very well put deception by Tennessee Williams showing his greatness in the art of play writing.