<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p> Repetition as a linguistic and stylistic device extensively used in Tennessee Williams’s plays has been noticed by many. At the same time, more psychologically-inclined scholars have frequently drawn parallels between Williams’s plays and his own experiences and emotional conflicts. In an attempt to combine the two perspectives, this article will explore the function of repetitions as indicators of trapped emotions in Williams’s celebrated and award-winning play The Glass Menagerie. Starting from the stylistic theoretical background, but at the same time taking into account the psychological insights into the link between Williams’s life and work through some basic concepts of Freud and Lacan, an attempt will be made to demonstrate that in this play linguistic repetition appears as an obsessive expression of the characters’ emotions as well as those of the dramatist himself, making him repeat and relive both his experiences and his emotions. The authors will first introduce the concept and functions of repetition as a linguistic and stylistic device and then explore its representative instances in individual characters and their meanings, ending with the parallels which can be drawn between the characters’ and the dramatist’s own experiences and emotions expressed or intensified through repetitions.</p></abstract>

Repetition as a linguistic and stylistic device extensively used in Tennessee Williams’s plays has been noticed by many. At the same time, more psychologically-inclined scholars have frequently drawn parallels between Williams’s plays and his own experiences and emotional conflicts. In an attempt to combine the two perspectives, this article will explore the function of repetitions as indicators of trapped emotions in Williams’s celebrated and award-winning play The Glass Menagerie. Starting from the stylistic theoretical background, but at the same time taking into account the psychological insights into the link between Williams’s life and work through some basic concepts of Freud and Lacan, an attempt will be made to demonstrate that in this play linguistic repetition appears as an obsessive expression of the characters’ emotions as well as those of the dramatist himself, making him repeat and relive both his experiences and his emotions. The authors will first introduce the concept and functions of repetition as a linguistic and stylistic device and then explore its representative instances in individual characters and their meanings, ending with the parallels which can be drawn between the characters’ and the dramatist’s own experiences and emotions expressed or intensified through repetitions.

Repetition as Trapped Emotion in Tennessee Williams’s the Glass Menagerie

Faculty of Philology, Jovana Tomaševića 37, 81000 Podgorica, Montenegro, University of Montenegro,

Studia Anglica Posnaniensia

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

{"article-title":"Repetition as Trapped Emotion in Tennessee Williams\u2019s the Glass Menagerie"}

Repetition as a linguistic and stylistic device extensively used in Tennessee Williams’s plays has been noticed by many. At the same time, more...

Repetition as Trapped Emotion in Tennessee Williams’s the Glass Menagerie

Published Online: Feb 21, 2017

Page range: 29 - 51

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/stap-2016-0018

Keywords
Tennessee Williams, The Glass Menagerie, repetition, repetition compulsion, trapped emotions

© 2017

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

Repetition as Trapped Emotion in Tennessee Williams’s the Glass Menagerie

Published Online: Feb 21, 2017

Page range: 29 - 51

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/stap-2016-0018

KeywordsTennessee Williams, The Glass Menagerie, repetition, repetition compulsion, trapped emotions

© 2017

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

Keywords
Tennessee Williams, The Glass Menagerie, repetition, repetition compulsion, trapped emotions