The unseen character : a modern use of an old device in modern American drama, a study of Tennessee Williams’ the glass Menageri

Abstract EN

This paper deals with the American modern drama, mainly the study of Tennessee Williams' the glass menagerie which is an autobiographical play considered as a classic of the American stage.

what is extra ordinary in the play under study is the presence of an absent character, though his presence is express in different ways it has the same effects on the onstage figures and the plot.

American playwrights inherited the unseen character device from the European style and adopted it with enthusiasm.

it was in the hands of Eugene O'Neill that the unseen character found its first extensive use, the next major American dramatist to use the technique extensively was Tennessee Williams; who created his unseen characters in great variety as well as number to increase the level of dramatic contrast, bestowing an extra measure of ambiguity and in adding a measure of complexity to on stage characterizations.