One of the main purposes of an introductory scene is to familiarise the audience with the play’s characters. How far has Williams achieved this in your opinion?

I think that Tennessee Williams has achieved his purpose of introducing the play’s main characters who are Tom, Amanda and Laura Wingfield’s to the audience during the first scene of the play.

Tom Wingfield is introduced to us in the play as the narrator as well as one of the main characters. He says:

“I am the narrator of the play, and also a character in it.”

As the narrator of the play, we see Tom as a levelheaded and mature character. He addresses the audience directly seeking to provide a more detached explanation and assessment of what has been happening on stage. Therefore, Tom first appears as a cool, objective character who earns the audience’s trust with how he introduces his family and the way he talks about current political issues that were happening during the 1930’s.

As a character in the play, Tom changes completely. Within minutes, Tom changes into an irritable young man who is embroiled in a small petty argument with his m...