A director of 'The Glass Menagerie' has written: "All four characters invite compassion and sympathy from the audience". To what extent do you agree with this opinion?

The Glass Menagerie's small cast effectively allows the audience to feel a higher amount of emotion for the characters as they move through the play with them. All four characters in this play invite compassion and sympathy from the audience, but all to varying extents due to the situations they find themselves in and the personalities that they hold. The most sympathy and compassion that the audience feels is towards Laura. Her disability is the …

…them to feel the emotions throughout the play all at once. The reaction of Jim's revelation heightens the compassion as the audience realises that Jim was really the last hope for the survival of the Wingfields and the fact that he was a 'lost cause' makes their futures uncertain. Therefore, the statement made by the director is accurate, however, the individual characters within the play dictate the extent of the feelings of sympathy and compassion.