One of the things I love about Tennessee Williams is how his plays use metaphor. His play titles are nearly all beautiful, evocative metaphors, and his plays are infused with rich symbols and metaphors.
Many people think of metaphors simply as figures of speech. That is one form of a metaphor. Another form is to have one thing represent another. A flag could be a metaphor for patriotism. A flower could be a metaphor for love.
Let’s take one more step. (That’s a metaphor, since we aren’t really
stepping.) Characters also have metaphors they live through.
There are four types of metaphors:
Figures of speech.
Physical items that represent something else.
Life metaphors.
And sometimes the entire play is a metaphor, like “The Crucible” lets the Salem Witch Trials stand in for the McCarthy hearings.
In my play “Bamboozled,” a family bible stands for the truth. Ironically, the truth is found not in the scripture itself, but in the family history catalogued inside the Book.
Here’s a short video from National Theatre with several playwrights talking about their use of Dramatic Metaphor: