For many individuals the family system represents a support network where encouragement, understanding, and love are often shared among family members. For a number of others, familial influence is far from positive and quite often influences development issues in members. As Fristad and Clayton (1991) maintain, there are "two general types of studies examining familial influence on child psychopathology" (p. 46). The first of these focuses on genetic transmission of pathology, and the second of these is environmental influences (such as impaired communication or expressed emotion) (Fristad & Clayton, 1991).
In William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, Tennessee Williams' The Glass Menagerie, and Lillian Hellman's The Little Foxes, we see that the families involved are of the latter type described above. The parents in all three of these dramas exhibit negative environmental influences toward their children. However, while this negative influence creates tragedy for Romeo and Juliet and Laura, for Tom and Alexandra the influence has the opposite impact, pushing them toward their dreams instead of thwarting them as is the case with Romeo, Juliet, and Laura. This analysis will use relevant examples from all three plays to show that negative environmental influence by parents can sometimes lead to tragedy in children, but at other times children are able to thrive despite such negative influences.
The parents in Romeo and Juliet, The Glass Menagerie, and The Little Foxes all exhibit negative environmental influences toward their children. Romeo and Juliet are forbidden by her parents to see one another, ultimately setting into motion the events of their suicide. The warring feud between the Montague's and Capulet's force the young, genuinely in love couple to fake death but misunderstanding leads to suicide. In The Glass Menagerie, Amanda's continual meddling into her children's lives and constant na...