American Literature: Drama Cat on a Hot Tin Roof Tennessee Williams (1911 – 1983)
1.
Introduction
Watch Tennessee Williams: Wounded Genius on youtube.com (5 parts)
Play written 1955; Broadway debut 1956
i. Plot Centres around Big Daddy’s birthday party
Big Daddy dying Pollitt family vying to inherit large estate
ii.
What the play is about
Ambiguous
Homosexual relationship
Troubled marriage
Communication difficulties
Family squabbles over inheritance
iii. Relevance for today?
iv. Context of the South Mississippi Delta
Noble past? Conservative values
v. Patriarchal family Family hierarchy Father = head of family
Mother subordinate to father Child-rearing conforms to gender roles
vi.Microcosm vs. macrocosm Microcosm = family Macrocosm = society Family reflects US society
Time of big social change
2. Dramatic Form i. Realistic dramatic form Stage – proscenium arch Set Time Furniture Lighting
ii. Non-realist dimension iii. Patterns of movement on the stage Crossing and counter-crossing Facilitates theme of entrapment and imprisonment
3. Writer on Communication Artist’s need to communicate truth “People who are shocked by the truth, aren’t deserving of the truth. And the truth is something one has to deserve.” Tennessee Williams (www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7L8EIdFmj4)
Play communicates: -
Human truths and emotions
-
American society and its values
-
Personal concerns – Williams’ homosexuality
4. Characters and central concerns of the play
i.
Big Daddy
Self-made
Powerful patriarch
Coarse
Terminally ill
Sexual entitlement
Needs successor
Tolerant?/ sympathetic
ii. Big Mama (Ida) Huge and ugly
Submissive to Big Daddy Interfering
No sense of self Believes marriage based on sex
Ineffectual?
ii. Big Mama (Ida) (cont) Delusion – family held together by love Reality – family held together by greed
iii. Gooper and Mae Older brother and wife Avaricious Gooper – uses legal knowledge to try steal estate Mae – ex-Cotton Queen, socially pretentious Reflect American values
iii. Gooper and Mae (cont) 5 children – ‘no-neck monsters’ Use children as bait for material gain
Sham show of love for Big Daddy
iv. Brick Ex-football player/ sports commentator
Beautiful on outside/ empty on inside Alcoholic Spiritually and morally paralysed
iv. Brick (cont) Friendship with Skipper = centre of play Repressed homosexual? Homophobic Disgusted with ‘mendacity’ Disgusted with himself?
v.
Conflict between Brick and Big Daddy
Breakdown in communication Brick’s truth cause of his disgust with himself? Heart of Brick’s spiritual and moral paralysis? Brick reveals Big Daddy’s truth to him Truth intolerable to both
vi. Ambiguous treatment of homosexuality Patriarchal society – need for successor Original owners of plantation homosexual No biological heirs so who succeeds?
vi. Ambiguous treatment of homosexuality (cont) Brick denies his homosexuality
But BIG QUESTION: Is he or isn’t he? Brick expresses homophobia Brick’s sexuality remains unresolved Has treatment of theme dated badly?
vii. Maggie (Margaret) The cat on the hot tin roof Feline characteristics Ambitious Realist/ cynic Uses sexuality as weapon; sexually aggressive Determined to win
5. Theme of truth and mendacity No absolute truth Truth-telling = communication (artist’s aim) Characters reflect mendacious society Brick’s, Maggie’s and Big Daddy’s “truths”
6. Staging Act I:
Brick and Maggie
Act II:
Brick and Big Daddy
Act III:
Alternative resolutions; all characters denied wishes
7. Ending of play i. Original Dark and negative
No resolution for Brick Big Daddy doesn’t reappear
2 grim reminders of Big Daddy’s death – anguished cry and Big Mama rushing in to fetch morphine
ii.
Broadway version
On advice from director, Elia Kazan
More positive Big Daddy returns to stage Development of Brick’s character Storm (pathetic fallacy) Capitulation of Williams’ artistic integrity?
iii. What about film? Sanitised version
In all versions: Open-ended Unanswered questions tease audience
Lecturer: Jill Nudelman Contact:
[email protected]