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American Literature: Drama Cat on a Hot Tin Roof Tennessee Williams ( 1911 – 1983)

American Literature: Drama Cat on a Hot Tin Roof Tennessee Williams ( 1911 – 1983) . 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

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American Literature: Drama Cat on a Hot Tin Roof Tennessee Williams ( 1911 – 1983)

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  1. American Literature: DramaCat on a Hot Tin RoofTennessee Williams (1911 – 1983)

  2. 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

  3. What the play is about • Ambiguous • Homosexual relationship • Troubled marriage • Communication difficulties • Family squabbles over inheritance

  4. iii. Relevance for today?

  5. iv. Context of the South • Mississippi Delta

  6. Noble past? • Conservative values

  7. Patriarchal family • Family hierarchy • Father = head of family • Mother subordinate to father • Child-rearing conforms to gender roles

  8. Microcosm vs. macrocosm • Microcosm = family • Macrocosm = society • Family reflects US society • Time of big social change

  9. 2. Dramatic Form • Realistic dramatic form • Stage – proscenium arch • Set • Time • Furniture • Lighting

  10. ii. Non-realist dimension iii. Patterns of movement on the stage • Crossing and counter-crossing • Facilitates theme of entrapment and imprisonment

  11. 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

  12. 4. Characters and central concerns of the play

  13. i. Big Daddy Powerful patriarch Terminally ill Needs successor • Self-made • Coarse • Sexual entitlement • Tolerant?/ sympathetic

  14. Big Mama (Ida) • Huge and ugly • Submissive to Big Daddy • Interfering • No sense of self • Believes marriage based on sex • Ineffectual?

  15. Big Mama (Ida) (cont) • Delusion – family held together by love • Reality – family held together by greed

  16. 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

  17. iii. Gooper and Mae (cont) • 5 children – ‘no-neck monsters’ • Use children as bait for material gain • Sham show of love for Big Daddy

  18. iv. Brick • Ex-football player/ sports commentator • Beautiful on outside/ empty on inside • Alcoholic • Spiritually and morally paralysed

  19. iv. Brick (cont) • Friendship with Skipper = centre of play • Repressed homosexual? • Homophobic • Disgusted with ‘mendacity’ • Disgusted with himself?

  20. 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

  21. vi. Ambiguous treatment of homosexuality • Patriarchalsociety – need for successor • Original owners of plantation homosexual • No biological heirs so who succeeds?

  22. 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?

  23. vii. Maggie (Margaret) • The cat on the hot tin roof • Feline characteristics • Ambitious • Realist/ cynic • Uses sexuality as weapon; sexually aggressive • Determined to win

  24. 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”

  25. 6. Staging • Act I: Brick and Maggie • Act II: Brick and Big Daddy • Act III: Alternative resolutions; all characters denied wishes

  26. 7. Ending of play • 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

  27. 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?

  28. What about film? • Sanitised version • In all versions: • Open-ended • Unanswered questions tease audience

  29. Thanks for your attention! Lecturer: Jill Nudelman Contact: jilln@icon.co.za

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