Preview

Lust And Desire In Tennessee Williams Plays

Powerful Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1338 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Lust And Desire In Tennessee Williams Plays
In society, lust is prevalent everywhere. Lust for glory, lust for money, lust for power, lust for another person. Lust has overpowered the media, the viewpoints of millions of people towards women, celebrities, literature, and the social expectations of a relationship. Female character, Gertrude, from Shakespeare’s play, Hamlet, is characterized with lust, as Gertrude marries her late husband’s brother a few months after his death to satisfy her sexual desires and crave for power. This theme of lust and desire is common in many of Tennessee Williams’ plays. The symbolic titles of A Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and A Streetcar Named Desire explore the themes of homosexuality, deception, lust, and how desire leaves one unable to overcome reality, in …show more content…
Maggie and Brick’s marriage is filled with anger, arguments, hatred, and Maggie’s sexual frustration. Their flimsy marriage is unable to serve as a stable roof upon their heads and represents the lies in their relationship, because Brick does not love Maggie, and Maggie forced him to marry her. Yet, they portray themselves as happily married with lots of love, to deceive Big Daddy and the rest of the family. In the play, Maggie is often referred to as a cat, and the hot tin roof represents her incompatible marriage with Brick that he tells her to jump off of. Brick’s indifferent sexual connection with his spouse shows that not only does he no longer wish for physical touch, he also avoids the opportunities for emotional union (Huzzard, “Williams’s Cat on a Hot Tin Roof”). The animosity Brick displays towards Maggie has left her feeling lonely and isolated, such as a cat who is nervous, rigid, and manipulative. She is worried how long she will be able to remain on this hot tin roof which is causing her so much pain, yet is a requirement for her to stay upon if she wishes to be with Brick. Maggie is not the only character …show more content…
Deception was a common theme among the two plays, and it was used to mask the sorrows one has had to experience in life. Often, one falls into the hands of deception not only to deceive others, but mainly to deceive themselves from the truth they cannot bear to face. It is important to accept the mistakes and forgive, in order to

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    The character Maggie in the play version and in the movie version differs. In the play she admits to sleeping with Skipper so that both of them could be closer to Brick, so that both of them could feel like they were making love with Brick. But in the movie Maggie denies and apparently never had relations with Skipper. With this being said, in the play version Brick’s hostility for Maggie seems much more unjustified. Also, Maggie was the one to tell Brick of his father’s terminal illness in the movie version. This job had been left to the doctor in the play version.…

    • 655 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Brick and Maggie had been married since college, so you would think that what they shared was special, unbreakable, true love. Everything that they built became deferred when Maggie slept with Skipper, Brick’s best friend. We can’t really give a solid explanation as to why she did this because we don’t know her motivations, but she may have committed this act for various reasons, one being to shift any displacement in Brick’s mind from her to skipper. Perhaps she was trying to prove a point because she thinks that Skipper loves her husband. Perhaps she was trying to save her relationship because if she would prove that skipper was homosexual by trying to sleep with him, she could tell Brick then he would see the truth. Perhaps Maggie just wanted…

    • 1134 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    In A Streetcar Named Desire, Blanche refuses to accept reality and tries to resuscitate her idealized past through memory. She allows desire to conduct the way she lives and as a matter of fact is ultimately destroyed by the pursuit of her sexual desires. The correlation between death and desire is a prominent aspect that Williams explores in A Streetcar Named Desire. Throughout the play, death and desire are frequently and consistently entwined on many levels, particularly in the connotation of sexual desire inevitably leading to death or extreme wreckage of some kind and vice versa.…

    • 1196 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” begins with Brick taking a bath and with Maggie whining about how Mae and Gooper’s children have been performing for Big Daddy and this has continually reminded her of her childless state. She believes that Mae and Gooper are trying to gain favor form from Big Daddy now that he has been diagnosed with cancer. The two families have been eyeing the family estate and since only one of these families can inherit it, they are both trying to out do each other in winning favor from Big Daddy. However, Brick’s incessant drinking has not been helping the situation.…

    • 1645 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The Shakespearean comedy, Much Ado about Nothing encompasses themes such as the importance of honour, the ideal of social grace, nevertheless uses a plot which primarily revolves around the theme of deception re occurring in various forms. On one hand deception is used throughout Much Ado About Nothing in a malicious manner, however on the on the hand it can be portrayed in a benevolent and beneficial manner such as the fooling of Beatrice and Benedick and deceiving them into proclaiming their love for each other. The use of both forms of deception often makes it difficult to distinguish between the two, such as when Claudio announces his desire to woo Hero, however Don Pedro takes it upon himself to woo her for Claudio. However Shakespeare’s use of deception is neither completely a means of malice nor a mean of showing traits of kindness between characters, the use of deception aids the development of the plot and creates a path for other elements necessary in the play such as its comical elements.…

    • 1460 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    The relationship between Beatrice and Benedick exposes the truth in a manner that removes the significance of the lies. Whereas Claudio and Hero’s connection still relies on the treacheries as a crucial property to flourish. These juxtaposing relationships illustrate how varied human relations can be when fabrications are at the center. As the play matures the relationships developed at different degrees into opposing situations: one growing stronger while the other was weakened due to the deceptions. In these final lines, Shakespeare is exposing how circumstances can contrast even amongst comparable conditions. While lying ultimately unites one, it almost destroys the other couple. Trickery is depicted as neither wrong nor right through the scope of these…

    • 1092 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Deception in Hamlet

    • 717 Words
    • 3 Pages

    In today's society, it is almost impossible to go a day without experiencing some form of deception, whether it being hearing about it, seeing it, or experiencing it first hand. In William Shakespeare's 'Hamlet', deception is a major theme throughout the story. In the play, the author portrays deception as a necessary tool to allow Hamlet and Claudius to accomplish their goals. Claudius and Hamlet use deception to gather evidence and for personal gain.…

    • 717 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Mean Girls Vs Shakespeare

    • 370 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Human nature causes the individuals to tick or deceive someone for their own personal benefit, leading them to ruin others’ lives. The two texts, ‘Much Ado About Nothing’ by William Shakespeare and ‘Mean Girls’ by Mark Waters, although set in distinct time periods, explore the concept of trickery and deceit. Even though, both narratives feature different settings and plots, they still share some similarities. Shakespeare and Waters, makes it evident that all deception used comes with a consequence.…

    • 370 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Tennessee Williams wrote A Streetcar Named Desire in order to exemplify the basic sexuality of humans. To do this he uses the most primitive bits of human nature and magnifies them into his characters’ personalities. The bare innocence of Stella, the raw masculinity of Stanley, and the sheer insanity of Blanche, all to show uniquely human qualities.…

    • 1361 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Research Paper

    • 1802 Words
    • 8 Pages

    By comparing and paralleling the characters in the play with life’s attributes, the author’s perception of death and the treatment of death in the play; thus reminding the reader that this play is a moral play as described by the first appearing character Messenger.…

    • 1802 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    The penultimate scene of Tennessee William’s play “A Streetcar named Desire” in which the protagonist Blanche Dubois is raped by her brother-in –law, Stanley Kowalski, is deeply disturbing to the audience. Williams uses this scene as a climax of both the play’s plot and a number of key themes…

    • 907 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Anger, disappointment, and disbelief are often reactions an individual encounters after confronting betrayal. In fact, it is an unwanted experience due to its reputation of dissolving relationships. In history, fine literature has provided us with novels and plays that reveal betrayal as the basis and central theme of the story. The fact is, it can emerge from acts of revenge and even through pure selfishness. Furthermore, betrayal is a recurring topic in the tragic play, Hamlet, written by William Shakespeare. Many characters deceive one another as well as deny their own feelings, causing the betrayal of their emotions. The universal notion of betrayal is exemplified through Shakespeare's portrayal of dishonesty in his characters. They demonstrate…

    • 809 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Crucible Universality

    • 540 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Comparing the plot and the play, I was able to see a parallel to some very basic human emotions and dispositions such as unrequited love, deception, and lies. Once the actual story was revealed I was able to gather a myriad of human experiences and see that they are still relevant and prevalent to me in the twenty first century; to list a few, religious prosecution, adultery, deception and scams, mob mentality, love, mankind evilness towards one another, pride, and…

    • 540 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Dishonesty in Hamlet

    • 1232 Words
    • 5 Pages

    The world we currently know has experienced many stages and eras such as the Renaissance era and the New World Era. In each of these eras, falsehood, dishonesty, deceit and revenge all seem to grow rich, however remorse and guilt grow poor. Like a domino effect, with all this tremendous falsehood come fatal and destructive dangers in life. Whether it be due to the risks of overthinking, or perhaps the risks of taking action, they seem to grow exponentially with time. William Shakespeare portrays evidently this changing world and it’s forever increasing perils of deceit throughout the play Hamlet, representing the aftermath of lying and its effects on everything around us, specifically the Great Chain of Being and Nature itself.…

    • 1232 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Deception in Hamlet

    • 459 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Deception is a recurring theme in Hamlet. In a tale of murder, love, and politics, deception could have no more fitting place. The lies and pretensions interweave each other, and there is no character left out of this web. All the central characters have their secrets to hide and mistruths to spread, and this is central to the plot and its progression.…

    • 459 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays