Literary analysis of the cat on a hot tin roof

The cat on a hot tin roof

(Analysis)

About the author

Tennessee Williams

Thomas Lanier ‘Tennessee’ Williams III was born on March the 26^th in 1911 and he died on February the 25^th in 1983. Williams was an American playwright. O’Neill, Arthur Miller and Tennessee were the most important playwrights in in 20^th century America Drama. His most famous plays include: the cat on a hot tin roof (1955),the night of the Iguana (1961), the glass menagerie (1944), the mutilated (1965) and much more.

About the play

The cat on a hot tin roof

The cat on a hot tin roof is a play written by Tennessee Williams on March the 24^th in 1955. The premier of this famous play was in Morosco theatre New York City in New York. The original language is English and it has as subjects: death, mendacity, homosexuality, relationships and alcoholism.

Genre

‘The cat on a hot tin roof’ is known as a family drama. It is the story of a family with so many problems among there are conflicts related to wealth and dying patriarch. This play is important because is dramatic and realistic; everybody has a family with too many problems as well.

About the structure of the play

The play is divided into four acts.

1^st act: This act begins with the conflicts between Brick and Maggie, both are married but they are not exactly in love, their discussions begin from Big Daddy’s cancer to their marriage and the relationships between Brick and Skipper. This act ends in violence when Brick attacks Maggie hurting her terribly.

2^nd act: This act shows the truths of the story. Big Daddy decides to have an honest conversation with Brick; he pretends to know if all the facts about his homosexuality are true. At the end, Brick tells Big Daddy his love story with Skipper and besides he informs Big Daddy about his real medical condition: cancer.

3^rd act: This act shows how Gooper and Mae inform Big Mamma about Big Daddy’s cancer, this information with the purpose of asking for the family’s fortune. Big Mamma asks to everybody to listen to her solution when suddenly Maggie informs that she is pregnant, everybody knows that this is untrue, however, Maggie will look for a way to get pregnant from Brick.

4^th act: After having said that she is pregnant, Maggie is asked for the gynecologist’s name, Mae is looking for the truth but Brick helps Maggie from telling it. He asks to Maggie not to sleep in the bed with him. Maggie accuses him for being a drunk. She is really sad for living with a husband as Brick.

Characters

Maggie: She is the cat and Brick’s wife; she is a very hysterical woman who is really unhappy with her marriage. Despite of having a husband she feels completely alone. Besides she is always discussing with her husband because of his sexual condition.

Brick: He is Maggie’s husband considered the favorite son of the family. Brick is well known because of his masculinity but through the story the truth emerges showing that he is homosexual and he has a relationship with skipper.

Big Daddy: He is Brick’s father also known as ‘Mississippi redneck’. This man is really sick and very rich as well. He wants to give all his fortune to his favorite son, Brick.

Big Mamma: She is an honest and excellent woman who is sadly not loved by her husband. He does not appreciate her with each other.

Themes

Homosexuality: Through the play, it is possible to see the romance between Brick and Skipper, two men who seemed to be really masculine but they actually were in love with each other.

Alcoholism: After Skipper’s death, Brick got really depressed, he used to drink alcohol daily becoming himself in an alcoholic.

Lie: Behind Maggie’s intentions there are too many lies; one of those is the child that she is expecting with Brick fact that is untrue.

Death: Through the play, it is possible to perceive deaths coming from Skipper’s suicide and the future death of Big Daddy due to his cancer.

Symbolism

The crutch: The crutch used by Brick, he uses it to escape and to attack other people. Besides, Maggie and Big Daddy take the crunch from him in order for him to be stranded.

Cancer: This shows how cancer makes Big Daddy crumbles in the same way his family is crumbling with him.

Setting

The play takes place especially in Maggie and Brick’s bedroom that is described as ‘Victorian with a touch of the Far East’. This bedroom is located in cotton plantations in the Mississippi Delta during the 1950s during the summer.