In this paper, I will attempt a psychoanalytic reading of the male and the female in a selection of Tennessee Williams’s plays. In my opinion, a psychoanalytic approach is the best way to do justice to Williams’s disturbed characters and to explain the concepts of sex, gender, and culture that are inherent in each of his plays. The interrelation of these concepts will be of the utmost importance in the analysis ofThe Glass Menagerie(1945),A Streetcar Named Desire(1947),Cat on a Hot Tin Roof(1955),Orpheus Descending(1957),Suddenly Last Summer(1957), andSweet Bird of Youth(1959). However, before turning to the analysis of Tennessee Williams’s plays, I will first delineate the concept of psychoanalysis as such. Since Sigmund Freud, who is conceived of as the father of psychoanalysis, psychoanalysis has come a long way, and even though it is today regarded as a somewhat conservative discipline, it still retains a disruptive attitude towards the conventional discourse of gender and sexuality. It furthermore has the capacity to undermine notions of fixed identity, including sexual identity, and although psychoanalysis may not be used as a method of treatment in clinical psychiatry anymore, it still proves successful when it comes to analysing the notion of sex, gender, and culture in literary texts, for instance. I will begin the paper with an outline of Sigmund Freud’s essays on the three stages of psychosexual development of the child and give a brief account on the general workings of human sexuality. Via Freud’s essays, I will show that sexuality is inextricably linked with modern Western society, and that sexual drives are repressed in order to guarantee the individual’s entrance into society and culture. “Seit Freud wird die […] Entstehung und Funktion moralischer Motive im Individuum und in der Gesellschaft unter Berücksichtigung psychosexueller Entwicklungsphasen aus der Dialektik zwischen der Triebnatur des Menschen und seiner Gebundenheit an kulturelle und soziale Wert und Normsetzungen abgeleitet.”1Human sexuality then turns out to be a cultural product that is based on heterosexual behavior and procreation. Via these aspects, I will forge a link to Williams’s disturbed characters, who fail to associate with normative sexuality. In order to further explore the connection of sex, gender, and culture, I will also take Jacques Lacan’s contribution to psychoanalysis into consideration.
Table of Contents
1. INTRODUCTION
2. THE MALE AND THE FEMALE IN PSYCHOANALYTIC THEORY
2.1. A PSYCHOANALYTICAL APPROACH TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE INDIVIDUAL
2.1.1. SIGMUND FREUD’S DREI ABHANDLUNGEN ZUR SEXUALTHEORIE
2.1.2. THE THREE STAGES OF PSYCHOSEXUAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE INDIVIDUAL
2.1.3. LACAN’S CONTRIBUTION TO PSYCHOSEXUAL DEVELOPMENT
2.2. A PSYCHOANALYTICAL APPROACH TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF CULTURE
2.2.1. C.R. BADCOCK’S THEORY ON SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT
2.2.2. MODERN WESTERN SOCIETY AND AMERICAN CULTURE
2.2.3. TENNESSEE WILLIAMS’S PLAYS AND AMERICAN SOCIETY
3. TENNESSEE WILLIAMS'S HETEROSEXUAL CHARACTERS
3.1. THE SOUTHERN GENTLEWOMAN
3.1.1. AMANDA WINGFIELD IN THE GLASS MENAGERIE
3.1.2. BLANCHE DUBOIS IN A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE
3.2. THE BEAUTIFUL MALE OR THE SACRIFICIAL STUD
3.2.1. VAL XAVIER IN ORPHEUS DESCENDING
3.2.2. CHANCE WAYNE IN SWEET BIRD OF YOUTH
3.3. FAMILY AND PROCREATION
3.3.1. CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF
4. TENNESSEE WILLIAMS'S HOMOSEXUAL CHARACTERS
4.1. BRICK POLLITT IN CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF
4.2. SEBASTIAN VENABLE IN SUDDENLY LAST SUMMER
5. CONCLUSION
Objectives and Core Topics
This thesis provides a comprehensive psychoanalytic reading of male and female characters in selected plays by Tennessee Williams, aiming to explain how the intersection of sex, gender, and culture influences these individuals within the rigid social structures of mid-twentieth-century America.
- Psychoanalytic theories of Sigmund Freud and Jacques Lacan regarding psychosexual and cultural development.
- The impact of American social norms and patriarchal structures on individual identity.
- Deconstruction of the "Southern Gentlewoman" myth through characters like Amanda Wingfield and Blanche Dubois.
- Analysis of male protagonists as subverters of normative masculinity, such as Val Xavier and Chance Wayne.
- The role of the traditional family and domestic sexuality in plays like Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.
Excerpt from the Book
3.1.1. Amanda Wingfield in The Glass Menagerie
According to traditional beliefs, the myth of the Southern Lady as a beautiful, fragile and pure creature is an everlasting one that has always been fiercely protected. “Historically, the ideal of the Southern Lady lies at the very core of the culture and of the beliefs of the American South. The image of the lady and her adherence to a strict code of behaviour, her dignity, morality, and chastity have resulted in the Southern male placing her upon a pedestal from which she finds it difficult to descend.”80 A study conducted on female university students in 1987 validates this myth and reveals that sixty percent of the interviewed still believed that admitting to having had sexual intercourse might, for instance, socially harm their family and friends.81 If the myth of the Southern Gentlewoman still proved successful in the eighties, one can easily imagine how willingly people subscribed to their myths in the 1940s and 50s – the time during which the Old South collapsed and when people needed their myths to cope with the realities of an urbanizing and industrializing society. At first sight, Amanda Wingfield and also Blanche Dubois, the two most famous Southern Gentlewomen among Williams’s characters, seem to have much in common. Both believe in the romantic “myth of the Old South of gracious living, family tradition, chivalry and coquetry”82, both are equally shocked by instincts and animal feelings and want the finer things in life instead.
Summary of Chapters
1. INTRODUCTION: This chapter outlines the thesis's objective to conduct a psychoanalytic reading of selected Tennessee Williams plays to analyze the interrelation of sex, gender, and culture.
2. THE MALE AND THE FEMALE IN PSYCHOANALYTIC THEORY: This section explores Freud’s and Lacan’s theories on psychosexual development, the Oedipus complex, and the development of culture as a mechanism of repression.
3. TENNESSEE WILLIAMS'S HETEROSEXUAL CHARACTERS: This chapter analyzes how Williams deconstructs traditional gender roles, focusing on Southern women and the "sacrificial stud" figure within the rigid 1950s American social context.
4. TENNESSEE WILLIAMS'S HOMOSEXUAL CHARACTERS: This part examines the representation of homosexuality as a suppressed truth, focusing on the psychological impact on characters in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and Suddenly Last Summer.
5. CONCLUSION: The concluding chapter summarizes how Williams uses his work to subvert traditional gender systems and argues that a psychoanalytic reading is the most fruitful approach to his tormented characters.
Key Terms
Psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud, Jacques Lacan, Tennessee Williams, Southern Gentlewoman, Psychosexual development, Oedipus complex, Patriarchy, Heteronormativity, Masculinity, Subversion, Homosexuality, Desire, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Identity.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the primary focus of this research paper?
The paper focuses on a psychoanalytic reading of male and female characters in several of Tennessee Williams's plays, exploring how gender and sexuality are constructed and constrained by culture.
Which psychoanalytic theorists form the basis of the analysis?
The research primarily utilizes the theories of Sigmund Freud, regarding psychosexual development and infantile sexuality, and Jacques Lacan, regarding language, the Symbolic Order, and the construction of identity.
What is the main research question or objective?
The objective is to demonstrate that Williams's characters are victims of a repressive mid-twentieth-century American society and to analyze how his plays subvert traditional concepts of sex, gender, and the family.
What methodology does the author employ?
The author employs a psychoanalytic and poststructuralist methodology to interpret the subtext of Williams's plays, drawing on historical and cultural contexts of the 1940s and 1950s.
Which major plays are examined in this work?
The analysis includes The Glass Menagerie, A Streetcar Named Desire, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Orpheus Descending, Suddenly Last Summer, and Sweet Bird of Youth.
What are the core thematic areas?
Key areas include the myth of the Southern Gentlewoman, the subversion of masculinity through "sacrificial studs," the role of the nuclear family in domesticating sexuality, and the representation of homosexuality.
How is the "Southern Gentlewoman" myth deconstructed in the plays?
The paper analyzes characters like Amanda Wingfield and Blanche Dubois, showing how their adherence to outdated Southern ideals leads to neurotic or hysterical behaviors when confronted with modern realities.
How does the author interpret the roles of characters like Val Xavier and Chance Wayne?
They are described as "beautiful males" or "sacrificial studs" whose handsomeness and subversion of traditional male power roles lead to their tragic demise at the hands of patriarchal society.
What does the author conclude about Brick Pollitt's sexuality?
The author argues that there is no definitive proof of Brick's homosexuality in the text, suggesting the focus should be on his inability to accept the truth about his friend Skipper due to society's homophobic stigmatization.
How is the concept of the family used in the plays according to the paper?
The author argues that Williams depicts the 1950s American nuclear family as a site of domesticated sexuality and economic transaction, often subverting these norms through characters who fail to fit into this structure.
- Quote paper
- Frederik Kugler (Author), 2006, The Male and the Female in Tennessee Williams's Plays, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/61462
