Portrayal of Women in the Select Plays of Tennessee Williams

Abstract

Tennessee Williams is an American playwright, novelist, essayist, short story writer, screen play writer and poet. Tennessee Williams is known for his psychologically complex dramas that explore isolation and miscommunication within families. His characters form a small group of realistic tradition in American drama and introduced his new concept of the plastic theatre by incorporating expressionistic technique. Williams plays present the characters in closer approach to truth and reality. He believes in penetrating into the inner selves of the characters and reveals the emotions or thoughts surfacing from inner reality He exhibits his artistic skills in his characterization of women. As Williams pays more attention to deal with the predicament of women in his plays, the men who play significant roles are outshined by the outstanding women characters. In each play Williams present a normal woman but with her unique qualities and complexities. The variety and uniqueness of Williams women protagonists makes the study on his portrayal of women a challenging one. Thus the thesis proposes a study in Tennessee Williams plays and focuses the attention on the characterization of women. The central purpose of the thesis is to analyze the depiction of women in the major and other remarkable plays of Tennessee Williams. The complete study is divided into seven chapters. The plays selected for the study are: The Glass Menagerie, A street car Named Desire, Summer and Smoke, The Rose Tattoo, Suddenly Last Summer and Sweet Bird of Youth. newline