Alone, lies create the gray between right and wrong. The lines between storytelling and lying become blurred in the world of storytelling, but that is not a concern in the theatre. Theatre uses this gray area as a tool for self-reflection. Through the telling of other people’s lives, the audience is allowed a degree of separation and a more objective understanding of society and the conflicts that human beings face. Many times this grasping of self is achieved through understanding characters’ lives and the lies in which they live. Tennessee Williams, formerly known as Thomas Lanier Williams III, experienced much of his life surrounded by falsities. From the deceits he told himself to the ones he shared with the world, Williams used the power of theatre to portray these struggles more clearly. In his plays Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, …show more content…
It is evident through the dialogue between Brick and Big Daddy in Act Two that Big Daddy is a miserable, aggressive man who has distanced himself from his family as much as possible over the last forty years. Big Daddy’s actions and repulsion toward his family is a mirror image of how Williams perceived his own father’s actions and feelings toward their family.
During his scene in Act Two with Brick, Big Daddy confesses that he hates his wife, his children, his grandchildren, his church, and his whole life, “Having for instance to act like I care for Big Mama!—I haven't been able to stand the sight, sound, or smell of that woman for forty years now!—even when I laid her!” (Cat on a Hot Tin Roof 110). The hatred he feels for the family helps to explain his outbursts of unwarranted anger. Through Williams’s portrayal of Big Daddy, he was able to use his own experiences with his father to create a believable and detestable character for his