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Lust In Tennessee Williams A Cat On A Hot Tin Roof

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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. The 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, …show more content…

Brick and Maggie’s marriage is filled with anger, arguments, hatred, and Maggie’s sexual frustration. Their flimsy marriage is unable to serve as a stable roof over 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

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Overall, A Streetcar Named Desire is showing the downfalls of not expressing sexuality while doing the rare thing of showcasing sexuality in the context of a society that dismissed and condemned it. Tennessee Williams was a gay man who knew the frustration of living in a time period that demanded his sexuality be repressed. Through the play, he communicates how high a price individuals had to pay for expressing their desires. In Blanche’s case, her expression of sexuality led to her being committed to a mental institute, and in Allen Grey’s case death. Despite this Williams also imparts to his audience the negative impacts of disguising one 's sexuality behind the guise of what is considered normal and proper.

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