Date of Award
Spring 4-22-2016
Document Type
Honors Project
Degree Name
Bachelor of Arts
Department
English, Linguistics, and Communication
First Advisor
Richards, Gary
Major or Concentration
English
Abstract
This paper explores how playwright Tennessee Williams depicts marriage within two of his most central plays, A Streetcar Named Desire and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, and examines the power dynamics between the married couples Stanley and Stella, Brick and Maggie, and Big Daddy and Big Mama. Through a discussion of how their respective husbands use age and sexuality to manipulate the younger wives, Stella and Maggie, I argue that it is only through the decline of the husband, in this case Big Daddy, that wives gain any marital power. These disproportionate power relationships ultimately reflect Williams' own experiences and beliefs that balanced relationships were not realistically possible.
Recommended Citation
Gates, Kaitlin, "Wives' Gain and Husbands' Losses: The Imbalance of Marital Power in Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" (2016). Student Research Submissions. 66.
https://scholar.umw.edu/student_research/66