Critisism of Tennesse Williams

A detailed Summary of Critisism of Tennesse Williams

Tennessee Williams' plays were influenced by the events of his life, which include his illness, his sister's breakdown, his family relations, his reaction to fame, and also his relationships with men and women. The personal events that took place in his life were depicted in his setting, events, themes, and characterization in his plays. To many Williams' is just another playwright, but to others he's a playwright with interesting views. One author says, "I am convinced that Williams is the most important playwright writing in American today," (Kahn, Pg. 71) while another disagrees and says, "Williams' writing reflects a continual preoccupation with the same themes, the same kinds of characters." (Weales, Pg. 19) While Williams' life has an influence on his plays, it has a negative and positive influence. Williams plays are a torrent of his emotions and frustrations reenacted; yet it is also the truth on how the pragmatic world is. While Williams' plays are "continual preoccupations with the same themes," they are full of pragmatic ideas, which help the reader realize the truth about life.

"It was in Clarksdale that Tom was struck by a serious illness which affected his life in a strange way." (Gould, Pg. 226) At age five, Tom s

Despite the theatrical success of his early plays, Tennessee Williams'static view of the world caused him to exploit familiar material leading to later plays that were repetitive. "Williams' writing reflects a continual preoccupation with the same themes, the same kinds of characters." (Weales, Pg. 19) Because of his life experience's, the only things in Williams' plays are his references to the people he has meet in his life and the experience with them.

Laura, in his play, was a subtle girl who stayed indoors and didn't have friends. She had a collection of glass figurines. She was always ridiculed by her mom about gentleman callers, whom she did not receive. This is how Williams' characterized his sister.

Another adjustment that proved a serious problem to Tom and his sister was the dominant presence of their father. Up until they moved to St. Louis, he had been practically a stranger to them or, at most, an occasional visitor to the rectory, who seemed less a parent to them than their grandfather. (Gould, Pg. 227)

Two other important identification marks for the Williams outsiders are their physical and mental sicknesses and their preoccupation with sex. (Weales, Pg. 25)

For example, in Williams' play, The Glass Menagerie, the character, Laura, is directly related to the other Blanche in A Streetcar Named Desire. This is so because Laura is living in her dream world in which she is different. Also Blanche is in her world, because she is afraid of telling the truth to others or even to herself. Another example, are Jim from Glass Menagerie and Stanley from Streetcar. Both of them are emissaries from the real world, but Jim is a much nicer one than Stanley is.

In conclusion, Williams' life has a great influence on his literature and his writing style. Even though some of his work is repetitive, it is so because he views his life in different ways, whic

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Approximate Word count = 1266
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English