Phantoms Of The Drama

Tennessee Williams(1911-1983), recognized as one of the most outstanding playwrights in the post-war America, penned more than 100 plays in the forty years of his literary career, among which many are still being shown as classics in the theatre.As a gay playwright, Williams has consistently forged a space for the projection of the subject of gay identity by presenting a series of striking gay images. However, since the 1950s, Williams'greatest achievement in characterization has been credited to his portrayal of Southern Gentlewomen, for such women images as Blanche, Alma, and Amanda have become unique and striking figures in the literary landscape; while at the same time, their male counterparts, especially the gay characters, have suffered a long-time disregard in the academe. To make up for this deficiency and to have a further understanding of the gay subject in Tennessee Williams'major plays, the present thesis sets out from Williams'own living experiences as well as the"absence"of the gay characters to make a tentative study of the absent gay image by probing into the three dead gay men—Allan in A Streetcar Named Desire, Skipper in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, and Sebastian in Suddenly Last Summer.Chapter one is a biographical study of Williams'own living experiences, which is necessary because Williams'works have largely been considered autobiographical. His family and his southern gay identity have had an inevitable influence on his works, especially on his portrayal of gay men. His idyllic childhood in the south aroused in him the romantic nature. The troubled family made him a sensitive but alienated man. His inner desire for love was deeply repressed by the ascetic idea from his mother and his own internalised homophobia, which exacerbated his inner conflicts and later stimulated his dealing with the homosexual subject in his works.Chapter two, a combination of the textual analytical and psychoanalytical approach, is an elucidation of the textual significance of the three absent gay characters, including an account of their living background, an elucidation of their role in the play and an exploration of their spiritual world. In close relation to Williams'own life experience as well as his temperament, they are all romantic and sensitive artists, who yearn very much for liberation from the repressive society. In different living conditions, they take different ways in pursuit of love and freedom. Removed from the stage as they are, their importance can't be denied by such ostensible absence. Like"the phantom of the drama,"they are ubiquitous, haunting around the stage and contributing to the presentation of the onstage characters and the whole story as well.Chapter three is a sociocultural study, which examines the absent gay men as sociocultural emblems beyond their textual significance. Their"absent presence"suggests the embarrassing state of gays in Williams'time on one hand, while on the other, it renders gay men an indispensable part of the society. Besides, their identity in its real existence is a challenge to the patriarchal assumptions about gender, masculinity and homosexuality. More importantly, the three gay characters to be analysed in this thesis represent different phases during the evolution towards positive self-recognition of a gay—from"being destroyed"to"being defiant", and to"being liberated."Obviously, Williams'gay subject is coded. By analyzing the textual meaning and social significance of the absent gay images, this thesis decodes the plays and concludes that the"absence"of gay men is intended to highlight their significance, which is actually potent protest against the hegemonic patriarchal discourse. The evolution of their spiritual world suggests the possibilities for gay men to retrieve the positive self-identity. Williams'labor has greatly influenced gay playwrights of the consequent generation, who come out from the closet and bring more gay men to life as ordinary individuals on the dramatic and social stage.