Fragmented Identity Under Crisis: Construction Of Homosexual Identity In Williams's Plays

Selecting materials about three plays written by Tennessee Williams, the thesis discusses Williams's homosexual identity construction by adopting the theory of identity construction. As one of the greatest playwrights in the United States since World Warâ…¡, Tennessee Williams makes tremendous contributions to innovation and progress of American drama in the 20th century. The research on his works emerges enormously, with more new perspectives and theories arising. However, he is controversial for his works are involved with homosexuality. Though the research on his works from the homosexuality perspective has risen recently, it is incomplete and unsystematic.The thesis based on Williams's three plays, A Streetcar Named Desire, Cat on A Hot Tin Roof and Suddenly, Last Summer written before the Stonewall riots, analyses homosexual identity construction from identity construction perspective, points out that Williams constructs a new homosexual identity in his plays, which is elegant, sensitive, artistic and in torment of their homosexual identity. The new identity is different from the traditional one, which is stereotyped and demonized to be abnormal, shameful sissy, an otherness identity.However, due to the identity crisis Williams is confronted with and homophobia shadowing America in the 1940s and 1950s, his identity construction ends up failure, which is reflected in identity fragments of the homosexual characters:the homosexuals coming out of the closet die in body while the homosexuals in the closet are tormented by their sexual identity to spiritual death in the straight-dominated society. The thesis contains five chapters as follows:Chapter one introduces Williams's literary achievements, the criticism on his works from the academic field both abroad and home, the rationality and necessity of analyzing the works, and the layout of the thesis. Chapter two analyses the suppression and oppression the homosexuals are receiving living in a society haunting homophobia and further discusses Williams's identity crisis as a result of homophobia. Then the thesis points that more than homophobia, Williams's identity crisis also comes from the cultural background, his life experience and his religion.On the basis of chapters above, chapter three and chapter four further analyze Williams's identity construction to evade identity crisis as a homosexual. In chapter three, by analyzing Sebastian in Suddenly, Last Summer, the thesis discusses Williams's identity construction on homosexuals out of the closet. While Sebastian is endowed with attractive characters such as elegance, sensitivity and artistic temperament, which wins much admiration from the people around him, he is meanwhile tormented by his sexual identity and eventually death is his only option to evade his fragmented identity.Chapter four, combining Williams's two plays, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and A Streetcar Named Desire, analyses Williams's identity construction on homosexuals in the closet. Similarly, the two characters are given charming elegance and sensitivity, which is Williams's tactic way to win the acceptance from the straight audience. However, the charming traits in the characters make them fail to bear their crisis of cognitive identity and they end up self-destruction in spirit.Chapter five is conclusion. Williams has made successful identity construction on homosexual characters in his plays to some degree, for he succeeds in creating the new image, such as the handsome appearance, masculinity, and the artistic temperament of homosexual characters, which breaks the demonized homosexual image. However, the homosexual characters fail to have an integral identity:marginalized by their identity crisis, they get helpless, anxious, depressed and self-destructive, and their identity still stays fragmented. Williams's unsuccessful identity construction reflects his own frustration as a homosexual. Meanwhile it also utters the injustice and prejudice of the society, conveys the silent protest from the homosexuals. The discovery helps the audience deepen the understanding on Williams's works. The deficiency of the thesis lies in that choosing three plays prior to the Stonewall riots as texts, it is not involved with Williams's works after the Stonewall riots, and the future research can further study in the field.