A Theatre Semiotic Interpretation Of The Main Characters In Tennessee Williams’s Three Plays

Tennessee Williams became well-known in the1940s and is proved to be one ofthe most well-known playwrights in America. In Williams’s most representative andfamous plays, The Glass Menagerie, A Streetcar Named Desire and Cat on a Hot TinRoof, the major characters fall into two types: the Southern belles indulging in thepast and the self-exiled homosexuals. This thesis aims to probe into the marginalizedcharacters in Williams’s three major plays under the theoretical framework of theatresemiotics.Theatre semiotics appeared in the early20thcentury and thrived in the1980s.Employing the theatre semiotics of French semiologist Anne Ubersfeld, this thesisdelves into the marginalized characters in Williams’s major plays to reveal the socialcauses and personal causes of marginalization via the analysis of theatrical objects,actantial models and theatrical discourses, concluding that it is the social ostracismand characters’ lacking in courage to face the reality that jointly lead to their isolatedsituation.This thesis contains four chapters. Chapter One gives a brief introduction to theplaywright and his three major plays. It also provides a literature review of Williams’smajor characters at home and abroad. Then, a concise introduction to theatresemiotics is given and finally the feasibility of the three plays from the perspective oftheatre semiotics is presented. Chapter Two concentrates on the analysis of the causesof the Southern belles from theatrical objects, actantial models and theatricaldiscourses, concluding that only the social tolerance and Southern belles’ awakeningcan fundamentally change their marginalized situation. Chapter Three focuses on thereasons for the homosexuals’ exile from the theatrical objects, actantial models andtheatrical discourses and concludes that social prejudice and homosexuals’ cowardiceof facing their sexual orientation are responsible for their marginalization. ChapterFour is a conclusion of the thesis, summarizing the statement and indicating thesignificance of the present research.