The Crisis Tendencies Of Hegemonic Masculinity In Tennessee Williams’s Plays

As one of the greatest American dramatists, Tennessee Williams excels at presenting the plight of the homosexuals and women. Though critics have noticed that those sufferings stem from patriarchal oppression, little attention is paid to the crisis that the hegemonic males are experiencing. This thesis takes three of Williams’s major plays—Cat on the Hot Tin Roof, Orpheus Descending, and A Streetcar Named Desire—as its research objects. Through the lens of gender studies, the thesis adopts the concept of "hegemonic masculinity" put forward by R. W. Connell and strives to elucidate that the male with hegemonic masculinity face the crisis tendencies and that the traditional hierarchy system of gender is unstable.Firstly, the thesis explores the negative impact of heterosexual hegemonic masculinity on homosexuals in Cat on the Hot Tin Roof. Living in the heterosexual-dominated society, Brick internalizes homophobia and becomes a compulsory heterosexual. Both he and Skipper who committed suicide are victimized by the unfair social norms. Their plights manifest the defect of hegemonic masculinity which advocates heterosexuality. The thesis further points out that Brick and Skipper do not yield to but reject hegemonic masculinity in different ways, placing the males who discriminate homosexuality in the midst of crisis. The following chapter proves the crisis tendencies of hegemonic masculinity from the perspective of feminism. It takes Orpheus Descending as the example to show how the female character Lady subverts the masculinity/feminity and hegemony/subordination dichotomies. Finally, the thesis deals with the inherent deficiency of hegemonic masculinity by analyzing the recurrent violence in A Streetcar Named Desire. Sexual violence enables Stanley to establish his supreme position in his house, but weakens him in front of Blanche’s challenges. Therefore, the violence frequently inflicted on "the other" testifies Stanley’s vulnerability as a male and the crisis tendencies of hegemonic masculinity.Through the description of the plights of different kinds of people, Tennessee Williams discloses the imperfection and crisis tendencies of hegemonic masculinity. What Williams advocates is a better world where everyone is equal and can understand each other. People with unusual sexual orientations or different genders will no longer be discriminated.