4.

DRAMA
TENNESSEE WILLIAMS (1911-1983)
Tennessee Williams is considered one of the greatest American playwrights of the 20th century,
alongside Eugene O'Neill and Arthur Miller. He is known for his poetic style and exploration of
Southern Gothic themes. His father, an alcoholic salesman, disapproved of his writing ambitions
and forced him to leave journalism school to work in a factory, but he eventually returned to his
studies. He moved to New Orleans, where he began to develop his voice as a playwright. He
worked for the Works Progress Administration (WPA), and began writing plays. His first major
theatrical attempt, Battle of Angels, was unsuccessful, but he persisted and found success with
The Glass Menagerie in 1945. His partner, Frank Merlo, passed away in 1963, deepening
Williams' depression and reliance on drugs and alcohol. He died choking on a bottle cap while
attempting to ingest barbiturates.

Williams' most celebrated works include A Streetcar Named Desire (1947), which earned him
the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Sweet Bird of Youth, The Night of the Iguana,
and The Rose Tattoo. His plays frequently tackle themes of sexuality, masculinity, desire, love,
and violence. Characters in his works are often haunted by their pasts, struggling with mental
health, addiction, and societal pressures.

o A Streetcar Names Desire (1947)

For this play, Williams drew heavily from his personal life, blending elements of his family life.
The character Blanche DuBois reflects his sister Rose, who suffered from schizophrenia and
underwent a lobotomy. The play also employs innovative theatrical techniques, such as the
symbolic use of music to represent Blanche's fragile mental state, lighting to expose or conceal
truths, and the lack of physical privacy on stage to heighten emotional and sexual tension. The
central conflict arises from the clash between two opposing forces: Blanche DuBois and Stanley
Kowalski. Blanche represents the fading grandeur of the old Southern aristocracy—she is
sensitive and cultured; in contrast, Stanley embodies raw masculinity and unrefined brutality.
Their conflict is symbolic, representing the collision between old-world gentility and modern
industrial realism. The play reaches its climax when Stanley and Blanche are left alone in the
apartment while Stella is in labour, and Stanley rapes her. This act seals Blanche's fate, driving
her into complete mental collapse.

 The poker games

The poker games serve as powerful symbolic moments in the play, acting as a microcosm of the
larger conflicts in the narrative. The two poker games in the play mirror the larger arc of Stanley
and Blanche's conflict. In the first game, Stanley is losing, and this culminates in a violent
outburst, signifying his frustration and inability to maintain dominance. In contrast, during the
second game, Stanley is winning, symbolizing his triumph over Blanche. The outcomes of the
games reflect the power dynamic: Stanley emerges victorious in both the domestic and
psychological war, with Stella, their unborn child, and Mitch serving as symbols of his victory.

The first game occurs during scene 3, which introduces the poker game as an all-male activity,
representing a traditional "boys' night", disrupted only by the intrusion of Blanche and Stella.
Mitch’s line, “Poker shouldn't be played in a house with women” (Williams, 57), highlights the
gendered boundaries and the tension caused by the female presence in a traditionally male-
dominated environment.

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  The relationship between Blanche and Mitch

Blanche is deeply shaped by tragedy and loss; she is obsessed with appearances, and searches
validation through fleeting connections. Her aversion to light and constant bathing symbolize
her attempts to shield herself from reality and cleanse her guilt. These vulnerabilities drive her
interactions with Mitch, whom she sees as a potential savior. Blanche sees him as a chance for
stability, while Mitch views Blanche as someone who could fulfill his longing for companionship.
Their bond blossoms in Scene 6, based on shared loneliness and a longing for care rather than
physical desire, standing in contrast to the passionate, carnal relationship between Stanley and
Stella. Blanche leans into romance clichés, while Mitch is drawn into this illusion. However, this
unravels when Mitch learns of Blanche’s past from Stanley in Scene 9. His disillusionment is
emblematic of societal double standards, as he cannot reconcile Blanche’s idealized image with
the reality of her sexual history, showing the patriarchal expectations placed on women at the
time. As Stanley asserts dominance over Blanche in Scene 10, Mitch’s absence highlights his
passivity and susceptibility to manipulation. By the play’s end, Mitch’s tears during Blanche’s
breakdown reveal lingering compassion, but it is too late to save her.

 Stanley’s reality and Blanche’s illusion

Blanche’s fragile psyche is a tapestry of illusions woven from trauma, guilt, and an insatiable
need for validation. Her tragic history forms the foundation of her illusions. She crafts a "false
self" to shield her "true self" from the harsh realities of her life. Her illusions manifest in the
romanticized conception of her past; the delusion she built around her purity, projecting an
image of purity; her obsession with youth and beauty; and her dreams of romance and rescue.
In stark contrast to her, Stanley embodies raw realism, and his presence disrupts Blanche’s
constructed world, as he relentlessly exposes her illusions.

The conflict between both of them symbolizes the collision of two opposing forces: Stanley’s
brutal realism and Blanche’s delicate fantasies. His ultimate act of violence shatters Blanche’s
remaining illusions, marking the destruction of her world. Blanche’s illusions crumble under
Stanley’s reality, leading to her psychological breakdown and institutionalization. His victory
underscores the harshness of a world intolerant of vulnerability, while her descent
demonstrates the fragile boundary between fantasy and reality. While reality triumphs, Williams
suggests that illusions serve as a vital coping mechanism. Blanche’s final delusions offer her a
fragile sanctuary, emphasizing humanity’s reliance on dreams in the face of unforgiving truths.

 Love, Desire and Vulnerability

Desire is portrayed as both a driving force and a source of destruction, underscoring the complex
emotional lives of the characters and their often contradictory actions. The sexual relationships
in the play are intense, often marked by brutality and control. Stanley's raw and aggressive
desire for Stella is contrasted with Blanche's flirtations and need for validation through sexual
attraction. Power dynamics play a significant role. Stanley exudes masculine power, asserting
his dominance physically and psychologically over Stella. In contrast, Stella, despite being a
victim of physical abuse, continuously returns to Stanley, revealing a complex dynamic of
submission, tolerance, and dependency.

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Blanche’s longing for ideal love is rooted in the painful memories of her first marriage. Her
idealized vision of love as something pure and genuine is shattered by the harsh realities of life
and death. Blanche’s emotional baggage, particularly her guilt over her husband's death and her
inability to reconcile her past, leaves her vulnerable and disconnected from reality. Williams
intertwines sex and death as recurring motifs in the play, particularly through Blanche’s belief
that her sexuality can stave off death and rejuvenate her. Her sexual history, marred by
promiscuity and the death of her young husband, leads her to a self-destructive path.

Both Blanche and Stella’s lives are defined by their dependence on men, either for validation,
security, or escape. Blanche’s sexual history and her perception of herself as an object of desire
reflect her fragility and her need for male attention to reaffirm her worth. Similarly, Stella
remains tethered to Stanley, choosing his abusive love over the possibility of independence with
her sister. He represents a brand of masculinity that is aggressive, physical, and emotionally
domineering. His sexuality is tied to his physicality, with frequent references to his raw strength
and virility, operating in a more primal, physical realm, where masculinity is linked to dominance
and control.

ARTHUR MILLER (1915-2005)

Arthur Miller was born in New York. The Great Depression caused his family business to fail,
prompting a move to Brooklyn. He worked various jobs, including as a salesperson, which would
later inspire his play Death of a Salesman. His career took off with the success of his 1947 play
All My Sons, which explored the tensions in a family divided by moral conflict. His next major
work, Death of a Salesman (1949), won the Pulitzer Prize and cemented his place as a national
literary figure. He was quite politically committed. He was called to testify before the House Un-
American Activities Committee. Refusing to name names of alleged Communist sympathizers,
he was convicted of contempt of Congress, although the ruling was later overturned. He became
President of the PEN writers’ group in Iron Curtain countries. His personal life also became a
subject of public fascination, especially his marriage to Hollywood actress Marilyn Monroe until
their divorce; After the Fall was rumored to be inspired by this relationship. He married three
times: his first wife, Mary Slattery, with whom he had two children; Monroe; and his third wife,
photographer Inge Morath. He passed away in 2005.

o Death of a Salesman (1949)

Death of a Salesman is a two-act social drama set in Brooklyn in the late 1940s that reflects
Miller’s life experiences, like the collapse of his father’s business during the Great Depression. It
explores themes such as the failure of the American Dream, the tension between memory and
reality, the antihero’s plight, the immorality of capitalism, loneliness, and the interplay between
success and personal identity. The story centers on Willy Loman, an unsuccessful salesman who
clings to delusions of wealth, social status, and success while grappling with the realities of his
failed life. Through the Loman family, Miller examines a cycle of denial and moral decay that
culminates in Willy’s suicide, whose idealization of the past and his inability to accept the
present lead to contradictions in his behaviour and dialogue. Willy’s insecurities, stemming from
childhood abandonment by his father and brother, further fuel his desperation for success and
universal acceptance. Its structure alternates between the present and Willy’s memories.

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About the characters, Willy would be the antihero, a delusional man trapped by his unachieved
dreams and societal expectations; Linda is the "angel of the house", representing familial love
and support; Biff is the only character who evolves, ultimately rejecting his father’s flawed ideals
and finding a sense of self-realization; and Happy, a shallow and immoral figure who embodies
the emptiness of chasing superficial success. The symbols found in the play would be the pen
and the ball, the stolen objects, which represents dreams versus reality; the house, symbolizing
an unachievable American Dream and the suffocating capitalism; the seeds, which represents
hope, and the fact that they never grow means that the dream is not going to become true; the
car represents his life as a salesman, but also his failure, decay and desperation; the flute is a
symbol of Willy’s childhood and of the beginning of the said American Dream in his head. Finally,
the quote ‘The man is not a simple piece of fruit’ is a metaphor through which Howard criticizes
the capitalist system.

 Social morality and capitalism: the American Dream

The play critiques the ideal of the American Dream, showing how it can become an illusory and
destructive force. Willy Loman embodies the flawed promise of the American Dream: he is a
traveling salesman who returns home after an unsuccessful trip but remains determined to
achieve the social and economic status he has always yearned for, and he pressures his children,
especially Biff, to fulfil the dreams he could not. Willy’s unwavering belief in the American Dream
drives him to his downfall: he is a tragic antihero, a victim of societal pressures and his own
delusions. By sacrificing himself for money, Willy reduces his existence to his financial worth,
demonstrating the dehumanizing power of the Dream.

There are several different perspectives to the American Dream. Willy’s version of the Dream
prioritizes charisma, attractiveness, and likeability over genuine effort; he is obsessed with
appearances and status, dismissing hard-working individuals while idolizing Ben’s adventurous
success. Ben represents the idealistic, risk-taking side of the Dream—he is Willy’s alter ego, a
figure of adventure and wealth. Other secondary characters like Uncle Charley embody a more
realistic version of the Dream; he achieved success through hard work and moral values. Initially,
Biff shares his father’s aspirations, but he gradually becomes disillusioned with the Dream,
recognizing the corruption of capitalism and understanding that hard work does not guarantee
success; he ends up rejecting Willy’s ideals, choosing a more authentic life, free from his father’s
false values. The contrast between Willy and characters like Charley and Bernard underscores
the moral dimension of the American Dream; they succeed through integrity and effort, while
Willy and his sons, driven by superficial values, fall short.

 The role of the mother

Linda Loman embodies a multifaceted role within her family. She is a loyal wife, protective
mother, and an essential observer of her husband’s disintegrating mental state. She can be seen
through the lens of the “angel of the house”, a woman relegated to the domestic sphere whose
primary purpose is to care for her husband and children. She is self-sacrificing, patient, and
devoted, dedicating her life to supporting Willy, even at the cost of her own happiness and
independence. This role contrasts starkly with the "whores" in the play—The Woman and the
girls at the restaurant—who are portrayed as objectified figures of sexual gratification without
identity or depth. Linda’s declaration, “Attention must be paid,” serves as a rallying cry for
compassion and humanity, for individuals striving for dignity in a dehumanizing society. This line
echoes Arthur Miller’s broader critique of a culture that values individuals solely for their
economic contributions.

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Linda occupies multiple roles throughout the play. She is the observer, the silent witness to
Willy’s decline, aware of his suicidal tendencies and his struggles with self-worth; yet she does
not confront him directly, fearing it would exacerbate his instability. She occasionally works as
an active participant when she prevents Willy from pursuing Ben’s illusory ventures, and when
she challenges her sons to show their father more respect and understanding. Linda’s
unconditional support for Willy renders her a victim of his delusions; she internalizes his failures
and sacrifices her own needs, becoming emotionally tethered to a man who treats her
dismissively.

 The role of the father: educating in values?

Willy Loman (‘low man’) embodies the tragedy of a man consumed by the pursuit of the
American Dream. He strives to achieve his vision of the Dream: to be well-liked, achieve
economic stability, and leave a legacy of success; however, he is unable to adapt to the demands
of the modern business world and relies on borrowing money to survive. Willy’s failure to
achieve his dreams leaves him desperate to pass them on to his sons, Biff and Happy, but his
misguided values—prioritizing likability over hard work and integrity—set his family up for
disappointment. Willy’s relationships with his sons are central to the play’s conflict. Biff, the
promise of a young athlete, grows disillusioned with Willy’s ideals, rejecting the American Dream
as a corrupt and unattainable fantasy, what Willy interprets as a personal betrayal of his
ambitions for him. At the play’s climax, Biff confronts Willy, asserting that they must abandon
the unrealistic dreams that have haunted their family. Meanwhile Happy vows to continue
pursuing the same doomed ideals, demonstrating the generational perpetuation of false values.

Willy shows many failures as a father: he encourages his sons to aim for greatness without
preparing them for the challenges of real life; and as a result, Biff and Happy grow up aimless
and unfulfilled, mirroring Willy’s own struggles. His life is marked by a cycle of abandonment
that fuels his insecurities and shapes his obsessive desire for the American Dream. His father left
him as a child, and his brother Ben eventually departs as well. These early experiences leave
Willy yearning for stability and legacy, which he tries to achieve through his sons. The link
between love and betrayal is a recurring theme in the play: Willy betrays Linda by giving his
attention and material gifts to The Woman, while Linda and Happy betray him by enabling his
delusions rather than confronting him. The ultimate betrayal comes from Biff, who refuses to
follow the path Willy has laid out for him, shattering Willy’s dreams and deepening his despair.

 The Loman Brothers

The play contrasts the Loman brothers, Biff and Happy, to highlight the divergent responses to
their father Willy's flawed philosophy and the destructive pursuit of the American Dream. While
Biff evolves as a character, seeking authenticity, Happy remains static, embodying the worst
traits of their father.

Biff Loman, the elder son, begins the play as an embodiment of Willy’s hopes and ideals;
however, his perception of his father shatters when he discovers Willy’s affair with another
woman, which destroys Biff’s faith in him and his philosophy. Biff evolves throughout the play:
he rejects Willy’s unrealistic expectations and accepts his own limitations, realizing that his
contentment lies in honest work and rejecting the grandiose dreams that Willy imposed on him.
He serves as a catalyst for much of the play’s tension: Biff’s decision to expose the lies of his
family breaks the cycle of self-deception and reconciles him with his father on a bittersweet
reconciliation, as Biff chooses to forge a different path.

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Happy Loman, the younger brother, is a one-dimensional character who remains trapped in
Willy’s philosophy. He lacks self-awareness and continues to delude himself about his status and
prospects. Happy represents the worst aspects of Willy’s nature: his blind ambition, superficial
values, and self-delusion; despite his awareness of his moral failures, he is incapable of change.
At the play’s conclusion, Happy vows to continue Willy’s legacy, misunderstanding the lesson
of his father’s life and death. Happy’s failure to confront the truth or seek a deeper purpose
leaves him as a doomed figure, destined to repeat Willy’s mistakes and perpetuate the cycle of
self-deception and despair.

 The death of Willy Loman

The play culminates in the death of Willy Loman, a reflection of his lifelong pursuit of success
and meaning, yet it also exposes the cost of these pursuits on his family. His suicide is driven by
the belief that his death will provide his family with a new chance at success through the $20,000
from his life insurance. He convinces himself that this act will redeem his failures, win back Biff’s
respect, and fulfill his dream of being well-liked, believing his is worth more dead than alive. Yet,
Willy’s death leaves his family in deeper fragmentation: Linda is left grieving and trapped in the
same oppressive system, unable to escape the societal pressures that shaped their lives; Happy
remains deluded, a flat character, vowing to pursue the same hollow dreams that destroyed
Willy; Biff is the only character who evolves, rejecting Willy’s dream and seeking a simpler, more
authentic life after realizing that his father was a victim of a corrupt system, which allows him
to break free from the cycle of delusion.

The play’s requiem underscores the futility of Willy’s aspirations. His funeral is sparsely
attended, a contradiction to his belief that he was widely admired. His death exposes the moral
and emotional bankruptcy of his dream, revealing that his pursuit of material success and social
status ultimately alienated him from those he loved most. His death reflects the betrayal of
American values, where the promise of success through hard work is replaced by a system that
measures self-worth in material terms. Through Willy, Miller critiques the illusionary ideals of
the American Dream. Like Gatsby in The Great Gatsby and Blanche in A Streetcar Named Desire,
Willy dies clinging to the belief that success, reputation, and material wealth define one’s value,
despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary.