Cat on a Hot Tin Roof by Tennessee Williams
Genre: Realistic Fiction (Theatre/Play)
Blurb (on back of book): Cat on a Hot Tin Roof first heated up Broadway in 1955 with its gothic American story of brothers vying for their dying father’s inheritance amid a whirlwind of sexuality, untethered in the person of Maggie the Cat. The play also daringly showcased the burden of sexuality repressed in the agony of her husband, Brick Pollitt. In spite of the public controversy Cat stirred up, it was awarded the Pulitzer Prize and the Drama Critics Circle Award for that year. Williams, as he so often did with his plays, rewrote Cat on a Hot Tin Roof for many years—the present version was originally produced at the American Shakespeare Festival in 1974 with all the changes that made Williams finally declare the text to be definitive, and was most recently produced on Broadway in the 2003–2004 season. This definitive edition also includes Williams's essay “Person-to-Person,” Williams’ notes on the various endings, and a short chronology of the author’s life. One of America’s greatest living playwrights, as well as a friend and colleague of Williams, Edward Albee has written a concise introduction to the play from a playwright’s perspective, examining the candor, sensuality, power, and impact of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof then and now.
MY OPINION: ****
I read this play for my AP Lit class and actually ended up really liking it. In my class, we studied a lot about Tennessee Williams himself and I learned more about his background and his life story that I didn't know when I read his previous work,
Summer and Smoke, a couple years ago. This play is very reminiscent of Williams's own life, which I thought was really interesting and made it that much more personable.
The play follows a couple in a rocky, loveless relationship in the 1950s South. Brick is a disinterested, emotionless character who doesn't love his wife, Maggie, and isn't afraid to admit it. He spends most of the play saying few-word lines and staring listlessly into nothing, drinking alcohol and reminiscing on his past with his best friend, Skipper, who's now dead. Maggie is the complete opposite, passionate and spirited and desperate to make her husband love her or at least give her the baby everyone else expects of her. We have to remember the setting (the 1950s) when justifying her actions, since at the time, a woman's only real responsible was to give birth to children and support her home while the husband was the breadwinner of the family.
While it's never blatantly stated, Brick spends the entirety of the play dealing with his identity and his sexuality. The people around him are constantly hinting at what he chooses to pretend isn't real (that being his homosexuality, or at least non-straight identity), which only serves to support his anger and listless behavior and spurs on his alcohol addiction.
I personally don't like to read plays, just because I am constantly aware of how much I am missing. Considering that these are written to be performed, it's hard to get a real read on different characters. I did watch the film, but, if you aren't aware, the movie is very different from the play in that they changed the entire main plot to fit the standards of the time. I didn't like the movie and I wish I could see a live version of the actual play so that I could form a true opinion on the different occurrences in the play.
I wasn't a big fan of the pacing in this play. After reading more about it, I learned that it was originally supposed to be two acts. However, after arguments with a close friend and director(?), Williams decided to tack on another act. I personally don't think three acts were necessary, especially since each act is not split into scenes like there are in a typical play. When reading it, it's very tiresome to read 60 page acts that are confusing and hard to follow with long, convoluted monologues. I think there were a lot of things that could have been cut out or at least condensed in order to make it flow better; however, since I only read it, my opinion could be completely different if I were to watch it performed live.
Williams himself struggled with coming to terms with his own sexuality, which he highlights through Brick's character. I wish we had gotten a more concrete conclusion to this play, as the third act mostly follows the family arguing all over again and a final ending that I wasn't a big fan of. I do like the ambiguity of it but I think it could have been even more powerful if we had gotten to have that sense of finality that you expect out of a dramatic production. Maggie had so much potential to be more than the woman society and her family expected her to be but instead we watch her conform into the character we want her not to be. Coupled with Brick's identity journey, we end up with a broken relationship and the prioritization of responsibility and duty over love and romance.
I don't truly remember reading Summer and Smoke but I can confidently say that I liked this play a lot more. I know Williams is famous for many other works but this one is very definitive towards his own experiences and sharing his personal story with the world. For that reason, I really enjoyed learning more about the playwright through something of his own creation. I would recommend this play to readers looking for a truthful, powerful narrative of a man struggling to find himself and an otherwise beautiful and perfect wife lacking of love and happiness.
Main Character: Brick, Maggie
Sidekick(s): Big Daddy, Skipper, etc
Villain(s): Misunderstandings, internal homophobia, cancer, etc
Realistic Fiction Elements: This play was very real to life.
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