After seeing a play like Cat on a Hot Tin Roof or A Streetcar Named Desire, a viewer may have difficulty remembering that There was a time in Western culture when revealing a woman's bare foot was downright scandalous. What was considered a dramatization of sexuality in the 18th century is utterly bland and bland in comparison to what happens in the plays of the mid-20th century. Among the pioneering playwrights of the era was Tennessee Williams, whose works include modern classics of American theater. Two of his most recognizable works, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and A Streetcar Named Desire, are known for their film adaptations and, more importantly, for the clear and consistent presence of sexuality on stage and screen. Although sexuality is the less prominent subject in one than the other, both dramas show a shift in the depiction of usually discreet sexual behaviors, with carnal desire, homosexuality and sadomasochism coming to the fore. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay. Both plays feature a definitive opening scene that prepares the audience for the sexual topics about to be discussed on stage. In Cat, Maggie is shown from the opening moments removing her dress and speaking normally, as if the audience is receiving an even more intimate glimpse into her normal life (883). To go even further, we introduce her husband, who we learn is known for his beauty, on stage wearing only a towel and a cast leg (884). The fact that this entire play takes place primarily in the bedroom of Big Daddy's mansion only reinforces the idea that the play will present sexuality as a major part of the theatrical experience. Streetcar does the same thing, but in a seemingly subtle, but actually more pronounced way. The first sound the audience hears when the curtain opens is the “Blue Piano,” which “expresses the life that goes on here” (469). Since the play is set in New Orleans, it is obvious that the type of music being played is jazz, a typically sensual type of expression. Furthermore, the musicality of jazz does not imply love: it conveys a dangerous and extremely arousing sexuality, thus foreshadowing the nature of Streetcar as a whole. Cat is different from other types of sexual dramatizations because sexuality is constantly denied and ignored. Brick's sexual abstinence and his wife's rejection are proof of this, as is his denial of homosexual identity or his desire for his deceased friend, Skipper. One could argue that Gooper's "breeding" family is proof that sexuality is not entirely ignored, but the truth is that no one, not even his family, likes Gooper, and his role is of little public interest in comparison with that of Brick and Maggie. relationship without children. What is so remarkable about Cat is that by denying the eroticism, it becomes more pronounced for the audience and reader, who can feel their own sensual expectations of the play denied again and again. This is how sexuality is dramatized internally and more subtly in comparison to the overt physicality of Streetcar. The driving force behind Cat's depiction of sexual desire arises immediately from Act I. The revealing entrances of Maggie and Brick both characterize them as objects of sexual desire by the audience themselves. The obvious problem is that, although Maggie wants to perform a sex act for the audience, Brick makes it painfully clear that he doesn't want toat all of his body. For example, when confronted about the way he looked at her in the mirror, Brick bluntly insists that the truth was that he "wasn't conscious of looking at [Maggie]" and that "[he] didn't do it. I don’t remember thinking about anything” (890). Maggie's sexual need for a man who does not desire her is captivatingly masochistic, while destroying the preconceptions of male and female sexuality previously seen in American theater. Maggie's erotic needs begin to slowly paralyze and break her, suggesting an entirely new and frightening concept to American audiences. First, an example of increasing paralysis is how she is shown changing clothes in Act I, symbolizing her increasing agitation and dissatisfaction. She is denied her fertility, which the audience cannot understand due to a natural captivation by her character. Fertility, the pinnacle of monogamous existence and the natural result of marriage, is threatened by Maggie's relationship with Brick, particularly by her refusal of her body. The audience expects them to resolve their issues by the end, but in the original version the conflict is not resolved and fertility is still a subject to be questioned. For an American audience that values ​​child-rearing, this is perhaps one of the most dangerous things sexuality can lead to, as it involves endangering one's own future as well as that of the characters. Although it is not the main theme of the play, homosexuality is a very important part of the characterizations and actions within Cat as a whole. Brick's desire for his friend Skipper and the devastation wrought by his death paralyze him, somewhat paralleling the denial of physical love that Maggie simultaneously experiences. Brick's frustration with his desires and his guilt are symbolized by the cast on his leg as well as his alcohol abuse. The casting clearly represents the castration of manhood that Brick would most certainly experience if he admitted his homosexual desires for Skipper. Desire has paralyzed him physically, as opposed to the inner paralysis that Maggie experiences. Brick is a broken man who deliberately drives himself to the brink of total collapse by abusing alcohol, presumably to numb the painful memories and regrets of his past with Skipper. By "neutralizing" the character who embodies quintessential masculinity with homosexual curiosities and urges, Williams suggests that Brick has internalized conventional morality within himself and that this will ultimately lead to his destruction. What frustrates both the characters and the audience is the unresolved conflict and ambivalence. nature of the relationship between Brick and Skipper. In his conversation with Big Daddy, Brick insists that it was a platonic, not physical love for himself, saying, "Why does an exceptional friendship, a real, real, deep, deep friendship not can't she! Between two men, to be respected as something clean and decent without being considered… fairies…” (948). This is the question Williams poses to the audience: Could Brick and Skipper have had a romantic relationship without harming their status in society? Skipper's death hides the answer to this question from the public and forces us to think about it ourselves. In the 1950s, this meant thinking about sexuality that was considered unnatural and not something to talk about. Nor does Williams challenge this societal dimension himself, but he does call it into question, thus forcing the audience to think about how the topic of homosexuality is treated outside of the theater and in American society as a whole. Southern lifestyle andimmigrant working-class culture, Streetcar is a play defined and known for its representation of sexuality as an animal, even violent, drive. The play is a brutal clash between opposing carnal passions: the past and internalized desires of Blanche Dubois and the extremely powerful and bestial sexual appetite of Stanley Kowalski. While Blanche is limited by the expectations of the Southern society she grew up in, Stanley has nothing stopping her from exerting her power over those around her. Streetcar is a definitive sign of the changes in the dramatization of sexuality seen in mid-20th century plays. While sexuality was constantly denied in Cat, it is something that is both spoken out and confronted constantly throughout Streetcar. Blanche's sexual personality and past are essential to understanding the aforementioned shock of eroticism. She acknowledges her dependence on men in her last (and most famous) line of the play as she holds the doctor's arm: "Whoever you are, I have always depended on the kindness of strangers" (563). Blanche thus categorizes herself as the one who needs to attach herself to a man to have access to her own soul. However, by denying herself the possibility of finding herself alone and without a man, she inadvertently plunged herself into madness. Being denied by men, particularly by her teenage student and homosexual husband, Allan, also contributes to her growing madness. While an affair with a seventeen-year-old girl is forbidden from an obvious legal standpoint, his firing because of it deprives her of both that love affair and her livelihood. Having no man or income to live on, Blanche is forced to escape illusions to stay alive. She is again denied a man to rely on when she discovers her husband Allan's homosexual affair, leading Allan to commit suicide. Haunted by her sexual past, Blanche erects a façade of conventional morality that slowly begins to crumble over the course of the play. This breakdown is gradual but increasingly clear as the play progresses, increasingly suggesting the danger of Blanche's sexual relations. desires. In the fifth scene, Blanche throws herself at the young newspaper delivery man, saying upon his arrival: “Well! What can I do for you ? (518). In attempting to seduce an innocent young man, Blanche's unhealthy and immoral sexual appetite is exposed and the reader and audience finally receive proof that her virtuous pretension is a lie. Williams does not directly address this type of sexuality at first, instead using this scene as a tool to dramatize Blanche's past and her carnal desire, as well as the debauchery of her nature. An animalistic sexuality is fully embodied by the character of Stanley, whose commanding stage presence is a driving force behind much of the play's action. When he first appears, Stanley is shown wearing "his bowling jacket and a red-stained package from a butcher" (470). His physical description comes later, after Blanche's arrival, demonstrating that the first thing the audience needs to know about him is that Stanley is first and foremost an animal at his core. In his description, Williams again mentions this fact about him, saying in a scene description: "The animal joy in his being is implicit in all his movements and attitudes" (481). As much of his presence draws on his sexuality, it is implied that lusting after him is easily comparable to lusting after an animal itself, thus suggesting the perilous subject of bestiality. Sadomasochism is another highly implied aspect of Stanley's relationships with women. In his.