The Unknown Tennessee Williams - Essay Example

Tennessee Williams In the literary world several works have been made which portray the surroundings and environment of this world. Some are based on true events while some are based on the imagination of the writer. Tennessee Williams has taken up portions of his life and amalgamated them in plays which have become quite successful. He wrote many plays on fiction and depicted many themes through his plays. His most renowned play was the Glass Menagerie in which he used some portions of life. This essay would further revolve around the life of Tennessee Williams (Leverich 1995) Tennessee Williams was born in Columbus, Mississippi in the year of 1911 to Cornelius Williams. His father was a salesman who was drunk at most instances and his mother was suffering from anxiety disorder. He was very close to his sister Rose who was also diagnosed with the problem of schizophrenia. Many of his characters of family are used in his plays including his sister. At the age of seven the family of Tennessee moved to St Louis where he attended his first school. This first school was also included in his famous play of Glass Menagerie. At the age of 16 Williams wrote an essay which was published in Smart Set and he won a prize of five dollars for that essay. It was here only at such a tender age that one could clearly see that Williams was an expert when it came to writing and expressing his opinions. In 1930 Williams joined the University of Missouri which he had to quit because his father did not approve of the university. After quitting from the university Williams worked in the shoe business for a while but then later on joined the University of Iowa. He earned his degree from the University of Iowa in 1938. It was in 1935 that he entered the literary world when he wrote the play “Cairo, Shanghai, Bombay”. The play later on did not prove to be as successful as his other plays were. He tried finding jobs in Chicago but all his tries went in vain and so he had to shift to New Orleans. It was there in New Orleans that he changed his name from “Tom” to Tennessee. His career started from the New Orleans when he struggled to write plays which at first were not successful enough. In 1939 he wrote his first play which was known as “A Battle of Angels”. His first play did not prove to be successful but it gave him a platform through which he could work harder and earn a name for himself. He worked as a contract writer for Metro-Goldywn-Mayer where he made the scripts of his famous play The Glass Menagerie. Reality has been a theme of his major plays in which he has taken some parts from his own life (Leverich 1995; Falk 1978; Londre 1979). Glass Menagerie a play written by Williams was inspired by his own events of life. Tom in the story works in a shoe company and Williams also did the same in the times of financial crisis. Similarly Williams also had a poetic character in the real life and so did Tom in the play. Lastly Williams also felt guilt after leaving his sister in real life and so did Tom in the play. It can be said by using the method of Biological criticism that the play Glass Menagerie was inspired by real life events taking place in the life of Williams (Napierkowski 1998). Tennessee Williams wrote the play Glass Menagerie beautifully to depict the different realities of life packed in the wrapper of illusion. She has broadened the distinction between reality and illusion by laying out the play in such a way. The characters in the play were laid out in such a way that Williams has provided with the themes of reality which every person can relate to in his/her life (Joanne et al 1988). Similarly in other works of Williams similar art of reality can be seen which is defecting from the real state of the American Dream. In “A Streetcar Named Desire” it is seen that Blanche DuBois is raped by her brother in law because she is helpless and cannot do anything in return. Here it can be seen that Williams is trying to portray the reality of power in this world. He is showing that individuals who don’t have power are not allowed to live in peace in this world. Thus the points given by the American Dream are once again denied in this play by Williams. Many other plays by Tennessee show differing views of reality and how people are being affected by the factors of reality. He showed that many of the individuals are able to cope up with reality and many are not. Like in the play “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” it can be seen that the main character is trying to get rid of the guilt that he is facing after the death of his lover (Tennessee Wiliams 2008). Williams took great inspiration from other writers and playwrights since he was a child. He took great inspiration from Henrik Ibsen who wrote Scandinavian literature. To understand the works of Ibsen he learned the Scandinavian dialect which showed his inspiration for Ibsen. It was in late 1930s that he increasingly became involved in drinking and other activities because of his sister’s worsening condition. A lobotomy was performed on Rose which made her debilitated and this had a great impact on the life of Tennessee. Tennessee in real life was known to be a homosexual and had two serious relationships in his life. Kip Kiernan was the first person he had an affair with but Kip left him soon after his marriage. He later on fell in love with Frank Merlo who served the US army. It was Merlo who comforted Williams for many years as he was suffering from depression. But soon after the death of Merlo it is reported that Williams started to face several problems of depression. After the death of Merlo the literary works done by Williams were not successful enough and his last play is known In Masks Outrageous and Austere. The life of Williams had been very complex from the start as he had been facing family problems from the very beginning and this became a theme for his successful play Glass Menagerie. Williams was not able to cope up with growing tensions in his life and had to undergo through many difficult phases of life. After losing his sister and Merlo he completely lost his balance over life because of which he suffered through many different types of depressions. Williams died at the age of 71 in 1983 when he choked on breath. It is reported that he died after the cap of a bottle entered his throat after which he could not breath. He had eye problems since an early age and while putting drops into his eyes he took the bottle cap into his mouth. Although he died he left a remarkable contribution to the literary world which is still remembered after 30 years of his death. Glass Menagerie was the most successful play directed by Williams which is still liked by many. His other successful plays include A Streetcar named Desire, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Orpheus Descending and Night of the Iguana. It is believed that all of his plays were inspired by real life events. Bibliography Top of Form Leverich, L. (1995). Tom: The unknown Tennessee Williams. New York: Crown Publishers. Top of Form Londré, F. H. (1979). Tennessee Williams. New York: F. Ungar Pub. Co. Bottom of Form Bottom of Form "The Glass Menagerie: Critical Overview." Drama for Students. Ed. Marie Rose Napierkowski. Vol. 1. Detroit: Gale, 1998. eNotes.com. January 2006. 16 October 2008. . Top of Form Woodward, Joanne, John Malkovich, and Tennessee Williams. The Glass Menagerie. Universal City, Calif: MCA Home Video, 1988. Bottom of Form Top of Form Bottom of Form "Tennessee Williams." Contemporary Literary Criticism Select. Detroit: Gale, 2008. Literature Resource Center. Web. 21 Apr. 2010. Read More