THE WOMEN OF WILLIAMS
The character of Serafina Delle Rose in The Rose Tattoo stands as one of many iconic female characters who Williams became known for bringing to life in his major plays. As with Serafina (see "The Rose Tattoo: Tennessee Williams's Love Play to the World" on p. 4), Williams crafted several of these complex and controversial protagonists after people and events in his own life. Who are some of his major plays’ other female characters, and what connections do they have to Williams’s real-life experiences?
Calista Flockhart and Julie Harris in Roundabout's 1994 production of The Glass Menagerie Photo by C Rosegg
The Glas Menagerie AMANDA & LAURA WINGFIELD Character Summary
Amanda, mother to adult children Laura and Tom, was left by her husband years ago and now leads her family with a combination of strictness and delusion. Constantly reminiscing about the romances of her youth, Amanda is intent on finding Laura a suitor, ignoring the social anxiety that Laura suffers as a result of the leg brace she wears.
Connection
Williams’s most autobiographical play, The Glass Menagerie features a family very similar to Williams’s own (with the character of Tom serving as a well-known representation of Williams himself). In the character of Amanda, Williams recreated his perception of his mother, Edwina's, highly restrictive mode of parenting, long-winded daydreams about her past, and emotional distance from her husband. Williams based the debilitatingly fearful Laura on his sister Rose, whose deep emotional instability was amplified by the repressive household her parents maintained. Rose was eventually diagnosed with schizophrenia and lobotomized at her mother’s request.
14 ROUNDABOUT THEATRE COMPANY
Mrs. Williams with Rose and Tom (Tennessee); Illustration from Remember Me to Tom by Edwina Dakin Williams and Lucy Freeman—Published by G.P. Putnam's Sons
A Streetcar Named Desire BLANCHE DUBOIS
Character Summary
Arriving unannounced one day at her sister’s New Orleans home, Blanche DuBois seeks the comfort of family after personal tragedy. Haunting her is her husband’s recent suicide, caused in part by Blanche’s own response of disgust after he came out to her as gay. Instead of security, however, Blanche faces only antagonism from her sister’s brutish husband Stanley, whose aggression soon threatens Blanche’s entire life.
Connection
In the words of A Streetcar Named Desire’s original director, Elia Kazan, “Tennessee Williams equals Blanche.” The forces doing battle inside Blanche directly relate to Williams’s own major conflicts at the time he wrote Streetcar. In particular, Blanche’s guilt over her husband’s death parallels William’s own shame over the lobotomy that his mother forced upon his sister Rose. Blanche’s complicated mix of attraction and fear toward Stanley mirrors Williams’s relationship with his magnetic but often violent partner, Pancho Rodriguez.
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24
