Abstract
Tennessee Williams (1911-1983) is an important playwright in the post-war American theatre. He wrote at least 70 plays in his life, totally winning him four New York Drama Critics Circle Awards, two Pulitzer Prizes and other various theatre awards. Unlike the great realist playwrights such as Eugene O’Neill and Arthur Miller who mainly focus on the tragedies of ordinary people, Williams turned his attention to “marginal people” who live solitarily and vulnerably in the dark corners of society, forgotten and even abandoned mercilessly by us. Taking them as eternal protagonists in his plays, Williams tells the tragic life of these neglected groups. In the light of Ethical Literary Criticism, this paper mainly analyzes the “marginal people” in Tennessee Williams’ the three most representative plays, <i>The Glass Menagerie, A Streetcar Named Desire and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof</i>, from three aspects: the complicated ethical environments, the ethical identity crises, and the destructive ethical choices of the “marginal people”, the purpose of which is to reveal the root causes of the tragic life of the “marginal people” and Williams’ great ethical concern as a playwright. Williams hopes that we can be kind and tolerant to our compatriots, giving understanding and love to the absurd world and the meaning of life, so that the “marginal people” can be completely saved. At the same time, he also warns that those who are experiencing the marginalized experience cannot give up their own salvation——facing positively and re-embracing the world is the most correct choice.
Highlights
Tennessee Williams (1911-1983), an important playwright in the post-war American theatre, is considered to be one of the most outstanding playwrights in the history of American drama after Eugene O’Neil
When the “marginal people” face crises and dilemmas, they have chosen not to face crises actively and improve their living situation diligently, but have chosen to dwell on the past, escape from reality, and elude into the fantasy world. Both social and personal factors result in the “marginal people” lost in society and themselves, and lead to their tragic life
When we are immersed in the tragic life of these “marginal people”, we should think that the “marginal people” in Williams’ plays are the true portrayal of some people in today’s real society, who are lonely and vulnerable in the dark corners of society, forgotten and even abandoned by us
Summary
Tennessee Williams (1911-1983), an important playwright in the post-war American theatre, is considered to be one of the most outstanding playwrights in the history of American drama after Eugene O’Neil. The “marginal people” are the kind of typical characters in Williams’ plays. As a newly developed critical method, Ethical Literary Criticism provides a new perspective to interpret these characters. According to this theory, the development of characters is inseparable from social ethics and their fates are closely related to their ethical environment, ethical identity and ethical choice. This paper tries to use Ethical Literary Criticism as a supplement to analyze the ethical issues concerning the “marginal people”, finding out the root of their final tragic life from their ethical environment, ethical identity and ethical choice. Williams provides a good chance for us to better understand the “marginal people” in his plays, which shows his ethical concern for the world
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