Question: Consider the ways in which Williams explores the different manifestations of love in ‘Cat

on a Hot Tin Roof’. /25

Answer: In his exploration of the “human extremities of emotion”, Williams attempts to explore one of
the most complex emotions of them all, love, and the lack thereof. In Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (abbreviated
to ‘Cat’ for this answer) Williams shows consistency in the traits that have come to define him, with an
obsession with detail, a certain care and concern shown for each aspect of the stage, and certainty, of the
characters. He employs the ‘Ibsenian Technique’ in the play, the influence of which is not unfounded on
Williams as he regards a viewing of Henrik Ibsen’s play Ghosts as one of his primary influences to pursue
a career as a playwright. Structurally, he uses the Ibsenian technique to slowly unravel the context of an
event having already occurred off-stage that the audience is oblivious to, (something which we will delve
into later) and thematically, he stays true to the ideals of Ibsen, to portray the characters as close to reality
as possible, essentially meaning to showcase the true rawness of human nature, emotion and behavior,
regardless of how inhumane and ghastly it may be. This concept rings true in his exploration of love as
well, leading the audiences with the primary question; “How far are we willing to go for what we
love?”
Notice the use of “what” instead of “who.” To truly answer the question we ask ourselves above (or that
Williams asks of both himself and us) Williams first answers the overarching question of whether our
love is limited to people, or ideals. At its heart, Cat- is simply a story of a dysfunctional family, all
clawing at each other for the inheritance of a man who still lives, and explores the wounds of love and
war. The answer is very definite, people love ideas. Those ideas can translate into people, for Brick, his
platonic relationship with Skipper (or so he leads us to believe) is built upon the idea of purity, the idea
that “a man has one great good thing true in his life.” For Brick, that was his friendship with Skipper,
who rose up the ranks to be high school heroes, sports legends and best of friends, side-by-side in all
facets of life. This is why he is offended when people assume his relationship with Skipper was
homosexual. He even says that “friendship with Skipper was that one great true thing, and [you
(Maggie)] are naming it dirty!” While it is heavily implied and almost reasonable to assume that his
relationship with Skipper was actually homosexual in nature, in this particular context, it is not relevant
whether it was homosexual or not, what matters is what Brick describes it as, a realization of purity.
Brick’s infatuation with purity is not unfounded however, with even Maggie describing Brick as an “ass-
aching puritan.” Similarly, Williams shows us Maggie, the real ‘cat on a hot tin roof.’ Maggie is in love
with the idea of survival, and of redemption. She shows genuine love, care and concern for both Brick
and Big Daddy, however, her love for survival trumps her love for people. Maggie, a product of poverty, a
prisoner of the patriarchy, and a member of the struggling, like a cat, is clawing her way to survival. She
even tells Brick that she can stay on the hot tin roof (i.e the difficult scenario of her failing marriage and
an inheritance that is slipping away from her) ”just as long as I (she) has to.” Likewise, Big Daddy is in
love with the idea of himself, as this realization of the American Dream, true perfection, and a rags-to-
riches story to end all stories. Gooper loves the idea of being the alpha, and showing himself and his
family that he is no less than the brother they all prefer over him. All of them (bar perhaps Brick) are in
love with the social ladder and climbing to the top of it.
Now that we have established that people love ideas, we can begin to ask ourselves how far we are
willing to go for those ideas. The answer to that question lies in another question, which is simply (given
the irony of the word ‘simply’ here) “what is love?” Here, we can begin to look at the ways in which
Williams explores love and its various manifestations. One idea that comes to mind is war. Love is war.
Love is a battle. A battle between what you give for love, versus what it gives you. This avenue of love is
especially highlighted in the overarching battle imagery depicted in the play itself. Outside of the
proverbial war occurring to gain Big Daddy’s inheritance when he passes away, after his cancer is
confirmed to be terminal, there is a war in love. Maggie is very early on associated with Diana, via Mae’s
interruption where she asks Maggie the owner of the bow and arrow and the Diana trophy, both of which
Maggie confirms to be hers. Now while this is symbolic, since Diana, revered in modern Roman
neopagan religions, to be the guardian of childbirth and a virgin goddess, attributed to her signature
weapon, a bow and arrow, and a famous huntress, all of which allude to Maggie’s wish for childbirth, and
the struggle she has with her sex life with Brick, having not slept together in a while, hence the virginity,
and the fact that she is a skilled archer, just like Diana is very indicative of the battle imagery shown
throughout the play.
The play is set under the backdrop of the time of the civil war movement, and while not much is shown
of the movement and the war against slavery itself, the employment of plastic theatre, in facets such as
the never-ending fireworks, which imitate the sounds of a battlefield are indicative of the battle nature
that is consistent throughout the play. By establishing love as a war and a battle, Williams attempts to
answer what we must give for love, in allusion to war. Much like wars, love requires sacrifice, time,
effort, and much like wars, love is lost, battles are not won, and the enemy is out to kill. To fight the wars
of love, however, characters like Maggie use not sticks and stones, but weaponize the personality traits
that define them. Maggie weaponizes her good looks, her sensuality, and her physicality, as well as her
honesty to win the war of love against Brick, and overall, her war to survive. She recognizes that Big
Daddy finds her attractive, or has “ a lech for” her, and is not afraid to use that to her advantage, and
encourages Brick to do the same, by making him aware that “Big Daddy dotes on” Brick and that this is
their “one big advantage.”
Similarly, Big Mama fights a war for her love both internally and externally. She loves Big Daddy
sincerely and honestly, which he does not care about, shrugging her love off, and saying “wouldn’t it be
funny if that were true?” She is offended by the constant humiliation she receives at the hands of Big
Daddy and how she is treated as a communal joke but appears to be unfazed by it to the rest, which is
made aware to the reader in the very on-the-nose stage direction by Williams where he says “nobody
laughs louder at these jokes than Big Mama herself, though sometimes they're pretty cruel and Big
Mama has to pick up or fuss with something to cover the hurt that the loud laugh doesn't quite
cover.” Big Daddy, on the other hand, wants nothing to do with Big Mama anymore, and details of how
he has not slept with Big Mama for years, and how he wants to take multiple mistresses, who he wants to
“smother in minks and diamonds” to name a few of his fantasies. Big Mama fights her war with
sincerity. She stays true to Big Daddy, is joyous in his happiness, and faithful in his desolate times. For
Big Daddy, whom she loves, she is willing to sacrifice everything. Her self-respect, her reputation and
even the reciprocation by Big Daddy. She loves him sincerely, and for her, that is enough of a reason to
keep loving him.
The other primary way that Williams deals with love is the use of the Ibsenian technique in a structural
sense. Structurally, the Ibsenain technique involves the slow unraveling of an event that has occurred (in
this case) off-stage before the play, and revealing the context of the play, in the natural progression of it.
This is particularly evident in Williams’s portrayal of the homosexual relationship between Brick and
Skipper. The first mention of Maggie “beginning to warm (him) (Skipper) up when-“ at the start of the
play leaves a big question mark for the audience, in terms of wondering what happened. Not only does
Williams create an aura of suspense and mystery behind the reason of Skipper’s death, but also makes us
question why it affects Brick so much, especially. When the audience truly learns of all that led up to
Skipper’s death and the implications of a homosexual relationship between him and Brick, it has also
developed into a major plot point for the progression of the play itself, which creates a situation that raises
the stakes for the characters themselves too, especially Brick, who is immediately on the defensive,
deflecting and denying all that is being said to him in regards of him being gay, but also on Maggie, who
is revealed to have been unfaithful in her relationship to Brick. Not only does the audience question
Maggie’s integrity towards Brick, but also towards their relationship, which goes back to building upon
the point that Maggie loves survival more than she loves Brick. This particular notion is especially built
upon towards the end, where Maggie arguably forces Brick to have sex with her, and to impregnate her,
before he can drink again, since she has hidden all his liquor. While it is also equally reasonable to
suggest that Maggie is just looking out for Brick’s best interests, it is important to note that Maggie is
more emotionally invested in this, and has arguably more to lose than Brick does, thus, the argument that
Maggie was only thinking of Brick is somewhat weakened. However, the argument that Maggie loves the
idea of surviving and thriving more than she loves Brick makes more sense in this scenario. By having a
child with Brick (against his will, again) she secures her financial future with the inheritance. Brick’s
reluctance to do so is made abundantly clear when he asks Maggie how she expects “to have a child by a
man that can’t stand [her]” which she responds to a “problem (she) will work out.” By this whole
scenario, there is also the suggestion that this is a criticism by William of the way society treats
homosexuals, which again, given the historical context and Williams’s own homosexuality, would not be
out of the realm of logic. Brick is lied to, cheated upon by both his wife and his prospectively gay lover,
who then dies, and a grieving Brick, who has still received no closure, is put under pressure by his family
to continue life as nothing is wrong, and have a child with Maggie, (or rather multiple children) whereas
he is clearly neither fit, nor willing to be a father himself at this current point in time. Love is despair. It
takes away from us what it gives us and in the chase for us to find what it already gave us, we realize too
late that it is already long gone.
Another point that is of relevant concern here also extends Brick’s love of purity, that even in his quest to
relive his glory days in high school, or as a professional footballer or sports announcer, he was the purest,
truest rendition of the American Dream, the land of the free and the home of the brave, with Brick taking
all the gold stars in the land of opportunity, and living out times of immense glory, celebration and
perfection. He wants to be the pure American, which is also where we might explain his internalized
homophobia. The ideals that Brick has grown with suggest homosexuality as a sin, a mental illness or an
‘impurity’ but for Brick, that homosexuality led to his love with Skipper, suggesting the paradoxical
nature of his dilemma, of whether he sticks to the tradition he has and sacrifices the purity he achieves in
his love with Skipper, or maintain a homosexual relationship with Skipper, (that may be considered
impure) but stay pure to the ideals he has grown up with. Unfortunately, that decision was made for him.,
A very important aspect in how Williams actually explores love, is through his use of the stage. Literary
devices, and the usages of which have now come to define him, such as the use of plastic theatre, is also a
major boost to Williams’s exploration of love. Here, a stroke of genius by Williams is managing to
constrict the entire play to a single room, a single stage, and achieve unity in setting, time and action. All
action takes place in that one room, in one consecutive time period. Through this, Williams allows
emphasis on the constituents of that single room to define it, and define what he attempts to achieve
through it. The fact that a large portion of the room is taken up by the bed, which, according to Big Mama
is “where the rocks are” when a “marriage goes on the rocks” speak to its relevance in the play. The
bed is a universal language that is spoken in some capacity by each member of the cast. Maggie and Brick
fight over it, with Brick mostly on the couch, and also refusing to have sex with Maggie, an act which is
almost entirely associated with the bed, as well as Maggie even “seeking refuge behind it” during
Brick’s threatening spree, which is indicative of how she uses her sensuality to her advantage, almost as if
she does seek refuge behind it, which also foreshadows the end, where Maggie uses the bed, i.e, sex with
Brick to achieve what she wants. Brick’s love for alcohol is signified by the glaringly large liquor cabinet,
and his deflections in love, his avoidances, and his refuges, in the stereo and the television set, which he
uses from time to time to avoid talking about Skipper, or anything in general, again related to the stigma
and taboo around homosexuality and how people refused to have these conversations. Expanding upon
this, much of his storytelling is also done in his stage directions and his particularity with placement, use
of song, and music, and sound, whether off stage or on stage. An example is the sound of fireworks that
imitate the cannons of battle, also mentioned earlier.
Williams’s treatment of love is thus defined by his intensive approach to it, where he portrays love in so
many forms, including the homosexual love between Brick and Skipper, lack of love between Brick and
Maggie, which could also serve as somewhat of a commentary on marriage systems being used as an
avenue to “climb up the social ladder” as Williams calls it, but specifically the love of ideas, which he
explores entirely through the characters’ thought and action, with materialism, love for money, the ideas
of survival and purity to name a few being examples of them, as well as the use of the luxury of
adaptation to its fullest extent, manipulating the prop placements, and factors such as lighting, sound and
scenery to aid in his storytelling, which has become characteristic of Williams, co-injoined with his use of
the Ibseian method, speaking to Ibsen’s influence over Williams’s work, and ends in one of the most
complex portrayals of love in 1950s American Literature. While he does fall prey to the occasional odd
decision here and there, specifically in his significant alteration of the final act of the play to satisfy Elia
Kazan and the general public, a bit contradictory to the realism and non-censorship Williams claimed he
was faithful to, like Clive Barnes in his 1974 review of Cat- we can agree in calling him “a playwright
who wants to be very popular (or, rather, very much loved) and this sometimes leads him into
cheapness.‐But [he (Williams) is] a master.”