Binding Ties: Introduction

Oh Laura, Laura, I tried to leave you behind me,but I am more faithful than I intended to be.

Dramatizing Dementia: Madness in the Plays of Tennessee Williams

Tom in The Glass Menagerie She is a metal forged by lovetoo volatile, too fiery thinso that her substance will be lostas sudden lightning or as wind. from "Elegy for Rose" by Tennessee Williams On a postcard to his grandparents dated October 1939, soon after his arrival in e! "or#, Tennessee Williams !rites that the play season has $%st beg%n& 'ommenting on his o!n place in the theater !orld, he says( ") am meeting everybody and beginning to feel important beca%se of the s%dden attention they give me& They loo# at me li#e ) !as a goose abo%t to lay a do*en golden eggs+", -%ring his long career, Williams did indeed prod%ce some golden eggs, among them The Glass Menagerie, !hich !on the -rama 'ritics, 'ircle .!ard in 19/0& Williams !on both the -rama 'ritics, 'ircle .!ard and the 1%lit*er 1ri*e for A Streetcar amed !esire in 19/23 he !as a!arded both once more for "at on a #ot Tin $oof in 1900, and the -rama 'ritics, 'ircle .!ard for The ight of the Iguana in 1945& 6%t the a!ards barely begin to describe his stat%s in the theatrical !orld from The Glass Menagerie to his death in 1923& 7is attit%de abo%t fame may be s%mmed %p by these !ords from a letter to his mother, dated 8arch 51, 1939, !ritten to inform her that he had !on the 9ro%p Theatre pri*e( ":or every bo%;%et in !riting yo% get ten #ic#s in the face!hich prevents one from feeling too elated over an occasional honor&" 5 The sheer vol%me of the artistic !or# Williams prod%ced in his life< time rivals that of most !riters3 he is considered one of the greatest .merican play!rights& 8%ch of his later !or# is $%dged inferior to his masterpieces of the 19/=s and 190=s, !hen he dominated 6road!ay, b%t he contin%ed to !rite, re!rite, and arrange prod%ctions long after he

Jacqueline O'Connor
Bo ling !reen "tate #ni$ersity Po%ular Press

!as convinced that the critics had t%rned against him& 6orn in 8ississippi on 8arch 54, 1911, Thomas >anier Williams began !riting !hile still a boy, and had his entry into an essay contest p%blished in the national maga*ine Smart ?et !hen he !as si@teen& . year later, his short story "The Aengeance of itocris" !as accepted by %eird Tales. 7is biographer, -onald ?poto, calls the story "s%prisingly l%rid," noting that despite its schoolboy prose, the tale,s shoc#ing ending foreshado!ed m%ch of Williams,s later !or# B5CD & Other doc%ments from this period attest to his developing style( letters to his parents, !ritten from E%rope !hile on a trip !ith his grandfather, sho! his predilection for flo!ery speech& 7e describes the bed at the 6iltmore 7otel in e! "or# %pon their ret%rn from the continent as "sed%ctive as 1aradise to the damned&" )n another letter he e@poses his preocc%pation !ith confinement, !hich becomes a central theme in his !or#3 !hen !riting from 8ontre%@ after a visit to the nearby 'astle of 'hillon, he insists that if "captivity for life !ere imposed %pon me, ) sho%ld prefer the 'astle of 'hillon to any other prison&" 3 While !or#ing in ?t& >o%is in the factory !here his father !as employed, he became involved !ith small local theatrical gro%ps that staged several of his plays& The 8%mmers prod%ced the f%ll<length "andles to the Sun in 193C& .fter attending the Eniversity of 8isso%ri at 'ol%mbia, and Washington Eniversity in ?t& >o%is, he received his bachelor,s degree in English, from the Eniversity of )o!a, in 1932& 7is letters to his mother from college attest to his !it, and foreshado! the %nderstated h%mor in even his grimmest plays& 7aving fl%n#ed R&O&T&'& at the Eniversity of 8isso%ri, a great shame to his father, he !rites from )o!a a fe! years later abo%t landing a role in a st%dent prod%ction of ?ha#espeare( ") am enlisted as a soldier in Fing 7enry )A,s armyne@t ma$or playfort%nately they did not #no! abo%t my record in the R&O&T&'&" / .fter grad%ation, he began a life of !andering3 altho%gh he !or#ed at a variety of $obs over the ne@t si@ years, his energy !ent into his !rit< ing& Epon !inning a special honorable mention from a 9ro%p Theatre contest for his collection of one<act plays, American &lues, Williams

ca%ght the attention of agent .%drey Wood3 so in 1939 he began one of the important professional relationships of his career& 7er agency, >iebling Wood, represented Williams from that time %ntil 19C1& )n the early years Wood relentlessly p%rs%ed s%ccess for him, and demonstrated belief in his f%t%re& )n a letter that she !rote him abo%t the diffic%lty selling his story "1ortrait of a 9irl in 9lass," she insisted that one day ") shall be f%ll of glee !hen all of Williams is sold in boo# form and people r%sh by the tho%sands to read it& ) shall g%rgle and ma#e other noises and people !ill thin# ),ve gone mad b%t ) thin# yo% !ill %nderstand&" 0 7e changed his name at this time( the short story "The :ield of 6l%e 'hildren" !as his first p%blished !or# to list its a%thor as Tennessee Williams& -%ring his college days, indications begin to appear in his correspondence of the emotional problems of his older sister, Rose& ?he !rites to him from Fno@ville in 193C( ") #no! that yo% !ere all glad to ship me do!n here& 8y spirits are lo! this afternoon&" ?he adds that her a%nt "seems to accomplish so m%ch that ) feel li#e cra!ling into a hole and never reappearing&" 4 -%ring that year, Rose sa! a n%mber of psychologists, !as briefly hospitali*ed, and then released, from the :armington state asyl%m B?poto 43D& Williams,s transfer to the Eniversity of )o!a too# him a!ay from home in the fall, so he !as absent !hen Rose,s doctors convinced her parents that a prefrontal lobotomy !as the only possibility for c%re& Williams blamed his mother, !ho in t%rn claimed that her h%sband, 'orneli%s, made the final decision& 'learly, ho!ever, the family shared the b%rden for !hat happened to Rose, and no matter !hat he said, Williams !o%ld see# many times to e@orcise his g%ilt over Rose,s illness& Rose imagery rec%rs thro%gho%t his plays, and the details of his sister,s confinement and treatment fre;%ently appear in the dramas abo%t madness that form the foc%s of this st%dy& )n another letter dated G%ly 2, 19/3, !ith a ret%rn address of the "?tate 7ospital, :armington, 8isso%ri," Rose !rites to Tennessee of "trying not to die," and of her conviction that he !o%ld love her even if she m%rdered someone& )f she dies, she !ishes to be cremated, her ashes mi@ed !ith his& This is one of a gro%p of fo%r letters from Rose to

Tennessee over the co%rse of t!enty years, testifying to the changing condition of Rose,s mind3 this final one e@presses the despair that overta#es her after her permanent instit%tionali*ation& The letters, filed together in the archives at the 7%manities Research 'enter in .%stin, chronicle the loss of a vibrant life to the ravages of mental illness& The childish scra!l of the earliest one, dated 1955, !hen Rose is in 8ississippi, visiting her grandparents, testifies to her still carefree life& The ne@t, !ritten in 1954, places Rose at .ll ?aints 'ollege, so%nding gro!n%p and immersed in the social scene& The one from Fno@ville on the first day of the year of the lobotomy spea#s of her gro!ing depression, despite her still active life& The letter of 19/3 indicates Rose,s !ithdra!al from the concerns of the living, her interests shifting to the inevitability of her death& Other Williams family doc%ments indicate Rose,s retreat from the affairs of the !orld& .mong the vast collection of Williams papers and typescripts ho%sed at the Eniversity of Te@as, seven scrapboo#s compiled by his mother, Ed!ina, mar# the events of Tennessee,s long career& While the play!right,s accomplishments are the spotlight, mementoes of his brother, -a#in3 his grandfather, Walter -a#in3 and Ed!ina help fill the pages& o mention of Rose is made, testifying to her lac# of place in the family records& Tennessee,s father, 'orneli%s, is also c%rio%sly absent from the scrapboo#s, doc%mentation3 this absence attests to the emotional distance bet!een 'orneli%s and Ed!ina& 8%ch has been !ritten abo%t the Williams family( the parents, incompatibility, their "fail%re" to handle Rose, -a#in,s part in Williams,s confinement in 19493 ho!ever, the familial relations !ere not al!ays strained, and all members of the family sho!ed s%pport for Tennessee d%ring his early years of professional str%ggle& 7is mother,s letters are a poignant mi@t%re of maternal concern, a ta#e<charge managerial ;%ality, and %n;%estionable loyalty and s%pport& ?he constantly ca%tions him to save his money, as she says, for "that proverbial ,rainy day&," ?he so%nds a good deal li#e .manda Wingfield, in her admonishments to Williams to prepare for the f%t%re, lest it become "everlasting regret&"

)n a letter to his mother !ritten in 8ay of 19/3, Tennessee ob$ects to the plans that Ed!ina is ma#ing for Rose, and as#s that his mother not place her bac# in the asyl%m( "That, ) am s%re, !o%ld be the final blo!, as she !o%ld almost certainly give %p all hope if her limited freedom that she has !ith 8rs& T%rner is ta#en a!ay&" C Williams felt that he and Rose !ere similar in emotional ma#e%p, that as early as his teens he e@hibited signs of ne%rosis& 7e notes in his Memoirs that at the age of si@teen "my deep nervo%s problems approached !hat might !ell have been a crisis as shattering as that !hich bro#e my sister,s mind, lastingly, !hen she !as in her t!enties" B14D & . s%mmer trip to E%rope !ith his grandfather seems to have calmed yo%ng Tom,s nerves, b%t he !as correct in fearing confinement for his sister& )n 1949, after years of daily alcohol and dr%g %se, Tennessee Williams demonstrated a !ea#ened mental condition that alarmed those closest to him& 'oncerned friends called his brother to Fey West, hoping -a#in co%ld convince Tennessee to receive treatment& -a#in pers%aded him to ret%rn !ith him to ?t& >o%is, in order to see# help at 6arnes 7ospital, !here Rose had been treated d%ring the 193=s in the early days of her illness& Williams vol%ntarily had himself committed to 6arnes, !here he !as confined in the psychiatric division for a period of three months& .fter his release, he entered a time of increased prod%ctivity, and over the last t!elve years of his life he managed to maintain some control over his drin#ing and dr%g %se& The short confinement may have prolonged his life, for it allo!ed him to c%rb the narcotics ab%se that threatened to destroy him& Thereafter, ho!ever, he lived !ith the #no!ledge that he !as correct in fearing that Rose,s fate might become his o!n& .s ?poto comments, %p %ntil 1949, he "had been someho! able to avoid the e@treme to !hich Rose Band 6lanche -%6ois, 'atharine 7olly, and others in his playsD had been s%b$ected%n!illing confinement in an asyl%m&&&& What m%st never happen, happened" B314D& The material available on the personal life of the play!right is e@tensive& .cco%nts of his life have been recorded by family and friends& ot only did Williams p%blish his o!n memoirs, b%t his mother and brother both !rote boo#s abo%t him from their vie!points& .ccording to the play!right himself, he dre! from his personal

e@perience to create his drama3 he loo#ed to 7art 'rane as a model, and it !as 'rane,s "insistence on transm%ting the ra! material of one,s o!n life into the st%ff of poetry and drama, that st%ng Tom Williams as perhaps the single great challenge he !as facing, then or thereafter" B?poto 09D& ?poto also tells %s that Williams !rote to .%drey Wood in 19/5 abo%t the biggest threat to his integrity as a !riter, "the temptation to ta#e the easy !ay o%t by not dealing !ith the things he #ne! best family pain, mental instability, emotional obsessions, the conflict bet!een the love of solit%de and the desire for h%man comfort" B?poto 1=3D& >%c#ily for the m%ltit%des !ho have en$oyed his plays, both as te@ts and as performances, he did not choose this !ay, b%t faced his obsessions and conflicts& 7e also !rites to .%drey Wood in a letter dated -ecember 1939 that he has "only one ma$or theme for all my !or# !hich is the destr%ctive impact of society on the sensitive, non<conformist individ%al&" 2 That sensitive individ%al !as often s%b$ect to nervo%s disorders, and fre;%ently the e@periences of his sister fo%nd their !ay into his plays& Williams !rites convincingly abo%t the #ind of life a patient faced in the instit%tion& 6esides his o!n e@perience !ith Rose, his lover :ran# 8erlo had a nephe! !ho !as treated in 1905 at the e! Gersey state sanitari%m for a "mild form of dementia praeco@&" Williams reports in a letter to the Rev& -a#in that the yo%ng man and :ran# "gre! %p as brothers so :ran# is very dist%rbed over this and has to spend a great deal of time visiting him& The nephe! is no! ta#ing ins%lin shoc# treatments&" 9 Williams,s familiarity !ith treatment and care of the insane came, there< fore, not only from his o!n family e@perience, b%t from his !itnessing :ran#,s family sit%ation& This might have convinced Williams that his !as not a %ni;%e e@perience, and that altho%gh many people do not spea# of it, most have some e@perience !ith madness, if not personally, then thro%gh a family member or friend& Williams,s closeness to his sister, and his commitment to !riting abo%t !hat he #ne! best, enabled him to !rite of madness !itho%t flinching& 7e did not incl%de mad characters in his plays merely beca%se they are a

part of a long literary tradition Baltho%gh they areD3 he incl%ded them beca%se he #ne! them& Those !ho e@perience madness personally, or !ho observe it in a close family member or friend, cannot afford the l%@%ry of ignoring it& They m%st find a !ay to meet it, to ac#no!ledge it, to live !ith it& Williams fo%nd his !ay thro%gh his drama& )t !as beca%se of Rose that he !rote so often abo%t insanity( not merely beca%se he !as obsessed !ith her madness, b%t beca%se her mad< ness strongly s%ggested that his l%r#ed aro%nd the comer, and that someho! he m%st evade it, o%tr%n it, #eep it from con;%ering him& 7is interest in the sensitive individ%al destroyed by society fo%nd an appropriate vehicle in the s%b$ect of madness( the ravaged mind res%lts from the br%tality and destr%ctive nat%re of the society& The mad characters he created see# acceptance, love, and f%lfillment3 their actions and !ords press against the limits of acceptable behavior, b%t their predicament never strays from distinctly h%man concerns& .ltho%gh the characters in his plays are %n%s%al people, they are not %n#no!n to %s3 they are li#e o%rselves or o%r family members or o%r friends& Even tho%gh they spea# rhythmically, their fears are o%r fears, their !ea#nesses o%r !ea#nesses& Williams,s %ni;%e brand of theater may be better #no!n for the violence, the perversity, the deviance of the !orlds he creates3 if these, ho!ever, !ere his only o%tstanding ;%alities, he !o%ld by no! be forgot< ten, for the art of today,s !orld has far s%rpassed in violence, perversity, and deviance !hat Williams presented in his time& or are his plays no! appreciated merely for their historical val%e, for the vie! they provide of post!ar .merica and beyond& ?ome of his plays are dated, b%t his finest !or#s end%re& . handf%l of the best plays foc%s on madness, for it is a s%b$ect never far from the a%thor,s mind& Even tho%gh ) cannot ignore Williams,s family history for its part in directing him to this theme, !hat ) !ant to e@plore in this !or# is the !ay his !ritings abo%t insanity contrib%ted to his %ni;%e vision of h%manity& )n a $o%rnal !ritten in 19/9, he !rites of his o!n mental condition, and of a period "f%ll of the d%llness and tedi%m of a mind that no longer partic%larly cares for e@istence& "et is desperate to contin%e, to s%rvive, to fight the !ay thro%gh a mind that fears brea#ing beca%se

of its constant ne%rosis& 6%t m%st not and !ill not&" 7is most memorable characters display a propensity for ne%rosis, as !ell as a desperate need to s%rvive& . Time article on Williams dated 8arch 9, 1945, called him the "nightmare merchant of 6road!ay," a play!right !ith a dar#, narro! vision of life !hose "special compassion is for the ,people !ho are not meant to !in,, the lost, the odd, the strange, the diffic%lt peoplefragile spirits, !ho lac# talons for the $%ngle&" 1= )t is to those odd, fragile spirits that ) direct my attention& "8adness," >illian :eder !rites, "is c%rrently %sed to describe a !ide variety of contradictory attit%des and almost any cond%ct that can either be $%stified or attac#ed as e@treme" B@iD& . brief disc%ssion of some of the modem theories of madness !ill sho! the range of tho%ght on the topic, demonstrating that !hile a comprehensive definition of madness is not possible, common perspectives do e@ist& R& -& >aing attempts in The !ivided Self to "ma#e madness, and the process of going mad, comprehensible," calling his !or# a st%dy in "e@istential psychology and psychiatry" B9D& )n >aing,s vie!, the schi*oid person cannot be disc%ssed !itho%t some ac#no!ledgment of that person,s place in the !orld, or, more precisely, the degree to !hich the person feels isolated or o%t of to%ch !ith the !orld& >aing,s boo# !as p%blished !ithin a year of another !or# on madness, :o%ca%lt,s Madness and "ivili'ation& 11 One aspect that the !or#s share is an emphasis on society,s participation in the ma#ing of mental patients( altho%gh >aing and others in the mental health field admit to the e@istence of the schi*ophrenic individ%al, a good part of this diagnosis depends on the individ%al,s relationship to others, as !ell as on the reactions of others to the individ%al,s behavior& )n The Order of Things, :o%ca%lt ta#es this assertion f%rther to arg%e( The history of madness !o%ld be the history of the Otherof that !hich, for a given c%lt%re, is at once interior and foreign, therefore to be e@cl%ded Bso as to e@orcise the internal dangerD b%t by being sh%t a!ay Bin order to red%ce its othernessD& BOrder @@ivD What :o%ca%lt s%ggests, therefore, is that madness consists of a strangeness that !e all share( by identifying and isolating its e@istence

in others, !e can relieve o%rselves of the fear that this strangeness is o%r o!n& )f :o%ca%lt is correct, this may acco%nt for the %bi;%ito%s appearance of madness in literat%re, !hich hinges on the creation of fictional persons !ho can bear the b%rden of strangeness for %s, !hile !e see them as Other& )n some sense, the strangeness is "sh%t a!ay" in the !or# of literat%re, for the madness e@ists in a fictional form that offers no danger to the reader, e@cept to the degree that the !riter manip%lates the reader,s association !ith the mad characters& 6esides the sociological approach to madness, a medical model for mental illness dominates contemporary approaches& Theories of the ne%rological origins of madness, s%ch as the fairly recent s%pposition that schi*ophrenia res%lts from a chemical imbalance in the brain, have directed clinical in;%iries to!ards physiological e@planations of mental illness3 s%ch approaches provide little insight to the mad characters of a literary !or#, and my st%dy !ill not attempt to ma#e s%ch diagnoses& . st%dy of madness differs from a st%dy of madness in literat%re, and as :eder claims, Although the mad characters or (ersonae of literature may be modeled on actual (ersons or the authors themselves, it is also true that literary constructs of the e)treme (ossibilities of mental e)(erience differ in im(ortant res(ects from actual manifestations of madness. *)iii+ One s%ch difference m%st be in the inability of the literary critic to ma#e a physiological diagnosis of the characters& This is especially tr%e in a !or# of drama, !hen the characters are #no!n to the a%dience primarily by !hat they do and say, not by narrative commentary that may ma#e s%bstantial contrib%tions in a novel to the reader,s %nderstanding of the motivations and mental condition of its characters& )n my e@ploration of this s%b$ect, ) !ill %se certain !ords inter< changeably to describe the behavior of characters incl%ded in my st%dy( madness, insanity, mental illness& Thomas ?*as*, a psychiatrist !ho !rote "The 8yth of 8ental )llness," protested the association of illness !ith !hat he calls problems of living(

The assum(tion is made that some neurological defect, (erha(s a very subtle one, will ultimately be found to e)(lain all the disorders of thin,ing and behavior ... which im(lies that (eo(le-s troubles cannot be caused by conflicting (ersonal needs, o(inions, social as(irations, values and so forth. *Ideology ./+ :rom a medical vie!point ?*as* may be correct in ass%ming that the term "mental illness" implies ne%rological illness, b%t in ordinary %se it describes behavior that the lay person !o%ld not disting%ish from "madness&" ?*as* insists that "!e call people mentally ill !hen their personal cond%ct violates certain ethical, political, and social norms" BLaw 1CD& ?%ch a broad definition, according to ?*as*, allo!s for a !ide variety of %n%s%al behavior to be categori*ed as mental illness( "This e@plains !hy many historical fig%res, from Ges%s to 'astro, and from Gob to 7itler, have been diagnosed as s%ffering from this or that psychiatric malady" B1CD & ?*as*,s definition, lin#ed as it is to both personal cond%ct and social norms, s%mmari*es the #ind of approach that my st%dy ta#es to Williams,s plays& While s%ch a sociological approach to madness is b%t one of a variety of vie!points, it seems to me to be the most appropriate approach to an e@amination of Williams,s mad people& 8y character analyses !ill incl%de theories of :o%ca%lt, ?*as*, and others, !here they seem to me ill%minating& .ltho%gh Williams had an a!areness of clinical practices and diagnoses, his plays present madness as behavior deemed %nfit or %nacceptable to the society of the play& This ranges from nervo%sness to lying, from e@cessive drin#ing to promisc%o%s se@%al behavior& The vag%eness of the definition is one of its most significant ;%alities3 if madness is loosely defined, its meaning s%b$ect to shifting perspectives, all forms of %n%s%al behavior might be incl%ded& William Fleb, in a recent article on :o%ca%lt and A Streetcar amed !esire, ;%otes Eric 6entley on this iss%e( "'an a sister $%st send some< one to an asyl%m !itho%t any medical adviceH )f so, !hich of %s is safeH" BFleb 39D& Williams,s plays s%ggest that none of %s are& )nherited insanity, pres%pposing genetic tendencies to!ards mad< ness,

is s%ggested in a fe! of the plays, for :elice and 'lare of The Two "haracter 0lay refer often to their insane father3 similarly, .lma,s nervo%s problems in Summer and Smo,e might res%lt from inheriting her mother,s genes, rather than from her an@ieties abo%t her mother,s odd behavior& .s William Fleb points o%t, !e might consider the implications of genetic insanity in Streetcar1 "6lanche stands for ?tella,s psychological inheritance( a threat not only to her marriage b%t to the baby in her !omb" BFleb 35D& 6%t the madness res%lts most fre;%ently from personal circ%mstances and social press%res& -espite the nat%re of my s%b$ect matter, and its connection to the fields of psychiatry and medicine, this remains a literary st%dy3 my interest lies in the personal and social positions of the mad characters in these plays, as !ell as in the statements the plays ma#e abo%t the role of the o%tsider& Williams presents madness vario%sly( a character embraces ill%sion to the e@tent of inhibiting that individ%al,s ability to s%rvive3 a character e@hibits e@treme nervo%sness, and hypersensitivity so prono%nced as to severely restrict or prevent comm%nication !ith others3 a character insists on relating incidents or theories so %nacceptable to the other characters in the play that the possibility of the tr%th of these stories pro< motes fear and denial !ithin the comm%nity& .ltho%gh the a%dience may #no! the story is tr%e, the characters may do%bt the story, insisting that the teller is mad& 15 The last characteristic differs from the first t!o in that it hinges on the perception of the mad person by other characters in the play, !hereas the first t!o rely primarily on character development& The term madness may seem strong for the symptoms ) have listed above, and yet each ;%alifies as the sort of behavior that threatens the freedom of the character !ho embraces it& )f a character is confined in a mental instit%tion, then that character fits the definition of the insane, according to the society of the play& 13 )n his st%dy of the career of the mental patient, Erving 9offman notes that the (sychiatric view of a (erson becomes significant only in so far as this view itself alters his social fate2an alteration which seems to become fundamental in our

society when, and only when, the (erson is (ut through the (rocess of hos(itali'ation 3my em(hasis4. *.56+ 9offman goes on to arg%e that despite the varieties in #ind or degree of mental illness, instit%tionali*ation %s%ally brings o%t a common character in this diverse gro%p, a "trib%te to the po!er of social forces" B159D& One stri#ing characteristic of all the mad characters is their inability to control their imp%lses, %s%ally self<destr%ctive, and in some cases, se@%al& 1/ )n a st%dy titled !ifference and 0athology, ?ander 9ilman claims that of all models of pathology, "one of the most po!erf%l is mental ill< ness& :or the most elementally frightening possibility is loss of control over the self, B53D & .nd from 9offman( "This vie! Ilosing controlJ of oneself !o%ld seem to be one of the most pervasively threatening things that can happen to the self in o%r society" B131D& The mentally ill become the Other beca%se they cannot be the self, for the "mad are perceived as the antithesis to the control and reason that define the self, B!ifference 53D& 9ilman, li#e :o%ca%lt, sees the pro$ection of %nreasonableness onto others as self<deceptive( within everyone-s fantasy life there e)ists a (lay of aggression not essentially different from that of the initial moment of individuation, an inci(ient madness that we control with more or less success. *!ifference 5/+ This vie! of the mad person as a creation of society, an obvio%s o%tcome of the repression and fear of difference, of personal cond%ct that deviates from the norm, pervades the !ritings of ?*as* and 9ilman, !ho see madness as a social constr%ction& either denies that emotional problems e@ist, b%t that in spea#ing of madness, !e m%st recogni*e that o%r categori*ing of the mad cannot be completely separated from o%r need to define o%rselves as normal& Establishing that the behavior of the insane deviates from the norm leads to a problem that confronts any theorist !ho see#s to define or

e@plore madness( ho! to st%dy the mad !itho%t spea#ing of them as the OtherH ?hoshana :elman, in her st%dy of %riting and Madness, states this as :o%ca%lt,s implicit ;%estion in Madness and "ivili'ation1 how can we com(rehend without ob7ectifying, without e)cluding8 ... 3#4ow can we com(rehend without enclosing in ourselves, without confining8 #ow can we understand the Sub7ect, without transforming him *or her+ into an ob7ect8 *9.:95+ These are ;%estions that encompass far more than the disc%ssion of madness, and relate to the most f%ndamental iss%es that confront every< one !ho st%dies the behavior of a gro%p3 as :o%ca%lt and even :elman ac#no!ledge by the p%blications of their boo#s, these ;%estions sho%ld not halt the in;%iry itself& They sho%ld, ho!ever, prompt the !riter to ac#no!ledge this dilemma at the o%tset& ?ander 9ilman e@plores the %se of stereotypes in his boo# !ifference and 0athology, and maintains( "?tereotypes are a cr%de set of mental representations of the !orld&&&& They perpet%ate a needed sense of difference bet!een the ,self, and the ,ob$ect,, !hich becomes the ,Other," B1C<12D& 7e accepts the formation of stereotypes, even as he sets abo%t to %ndermine their po!er3 he e@amines their origin and str%ct%re( Stereoty(es arise when self:integration is threatened. They are therefore (art of our way of dealing with the instabilities of our (erce(tion of the world. This is not to say that they are good, only that they are necessary. *.6+ .n ac#no!ledgment that the category of the mad e@ists is essential to my st%dy, b%t ) str%ggle to avoid the ob$ectification that permeates .merican society,s vie! of the mad& ) !ill see# to temper any tendencies to!ard ob$ectification by emphasi*ing the %niversal traits of the characters, !hat Williams himself accomplishes s%ccessf%lly& Even !hen presenting grotes;%e fig%res, he manages to convey their h%manity, preventing %s from completely denying their place in o%r midst&

)n embar#ing on a disc%ssion of the mad characters in drama, ) m%st highlight another consideration( !hen presenting madness onstage the dramatist has different constraints than does the novelist& The play!right is denied the l%@%ry of narrative in !hich to e@plain the character,s mental disposition& )n performance, !e see and hear the madness !hen e@periencing the play, altho%gh !hen reading the play !e may get some assistance from stage directions& )f the play!right !ishes to engage a%dience sympathies !ith the mad person, then the presentation of madness m%st incl%de, not alienate& This might be one of Williams,s greatest accomplishments in presenting the mad person to his vie!ers and readers( as William Fleb arg%es in his recent article on Williams and :o%ca%lt, 6lanche, alone in the #itchen in scene one, "gathers o%r ga*e and !e begin to see the !orld thro%gh her eyes& :rom then on, no matter ho! her difference is defined and displayed, something of this point of vie! remains" B/=D& This may be especially tr%e of 6lanche, b%t it holds tr%e for other Williams characters& Williams,s mad characters are %s%ally !omen !ho cling to ill%sions, and, as one revie!er described 6lanche( "I)Jmagine a !oman !ho lives so corr%ptly in a !orld of ill%sion that the merest breath of reality ma#es her hysterical" BWhit!orth 1CD& Williams,s !omen are often se@%ally promisc%o%s, !hile at the same time e@hibiting a strea# of pr%dish< ness that conflicts !ith their desire for intimate companionship& The description of one of the fe! men !ho belong to the gro%p of mad characters, the Reverend T& ?hannon of The ight of the Iguana, sho!s ho! these same ;%alities clash and often promote mental collapse3 ?hannon is described th%s( a man of great charm and some madness ... a man of irreconcilable elements in his nature. A 0uritan with a se)uality that he s(ends his life, his nerves, in a violent but unsuccessful effort to hold in chec,. #e has crac,ed u( twice1 A third time is imminent it seems& 10 This description echoes Williams,s assessment of his o!n character( a mi@t%re of the 1%ritan and 'avalier strains, or as ancy Tischler ;%otes

him( "),m a rebellio%s 1%ritan" B$ebellious 0uritan 14D& )n attrib%ting s%ch a mi@t%re to ?hannon, Williams emphasi*es the effect this conflict has on the sanity of the individ%al& This version of Iguana has ?hannon saying something else abo%t himself !hich provides insight into the type of person !ho s%ffers from emotional brea#do!ns& When 7annah comments on his #indness, he la%ghingly replies( "When ),m not too absorbed in problems of my o!n, ) can feel other people,s& )t,s good medicine for me, therapy for me& To feel other people,s problems and get my mind for $%st a little !hile off my o!n&"14 8ost of the characters !ho s%cc%mb to madness are totally self<absorbed& This often ma#es them %nbearable to those aro%nd them3 since they are incapable of sho!ing empathy, their self<absorption alienates them from others !hen !hat they need most is h%man contact& Their selfishness, ho!ever, sho%ld not be interpreted as cas%al or as entirely vol%ntary( it is a matter of s%rvival, for obsession !ith their o!n frail egos is the only means by !hich they may retain a semblance of sanity& ?hannon,s remar# implies this, even !hile he ac#no!ledges that seeing the problems of others may offer some emotional strength as !ell& 8any of Williams,s plays feat%re at least one character at the point of emotional brea#do!n, and an inventory of these plays demonstrates the play!right,s over!helming interest in the mad and in society,s vie! of madness& The play!right,s first ma$or s%ccess on 6road!ay, The Glass Menagerie B19/0D, offers a thinly veiled acco%nt of the a%thor,s o!n family life3 it dramati*es Tennessee,s "abandonment" of his sister Rose to madness and lobotomy&1C