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

on a Hot Tin Roof’

 Jack Straw and Ochello only sincere and true love compared to Brick and Skipper—pushed apart
by internalized homophobia
 One sided relationship dynamic of Big Daddy and Big Mama
 Love for wealth vs love for people – Mae and Gooper
 Idea of purity in love – bring Brick and Skipper
 Development of characters through Ibsenian technique
 Plastic theatre – props have been symbolized in many ways to represent character’s internal
states – can better explore dynamic – Diana trophy/crutch

Love is a complex emotion that can take on many different forms and expressions, something which is
mirrored in Tennessee Williams' play "Cat on A Hot Tin Roof," where we see many different
relationships. While some claim to be based on true love or are purely platonic, others are very clearly
one sided, on the verge of falling apart, or are established for reasons otherwise, and the analysis of all of
these various manifestations of love between different characters allows us to explore the true nature of
‘love’ itself.
In particular, the relationship between Jack Straw and Peter Ochello, and the relationship between Brick
and Skipper is a means by which Williams has explored the role of societal constructs and internalized
homophobia in the development of homosexual love. While both of these relationships involve deep
feelings of affection and attachment, there are significant differences in the way that they express and
understand love. Jack Straw and Peter Ochello's relationship is characterized by a deep sense of
commitment and devotion. Despite facing societal discrimination for their homosexuality, they remain
steadfastly devoted to each other, even going so far as to plan a future together in which they can openly
express their love. Their love is not solely based on physical attraction, but rather on a deep emotional
connection that transcends societal norms and expectations. This is evidenced by the fact that Jack quits
eating once Peter Ochello dies, which plays into one of the strongest marriage vows ‘till death do us part.’
along with the fact that the open knowledge of their homosexuality- ‘pair of fucking sissies’- does not
prevent them from exploring their love for each other. In contrast, Brick and Skipper's relationship is
much more complicated and fraught with tension. While they share a deep emotional bond and are
described as "inseparable," their relationship is also plagued by a sense of unease and insecurity. Brick is
constantly grappling with his own feelings of guilt, disgust and struggles to come to terms with his
attraction to Skipper due to his internalized homophobia. It is almost as if Brick is trying to convince
himself that he does not have any feelings for Skipper with his constant affirmations about the ‘purity’ of
their relationship. Meanwhile, Skipper becomes increasingly desperate in his attempts to get Brick to
acknowledge and reciprocate his feelings, leading to a dramatic confrontation, or rather lack of one, that
ultimately ends in Skipper's suicide. Thus, Brick and Skipper’s relationship dynamics show us that
inability to communicate effectively with each other can lead to manifestations of love which oftentimes
end in tragedy.
Love for wealth versus love for people has also been explored very deeply in ‘A Cat on A Hot Tin Roof.’
In many ways, it is one of the primary themes of the play after the interactions of members in a
dysfunctional family. While characters like Mae and Gooper symbolize the one-sided pursuit of wealth
and embody a relationship established on the basis of mutual benefit, Big Mama embodies selfless,
unrequited love for Big Daddy whereas Maggie is different from everyone else in that she walks a fine
line between the two in her quest for survival and ‘love’ for Brick. We see that Mae and Gooper’s
relationship is one that is largely based on materialism and is particularly shallow with no depth. Their
interactions in the play are dominated by constant bickering, incessant focus on money and the family
inheritance and somehow lowering Maggie and Brick in the eyes of Big Daddy to build themselves up.
Not at one point in the play do we see a genuine expression of affection or love from each other and
everything that they do seems to be an engineered act and does not seem to be genuine. This has been
done by Williams through his masterful control over language where he does not mention explicitly either
in the dialogs or the stage directions the true intentions or the underlying meaning of Mae’s dialog but
rather conveys his underlying meaning through what is left unspoken. On the other hand, we see that Big
Daddy and Big Mama’s relationship is extremely tragic in that Big Daddy has hated Big Mama internally
ever since he got married and has never held any true feelings for her. In particular, his snide and cruel
remarks such as ‘turn the music back on’ when Big Mama walks into the room despite turning it off
before because he disliked it implies that the disgusting music is preferable to Big Mama’s voice in the
eyes of Big Daddy, which is not exactly a comforting thought. However, despite this, Big Mama is
unrelentless in her pursuit of Big Daddy’s affection whom she does love genuinely (it appears so) but we
see that this behavior by Big Mama results in her behaving childishly and making herself the butt of jokes
and embarrassment which is a very sad and pitiable thing for us to see as a reader since she does appear to
be one of the only genuinely selfless characters in the play. The state of Big Mama echoes very close to
Maggie’s dialogue: ‘It’s better to live alone than to live with someone who does not love you,’ which not
only establishes the parallels between Maggie and Big Mama’s marriage but also shows how lonely and
sad the pursuit of love can be at times: that oftentimes there is no light at the end of the road. On the other
hand, when we look at Maggie and Brick’s relationship, we see that Maggie appears as a sort of ‘truth
teller’ who forces confrontation and doesn’t want the relationship to remain in stasis whereas we see
Brick is a person who is more in love with the idea of being in love with someone perfect which is
contrasted to Maggie’s love for Brick specifically. We see that Brick blames Maggie to a large extent for
Skipper’s death, a conclusion which has been rooted in his mind and in turn, he has left no room for
introspection and analyzing his own role in Skipper’s demise by perhaps letting down his friend when he
needed him most. He doesn’t see the gray; he only sees the white and black portions of the spectrum and
thus he is not able to develop any of his relationships positively in the play since no person falls in the
white and black portions of the spectrum of morality. An argument can also be drawn from this that Brick
is still to a large extent and in the ways which matter: a child. Thus, he is not mature enough to be in a
relationship and perhaps never will be. Thus, Williams through the character of Brick and his approach
towards Skipper and Maggie in general, intends to say that a lot of people in the world are just not built to
be in relationships.
The use of plastic theatre as a means to provide exposition about these manifestations of love in a manner
that has never been adopted by any other playwright has also been done by Tennessee Williams. The
entire play takes place in the same congested room where multiple characters gather. In particular, the
claustrophobia of the set leaves no room for the characters to maneuver around and in the same manner, it
does not allow them to hide their true selves from us, the audience and readers who are able to discern
easily the realities of multiple characters in the play. The props in the set have been used not just as
decorators but carry deep symbolic connotations and are of analytical significance in the play as well. For
example, Brick’s crutch is generally symbolic of his cowardice in his relationship with Maggie and his
attempts to evade the truth and solve the problems in their relationship while Maggie’s Diana Trophy is
an allusion to Diana who is the goddess of virginity and childbirth which in turn symbolizes the desire of
Maggie to continue her sexual activities with Brick and get a child to secure Big Daddy’s will.
Thus, it can be said that Williams has done a complete job in portraying the dynamics of ‘love’ and the
societal constructs for the manifestations of love like relationships and marriages and showing that it is
never as simple as a question rooted in polarity.