Current Search: Williams, Tennessee,--1911---Criticism and interpretation (x)
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Title
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APOLLONIAN-DIONYSIAN CONFLICT IN THREE TENNESSEE WILLIAMS PLAYS.
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Creator
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FOTOPOULOS, NIKI PRAVLIS., Florida Atlantic University, Pearce, Howard D.
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Abstract/Description
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This thesis explores the conflicts between and within the main characters in three Tennessee Williams plays: A Streetcar Named Desire, Summer and Smoke, and Orpheus Descending. It demonstrates that the conflicts between the characters, the inevitable outcome of the individual's persistent adherence to established ideals and denial of his instinctive impulses, are analogous to the antithetical Apollonian-Dionysian forces as explored by Friedrich Nietzsche and Euripides. Of these opposed forces...
Show moreThis thesis explores the conflicts between and within the main characters in three Tennessee Williams plays: A Streetcar Named Desire, Summer and Smoke, and Orpheus Descending. It demonstrates that the conflicts between the characters, the inevitable outcome of the individual's persistent adherence to established ideals and denial of his instinctive impulses, are analogous to the antithetical Apollonian-Dionysian forces as explored by Friedrich Nietzsche and Euripides. Of these opposed forces, one represents the learned traits the other the unlearned primitive impulses. When further related to man's divided psyche they reveal that man's emotional stability depends upon the harmonious coexistence of both his conscious and unconscious impulses. However, as the study reveals, it is impossible for man to suppress and deny his natural impulses which, like nature itself, are too powerful and imperative to man's basic existence and spiritual salvation. To Williams Dionysus becomes the symbol of modern man who, haunted by ineffectual traditional values and threatened by technological encroachment, refuses to become extinct and defiantly fights to create a fresh and meaningful life.
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Date Issued
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1974
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PURL
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http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/13681
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Subject Headings
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Williams, Tennessee,--1911---Criticism and interpretation.
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Format
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Document (PDF)
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Title
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TENNESSEE WILLIAMS' CIRCLE OF LIGHT.
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Creator
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LENAHAN, TERI S., Florida Atlantic University, Pearce, Howard D.
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Abstract/Description
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Light imagery in Tennessee Williams' plays can be seen in terms of a metaphorical circle of light. The characters in Outcry and In the Bar of a Toyko Hotel are living outside of the realm of light, in a darkness that leads to death. In A Streetcar Named Desire Blanche is symbolically slipping over the edge of light into outer darkness that becomes, for her, insanity. Paradoxically she is hiding from and searching for light simultaneously. The characters in The Night of the Iguana, The...
Show moreLight imagery in Tennessee Williams' plays can be seen in terms of a metaphorical circle of light. The characters in Outcry and In the Bar of a Toyko Hotel are living outside of the realm of light, in a darkness that leads to death. In A Streetcar Named Desire Blanche is symbolically slipping over the edge of light into outer darkness that becomes, for her, insanity. Paradoxically she is hiding from and searching for light simultaneously. The characters in The Night of the Iguana, The Milktrain Doesn't Stop Here Anymore, and Vieux Carre move closer to their circle of light, finding hope and acceptance from a compassionate friend. Defined as the "protection of our existence," the circle of light can be found throughout the plays of Tennessee Williams.
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Date Issued
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1982
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PURL
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http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/14115
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Subject Headings
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Williams, Tennessee,--1911---Criticism and interpretation
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Format
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Document (PDF)
