Inheritance And Transcendence

As a dramatist and poet, Tennessee Williams is generally recognized as one of the greatest American writers. His works, especially his early plays earn him almost the same reputation as Eugene O’Neill in American theatre. What’s more, he is perhaps one of the most prolific playwrights, leaving behind a large number of impressive works full of images and typical characters, some of which continues to be performed on stage throughout the world.Since the1940s, Williams, together with his works, has been researched in many aspects. But in China, such studies are not as active as those abroad, and there are two weaknesses that should be mentioned. On the one hand, these studies mainly involve the analysis of characters in his plays, especially women characters; on the other hand, the studies on his style of play writing mostly concern his creative employment of symbolic and expressionistic elements, but ignore his other dramatic techniques, for example, the romantic elements.Therefore, based on this, this thesis focuses on Williams’ explorations and innovations in dramatic technique—the symbolic, expressionistic and romantic elements by a synthetic analysis of his two most famous plays—The Glass Menagerie and A Streeetcar Named Desire. It first discusses Williams’ inheritance from the traditions of realistic theatre, and then in detail, it analyzes his transcendence from such traditions—his perfect combination of symbolic, expressionistic and romantic elements with the themes of realistic theatre. Finally, it draws a conclusion that by virtue of his bold and skillful employment of such non-realistic theatrical techniques as symbolic, expressionistic and romantic elements, Williams successfully externalizes the protagonists’ inner world, establishes the mood, and most importantly, highlights the themes—his criticism of the patriarchal society and concerns about the living condition of the decentralized people. Meanwhile, making up for the weaknesses home, the author is expecting that this thesis will be of some help for the subsequent studies on Williams.