Undertsanding Mental Illness in Three of Tennessee Williams
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Camille LECLERE Triggers of a Mental Breakdown. Understanding Mental Illness in Three of Tennessee Williams' Lead Female Characters: Blanche, Catharine & Laura Mémoire de Master 1 «Master Arts, Lettres, Langues» Mention : Lettres et Civilisations Spécialité : Arts, Lettres, Langues et Civilisations Parcours : Politiques, Sociétés, Discours du Domaine Anglophone Sous la direction de Mlle Anne COMBARNOUS Année universitaire 2015– 2016 Dedicated to Marie-Madeleine Leclère “You must never make fun of insanity. […] It’s worse than death.” Rose Williams to her brother, Tennessee Acknowledgements I would first like to thank Anne Combarnous, without whom I would have never believed in my ability to accomplish this thesis. Your unrelenting support and insight throughout this year, as well as the previous three, have given me the strength to continue. I also wish to express my deep gratitude towards my family – my parents, my sister and my brother– in– law – who have always trusted me and encouraged me in everything I have undertaken, and have been proud of me no matter what. Romain, thank you for always believing in me, particularly when I doubted myself, and for pushing me when I wanted to give up. I can only imagine how challenging it was to bear with me when I spent hours obsessing over minute details. I am incredibly lucky to have you in my life. Many thanks to my incredible friends: Hélène, Tiffany, Alexandra, Mallorie and Mathilde, who encouraged me, guided me and took my mind off my work when frustration set in. I would not be where I am today without you all, and for this I am truly grateful. Table of Contents Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................................................... 3 Table of Contents .............................................................................................................................................. 4 Introduction ....................................................................................................................................................... 6 PART I: CROSSING THE BORDER – FROM PHYSICAL TO MENTAL SPACE ................................................. 10 1. The South and its Symbolism 12 a) The Symbolic Nature of the South ..................................................................................................... 12 b) The Faded Southern Belle .................................................................................................................. 16 c) The Southern Gothic........................................................................................................................... 20 2. Studying the Mind: The Asylum 27 a) Popular Perception of Mental Illness and the Institution .................................................................... 27 b) The Facility Itself and Medical Treatment .......................................................................................... 28 c) Lobotomy – A Physical and Psychological Weapon .......................................................................... 30 3. A Mental Prison – Case Study of the Characters 34 a) “You see, I still think I’m sane” – Catharine ...................................................................................... 35 b) “I’ll tell you what I want. Magic!” – Blanche .................................................................................... 38 c) “But Mother – […] I’m – crippled!” – Laura .................................................................................... 43 PART II: REACHING THE BREAKING POINT ............................................................................................. 50 1. Sexual Innuendos 51 a) Death .................................................................................................................................................. 51 b) Fear ..................................................................................................................................................... 54 c) Family ................................................................................................................................................ 57 2. The Ambivalence of Male Characters 61 a) An Absent Father Figure .................................................................................................................... 61 b) The “Gentleman Caller” ..................................................................................................................... 63 c) The Savior vs. the Punisher ................................................................................................................ 65 PART III: FINDING A VOICE .................................................................................................................... 70 1. Understanding the Characters Through the Text 72 a) The Role and Evolutions of Punctuation and Syntax ......................................................................... 72 b) When Words Bring Characters to Life – The Importance of Stage Directions ................................... 79 2. Defying Social Standards: Voices of Women 85 a) Freud’s Psychoanalytical Input and its Limitations ............................................................................ 86 b) Deconstructing Traditional Gender Roles .......................................................................................... 92 c) The Voice of a Man ............................................................................................................................ 95 3. A Mirror of the Author – An Autobiographical Approach 99 a) “I am Blanche” – the Playwright and his Alter Egos ......................................................................... 99 b) Tennessee’s Muse – Miss Rose ........................................................................................................ 103 c) Toxic Relationships: An Unhappy Upbringing ................................................................................ 107 Conclusion ..................................................................................................................................................... 112 Bibliography .................................................................................................................................................. 116 Table of illustrations ...................................................................................................................................... 120 Introduction "Take down this message! In desperate, desperate circumstances! Help me! Caught in a trap. Caught in – Oh!"1 These are Blanche DuBois' last words before Stanley Kowalksi arrives into the room in the penultimate scene of A Streetcar Named Desire. Her final and somewhat questionable moment of sanity before being trapped into the abyss of her own psyche. Though she is under the influence of alcohol, Blanche is fully aware of the danger she is in. Mental illness and its treatments were discarded over time for various reasons, mainly because the wounds of the mind are invisible, as opposed to those of the flesh. Men were marginalized, considered as insane, women were either thought to be witches, possessed or simply more delicate and more prone to emotional distress. One of the first prominent attempts at understanding mental illness in women was in 1895 with Sigmund Freud's Studies on Hysteria.2 Though it was then commonplace to think of women as fragile beings, subjected to their emotions and frail nature, Freud now considered their sexuality as one of the triggers of their hysterical outbursts. Though progress has been made since then, these theories were still widely acknowledged in the first half of the 20th century. Thomas Lanier Williams, better known by his alias Tennessee Williams, is no stranger to these dynamics, given his strong attachment to the women in his life, and mainly his sister. Rose Williams spent the vast majority of her existence in public and private mental institutions, was diagnosed schizophrenic and ended up lobotomized, which changed her forever. Tennessee had a very close-knit relationship with Rose and made her his priority throughout his life, out of love, but also out of fear of his own demons. Her underlying presence is palpable in each of his lead female characters, their fears and struggles reflecting those that she felt but could not express. Both siblings grew up in a broken family, with an 1 WILLIAMS, Tennessee. A Streetcar Named Desire (1947). London: Penguin Books [Twentieth Century Classics], 1989 (Reprinted Edition): 214. 2 FREUD, Sigmund. Studies on Hysteria – The Complete Works. Ivan Smith [online PDF document] (2000, 2007, 2010). 6 absent and violent father, and an overly religious mother. Though he did not define his childhood as particularly unhappy, Williams was troubled. In his Memoirs, he states: My first eight years of childhood in Mississippi were the most joyously innocent of my life, due to the beneficent homelife provided by my beloved Dakin grandparents, with whom we lived. […] That world, that charmed time, ended with the abrupt transference of the family to St. Louis.3 This was in part due to his sister’s illness, but also because of his own demons and his closeted homosexuality, which he could not embrace in the deeply-Christian South. It is with all of these elements in mind that Williams took to writing, as a way to escape from his sinister everyday life, but also to bring light to the depths