Discussion Questions

Do you think any profound human truths are being considered in this play or do you see its main purpose as keeping an audience interested in human behaviour?

The profound human truth considered in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof is the permeation of mendacity in everyday life and its effect on relationships. The lies and the liars are everywhere in this play: Big Daddy is lied to about his cancer, Brick lies to himself and others about Skipper and his sexuality, and Maggie lies to everybody about being pregnant. By exploring these untruthfulnesses in a play full of tension, Williams keeps the audience engaged and interested. Therefore, I do not think that these purposes are mutually exclusive; as a result of the profound human truth being considered, Williams keeps the audience interested in human behaviour. We want to understand the characters better but in the end, we must be satisfied with the knowledge that lies are difficult to distinguish from the truth and that this uncertainty inevitably affect the quality and nature of the play’s relationships, and thus human relationships also.

What do you consider the strengths and weaknesses of the protagonist, and what effect do you think these have on the believability of the play?

I consider Maggie to be the protagonist, despite having heard others say that the play is primarily about Brick. My reasons for this are that her present and future is dependent on Brick’s feelings and actions, and therefore, any lengthy scene about him is crucial for the understanding of Maggie.

Maggie is a full of contradictions. She loves money because she grew up in poverty, but refuses to leave Brick despite the possibility of him not inheriting the plantation. She mocks Mae for her family’s fall from grace , while her family was poor and in the lower echelons of society . She also makes fun of Mae for having been a “cotton carnival queen”, but is similarly obsessed with status, and angst about the fact that she only had two dresses when she made her debut. She pretends to be bothered by Despite all this, I still like her. I understand the reasoning behind her actions, and that makes me feel sympathy for her. She may be a gossip and dramatic, and she may complicate her own life by staying with an alcoholic who doesn’t love her, but she is tough, and makes a conscious decision to deal with what life has given her without (too much) complaint. Her weaknesses, most evident of which is her hypocrisy, make her seem more real, and I can imagine somebody like her existing in real life.