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    A Study Guide for Tennessee Williams's "The Rose Tattoo"
    A Study Guide for Tennessee Williams's "The Rose Tattoo"
    A Study Guide for Tennessee Williams's "The Rose Tattoo"
    Ebook42 pages27 minutes

    A Study Guide for Tennessee Williams's "The Rose Tattoo"

    By Gale and Cengage

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    About this ebook

    A Study Guide for Tennessee Williams's "The Rose Tattoo," excerpted from Gale's acclaimed Drama For Students. This concise study guide includes plot summary; character analysis; author biography; study questions; historical context; suggestions for further reading; and much more. For any literature project, trust Drama For Students for all of your research needs.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherCengage Learning - Gale
    Release dateAug 3, 2016
    ISBN9781535839358
    A Study Guide for Tennessee Williams's "The Rose Tattoo"

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      Book preview

      A Study Guide for Tennessee Williams's "The Rose Tattoo" - Gale

      1

      The Rose Tattoo

      Tennessee Williams

      1950

      Introduction

      Tennessee Williams's The Rose Tattoo was first staged in Chicago in 1950, premiered in New York City in 1951, and was a success with audiences. It is Williams's most light-hearted play, an homage, many say, to his beloved sister Rose and to Frank Merlo, whom Williams loved.

      The drama chronicles events separated by three years in the life of its main character, Serafina Delle Rose. Serafina is characterized by her boastful pride, and the play's drama and humor revolves around whether she will learn humility.

      What a close reading of the play suggests is that it is a mixed genre play. What this means is that it blends together distinct dramatic forms. The play synthesizes comedic elements, elements borrowed from ancient Greek tragedy, and elements that invoke ancient Greco-Roman celebrations of the god Dionysus. The play's comedy rests on its bawdiness and the way the characters get themselves into ridiculous fixes. Its nod to the classic, tragic form is that Serafina has a major flaw, like all tragic heroes. The play's focus on virility is its primary Dionysian element, as Dionysus is associated with life, love, virility, and intoxication. Dionysus is also, significantly, the god of right worship. He punishes mortals who think they are as great as gods or who refuse to give the gods their worshipful due. The two classic strains of the play work together in the way that the lusty Serafina is at once a celebration of life and a character whose flaw is self-worship.

      Like many of Williams's plays, The Rose Tattoo is set in the U.S. South, Williams's birthplace. It stands out, however, for its cast of characters, who are Italian Americans with Sicilian roots.

      Author Biography

      Tennessee Williams, a major twentieth-century U.S. playwright, was born Thomas Lanier Williams on March 26, 1911, in Columbus, Mississippi. Williams began writing as a child, publishing in junior high and high school publications. He continued publishing as he pursued his bachelor's degree, which he did leisurely, attending three different undergraduate institutions between 1929 and 1938. He decided to focus his creative energies primarily on drama during this period, although he wrote poetry, short stories, and novels throughout his life.

      In 1939, Williams sent a set of one-act plays as a competition entry to the Group Theatre in New York, which was run by prominent members of the New York drama scene. They were impressed, awarded him prize money, and

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