A Tragic Character as a Parody in Tennessee Williams' And Tell Sad Stories of the Deaths of Queens

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  • パロディ化された「悲劇」の主人公 : Tennessee WilliamsのAnd Tell Sad Stories of the Deaths of Queens
  • パロディカ サレタ ヒゲキ ノ シュジンコウ Tennessee Williams ノ And Tell Sad Stories of the Deaths of Queens

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Abstract

Tennessee Williams' And Tell Sad Stories of the Deaths of Queens, considered to be written during the 1950s, went unproduced until 2004. This one-act play presents a drag queen, Candy, and in various ways, including its plot and characterization of the main character, and setting, would remind the audience of A Streetcar Named Desire (1947). Blanche DuBois and Candy both romanticize and idealize their past love relationships in their imagination. In that way, they struggle to cope with unpleasant realities, which finally lead them both to a disastrous end. While A Streetcar Named Desire is offered as a tragedy, Williams presents And Tell Sad Stories of the Deaths of Queens as a comedy with a "camp" touch. Williams' attempt to depict both a faded Southern belle and a middle-aged transvestite in similar settings itself possibly justifies the often-cited critical view; Blanche is a disguised homosexual male. In my viewpoint, however, Williams aims to enlarge the possibility of presenting his characters' artistic sensibility and potentiality through his attempt to depict both a female victimized character and a transvestite. That is, he intends to prove that artistic creativity does exist beyond gender and sexual boundaries. Therefore, in this experimental play, he presents the contrasting elements, artistic sensibility and destructive force through the "camp" performance.

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